Taylor, Barno Makes History in Grandma’s Marathon

first U.S. woman winner in 9 years and first person to win four consecutive years

DULUTH, Minn.- For the first time in nine years an American woman has won the women’s division of Grandma’s Marathon.

Kellyn Taylor from Flagstaff, Arizona made her way to Duluth after having to drop out of the Boston Marathon at mile 13 due to hypothermia.

Heading into this race Taylor was determined to erase the upset of Boston and give Grandma’s everything she had, which included beating the course record.

“Obviously super excited and relieved in a sense because I had Boston and as a marathoner you only get two, maybe three if you’re lucky a year and to do one and not even finish it is kind of like well you know there goes half your year. For myself, I think that I’d been kind of dabbling in this. I mean not 2:24 range but 2:26 range for a while and I just hadn’t hit it. But I felt I was capable of it for quite a while and it felt kind of nice to actually go out there and I don’t know get some validation” said Taylor.

And history has been made on the men’s side of things. Elisha Barno from Kenya has won the men’s division of Grandma’s Marathon for the fourth straight year.

The Kenyan finished with an impressive time of 2:10:06. Unlike the rest of the runners, Barno said he thought Saturday’s weather was too cold. But the reigning champ also said weather aside, he was not worried about the competition one bit.

“I was not worried because I do my training very well and I was prepared very well” said Barno.

If his body is feeling up for it, he just might run in the Twin Cities Marathon next. But no matter what, he will be back at Grandma’s next year to defend his title.