Grandma’s Marathon 2024 Recap
DULUTH, Minn. — The 48th annual Grandma’s Marathon is over and it’s one for the record books. It had the most combined runners ever. More than 17,500 total in the marathon, the half, and the 5K.
The weekend went well although earlier in the week there was a good deal of concern about the forecast. There was quite a bit of rain, but it was not as challenging for the runners as it was for the fans and volunteers. Organizers said it speaks to the spirit of everyone involved.
“That when things get difficult and hard, that they want to do more in that situation rather than less. So, I think that we’re really blessed with where we get to do this with this community. The runners were fantastic. I think they understood the challenges we were going through all week. So, when you look back at it, there’s always going to be things that, you know, as organizers, we want it to go perfect. We want things to go as planned. There’s always going to be things we’re going to want to pick out and say we want to be better about next year. It’s just the nature of the business. But overall, we’re talking about the biggest Grandma’s Marathon weekend that we’ve ever had. And I think looking back on it people will remember it, hopefully, with fond memories,” said Zach Schneider, Grandma’s Marathon Marketing and Public Relations Director.
Nearly 4,000 volunteers helped with all aspects of the races. They set up, provided nutrition and water, and helped clean up after the races were over.
Work on next year’s Marathon has already been underway for some time and Schneider says he is hopeful to have even more volunteers and runners next year.
“Yeah, October 1st 7pm, is when our registration opens, it will open that, that time again this year, we expect it to go fast. You know, we sold out for the second fastest time in history for this year’s race, then we had the biggest race, it went really well. And so, we’re expecting big things for October,” said Schneider.
The marathon has eight full-time employees who work year-round and 17 members of the board of directors. So, the volunteers–many who come year after year–are critical to the event’s success. But Schneider says the marathon can always use more volunteers who can help keep Grandma’s one of the favorite races in the country.
