News & Articles

Captain Cale Haugen heldthe 7AA trophy high as he was engulfed by teammates after Esko beat Mora 16-6. Photo by John Gilbert.

It wasn’t until the 10th Grandma’s Marathon, back in 1986, that Joseph Kipsang became the first runner from Kenya to be first to the finish line, and it was 10 more years before Patrick Muturi became the second Kenyan to win Grandma’s, in 1996. He enjoyed himself so much that he came back and won a second straight run down the North Shore from Two Harbors to Canal Park.  

But since then, runners from Kenya have dominated the race as though it’s their own, winning 10 of the last 12 Grandma’s Marathons, with the other two won by runners from neighboring Ethiopia.  

This Saturday will be the 46th Grandma’s Marathons, and with professionally trained runners from Kenya winning 20 of them, the cliche remains accurate: Which Kenyan will win Grandma’s this year?   This will be the 46th time runners have competed in Grandma’s Marathon, although promotions call it the “47th annual Grandma’s In 2020, the race was conducted on a virtual basis, with runners self-reporting, but the mailed in results were not certifiably official, so this is the 46th, and the event is not quite annual.  

Dominic Ondoro, last year’s winner, is a prime candidate to win his third Grandma’s, having also won the 2014 race when he broke Dick Beardsley’s 34-year-old record with a time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 6 seconds, and showing with last year’s 2:09:34 that he’s still on top of his game.   F

ellow-Kenyan Elisha Barno took over in 2015, and won an unprecedented four consecutive Grandma’s, and he also returns to run this year, trying to add to his ledger that shows his name next to three of history’s top 10 times.  

For any observers who like to drive up the North Shore to watch the start on North Shore Drive just south of Two Harbors, Saturday’s start times are 7:35 a.m. for wheelchairs, and 7:40 a.m. for the men’s, then women’s runners. or visit the Great Lakes Candy Kitchen or Kendall’s Smoked Fish shop in Knife River, or maybe grab breakfast at the New Scenic Cafe, it’s fascinating to watch the parade come by, with a police escort leading the way, followed by the official lead car from which the race is carried on radio, and then a lead group that may be a dozen to 20 lean, aerodynamic, black runners who have migrated from East Africa for training and to run as hired elite runners from various agencies.  

Dakotah Lindwurm of Eagan returns to lead the women’s list of favorites and is a fan favorite for running the distance with a warm smile all the way. She won the 2021 race, then repeated last year, shaving more than four minutes off her previous year’s winning time with a 2:25:01 clocking.  

Aaron Pike is back, seeking his fifth consecutive wheelchair Marathon victory, having timed a 1:20:02 last year, and backing up his four straight victories with two seconds and three thirds.  

One other intriguing storyline is in the women’s bracket of the Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon, where no former champion returns, but a promising rookie is entered — Lydia Mathathi of Kenya, who recently won a half-marathon in 1:13:53, a faster time than Duluth native and former Olympian Kara Goucher’s record 1:09:46 set in 2012.    

No. 1 baseball seeds     I

t was a rarity for Northeastern Minnesota’s “spring deprived” high school baseball teams, but both Esko in Class AA and South Ridge in Class A were declared No. 1 seeds for this week’s state baseball tournament, while Grand Rapids went to Class AAA unseeded and paired against No. 2 seed St.Thomas Academy. All three teams needed to win in hopes of reaching the championship games, which will be held Friday at the St. Paul Saints stadium.  

Grand Rapids, which lost 6-0 at Hermantown to open the 7AAA tournament, had to come back and beat the favored Hawks twice to win the section. Same with South Ridge, which came out of the elimination bracket to beat Cherry twice to win the 7A crown, including an 8-7 victory in the eighth inning of the final game. South Ridge trailed 4-0 before rallying in the second game to finish with a 22-4 record.  

Esko avoided that scenario by routing Mora 16-6 in the 7AA championship game at Wade Stadium, earning a 24-1 record. It was not as easy as the score might indicate, as ace Cale Haugen was out of innings after throwing 115 pitches in the semifinal 7-1 victory over Rock Ridge. Junior Finn Furcht took the mound and yielded only five hits in going the distance, although his defense was uncharacteristically shaky with three errors, after making four against Rock Ridge.  

Mora scored a run in the top of the first and two in the second, but Esko had put things in order with a remarkable 7-run bottom of the first. After opening with a pair of walks, Cale Haugen pulled a double to right-center for two runs, and Isaak Sertich followed with a triple for a 3-1 lead. Catcher Bryce Hipp singled to make it 4-1, and Mora starting pitcher Owen Lind, a sophomore, was relieved by Carter Gmahl, another sophomore. A walk, and a single by Dylan Marciulionis made it 5-1, and a hit batter loaded the bases before another walk forced in a run for a 6-1 cushion. That brought in senior Cole Gmahl as the third pitcher in the inning, and he gave up a sacrifice fly to sophomore Sam Haugen to make it 7-1.  

But at least that was an out. The boxscore shows the first two Mora pitchers never recorded an out, so they completed no-thirds of an inning each. Esko didn’t let up, although Mora closed it to 8-5 before the Eskomos scored six in the fourth. It was 14-6 going into the last of the fifth, when Esko scored on a bases loaded walk, and then, none other than Gatorade Minnesota Player of the Year Cale Haugen stepped in and delivered a bases-loaded single to center field, driving in the run that made it a 16-6 tally — and a walk-off basehit.       ·  ·  ·