Grandma’s Marathon memories: How the race grew from 150 runners to 20,000
Duluth resident recalls giving free ice cream cones to runners in the marathon’s early years
DULUTH, Minn. (Northern News Now) - Grandma’s Marathon welcomes more than 20,000 runners each year, but it started as a fraction of that.
Grandma’s Marathon began in 1977, and Laura Andrew remembers it well.
She said she worked at the old Dairy Queen on London Road and watched runners go by.
Andrew said she counted about 150 runners that first year, but as the race’s momentum grew, it quickly became harder to keep up.
“We would give away free cones to any of the racers,” Andrew said. “The third year similar enthusiasm but we just couldn’t keep up we just gave up and that’s the exciting thing about Grandma’s how quickly it took off and became a really fun race.”
Andrew said her father worked in the medical tent, and this year, her daughter-in-law is running the marathon.
She said the best part of Grandma’s Marathon is the community and the friendships it creates.
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