Women's winner sets record at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth

It was a record-setting race at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth on Saturday.

Kellyn Taylor of Arizona shattered the women's event record, crossing the finish line in 2 hours, 24 minutes, 28 seconds. She bested the previous record by about 2 minutes, and finished nearly 6 minutes ahead of this year's runner-up.

In the men's race, Kenya's Elisha Barno won for the fourth year in a row, with a time of 2:10:06. He's the first runner two win four consecutive Grandma's Marathon titles.

There were storms in the forecast for the weekend, but they stayed away from Duluth for the race.

"The weather actually was perfect running conditions, according to the runners. They liked that it was cool, it was calm... a slight tailwind at times," said Mandi Peterson, the marathon's marketing and public relations director. "It really turned out to be a great weekend for them."

The marathon starts near Two Harbors and travels southwest along the shore of Lake Superior to Canal Park in Duluth. This year's course was altered slightly to avoid construction on Superior Street in downtown Duluth.

In other races Saturday:

Aaron Pike of Illinois won his second consecutive men's wheelchair marathon title with a time of 1:26:48. Susannah Scaroni of Illinois won the women's wheelchair title with a time of 1:37:32; it's her eighth Grandma's title.

Panuel Mkungo of Kenya won the men's Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon with a time of 1:02:50. Monicah Ngige of Kenya won the women's title in 1:09:55.

The 42nd annual Grandma's Marathon drew 6,294 runners; 6,103 of them finished as of 3:30 p.m., according to race officials. The 28th annual half-marathon drew 7,627 runners; 7,584 of them finished the race.

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