It was quite apparent that they would have to get funding for the event somehow or it wasn’t going to happen at all. The budget they had put together was $649 – the bare minimum needed to host the race and still do a good job – and the Striders had only $24 in their bank account. There was one major problem, however: money. The members wanted it to be a well-organized, high-quality event. The club wanted this to be more than an ordinary training run along the beautiful shores of Lake Superior. We knew we had a great course, we knew how to host races, and most importantly we knew how to have fun,” says Scott Keenan, executive director of Grandma’s Marathon and former president of the North Shore Striders. “We didn’t have a lot of vision when we started to plan the first race, but we loved the sport of running. At that time, there weren’t many races of 26.2 miles or longer – especially in the Midwest – so club members were confident that people would register for their race. The club had organized races in the past, but not on the scale of a marathon. The North Shore Striders, a Duluth running club consisting of approximately 40 members, set forth to plan a marathon along the club’s favorite training course from Two Harbors, Minnesota, to Duluth, Minnesota. It all started during the running boom of the mid-1970s. Through it all, Grandma’s has remained true to its original purpose – that of being a people’s race and providing a fun, unforgettable weekend for everyone.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But from these resources has grown one of the most successful races in the history of marathon running. What do you get when you combine $600, a scenic highway, the largest freshwater lake in the world, a handful of long-distance runners, a pub, and a whole lot of passion? The answer: Grandma’s Marathon.

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