Four-time Grandma's Marathon champion Barno adds Hall of Famer

The next time Elisha Barno crosses the finish line of Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth’s Canal Park, he’ll not only be the winningest marathoner in the race’s history, but a Hall of Famer as well.

Barno, who won Grandma’s Marathon four straight times from 2015-18, is among three inductees to the Grandma’s Marathon Hall of Fame this year along with volunteer Dan Dock and board member Barb Korte. All three will be enshrined during the Grandma’s Marathon Awards luncheon at noon on Friday, June 16 at The Garden Event Center.

Barno owns three of the top 10 times posted by a man in Grandma’s Marathon, with his winning time of 2 hours, 10 minutes, 6 seconds in 2018 being the fourth-fastest ever for Grandma’s Marathon.

Back again in 2023 to run Grandma’s at 37 years old, Barno is coming off a fourth-place finish in which he posted his second-fastest time at Grandma’s, 2:10:22. That’s good for eighth all-time among Grandma’s finishers.

The Grandma’s Marathon Hall of Fame honors those who make longstanding and meaningful contributions to the race and community.

Dock has been volunteering at the Grandma’s Marathon finish line in various capacities for 37 years. Before the race started using chips to time runners, he was part of the crew that helped manually time finishers.

Korte has served on the Grandma’s Marathon Board of Directors since 1994 and has chaired the board twice. Korte has worked the finish line on race day and coordinated the spaghetti dinner on Friday nights. Her biggest claim to fame, according to Grandma’s Marathon, is organizing the annual cleanup of a section of the racecourse along Scenic Highway 61 between Two Harbors and Duluth.

The Grandma’s Marathon Hall of Fame now includes 91 individuals, organizations and municipalities since inducting its first class in 1996.

Award of Excellence named in honor of Welles

First given to Chester Keenan in 2001, Grandma’s Marathon has renamed its Award of Excellence in honor of longtime employee and volunteer Mac Welles, who died in December 2022.

This year’s recipient of the Mac Welles Award of Excellence is Tom Rovinsky, who since the early 2000s has been one of the lead racecourse water delivery drivers, fueling the 15 water and aid stations along the 26.2-mile course between Two Harbors and Duluth.

Not every water station along the race course has nearby sources to draw from, as some are located in remote areas along the shore of Lake Superior. Rovinsky begins on Friday, delivering water to those locations and continues into the morning on Saturday.

Law enforcement officers recognized for public service

A pair of long-serving northern Minnesota law enforcement officers — Pete Goman and Mike Tusken — are the recipients of this year’s Rudy Perpich Public Service Award from Grandma’s Marathon.

The award is presented annually to elected officials or public employees who help out with Grandma’s Marathon weekend, and is named after former Minnesota governor Rudy Perpich.

posted Friday June 9th
by Matt Wellens