Annie Frisbie again gets best of best friend Dakotah Popehn in Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon

DULUTH – Minnesota’s best running rivalry is between best friends: Annie Frisbie of Edina and Dakotah Popehn of Hopkins.

And at the moment, Frisbie has taken the lead. For a second year in a row, she beat Popehn for the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon women’s title Saturday.

Frisbie, 28, edged ahead of Popehn, 30, with less than a half-mile to go in the 13.1-mile race to win in 1 hour, 9 minutes, 5 seconds and earn $3,000. Popehn, 30, finished in 1:09:13 and made $2,000.

First-time entrant Murphy Smith, 22, of Charlotte, N.C., a recent U.S. Naval Academy graduate, won the men’s race in 1:02:49 to make $3,000. A record 9,762 runners were entered in the 35th annual race, which was delayed a half-hour because of early-morning rain.

“I’m not competitive in many things, but I am in running. We are both very competitive,” said Frisbie, who grew up in River Falls, Wis., and earned a graphic design degree at Iowa State. “We’re both in good shape and we thought this would be close, and we knew we’d fight right to the end.”

Popehn is the better-known of the Minnesota Distance Elite teammates. She qualified for the 2024 Olympics in Paris and was the top American finisher in the marathon last August, placing 12th. And she won Grandma’s Marathon women’s titles in 2021 and ’22.

Now the past four head-to-head meetings have gone to Frisbie — twice in Duluth, the 2025 Boston Marathon on April 21 (Frisbie eighth in a personal-best 2:23:21, Popehn 16th in 2:26:09) and the NYC Mini 10K on June 7 (Frisbie 12th in 32:05, Popehn 24th in 33:15).

“We do almost every workout together and know each other so well, but when it comes to racing, we keep our cards pretty close to the vest,” said Popehn, who grew up in St. Francis as Dakotah Lindwurm and married Montana Popehn last Oct. 27. “We run better when we run together and often it comes right down to the end and it is all grit and guts.”

It was back-and-forth on a humid morning with only the two friends in contention. Frisbie led the early miles; Popehn moved ahead at 6 miles and had an advantage of 8-10 seconds. Then, on the Canal Park Drive final straightaway, Frisbie caught her buddy.

“I told myself, ‘Don’t give up.’ And I just started counting the seconds between us and hoped those seconds would keep shrinking,” Frisbie said.

Another Minnesota Distance elite runner, Elena Hayday, 25, of Minneapolis, was third in 1:12:22 to earn $1,500.

Smith’s focus this spring was on the NCAA track and field championships and the 10K. He qualified and placed 13th in 29:18 on June 11 in Eugene, Ore., in his final college race.

But the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon was also on his schedule.

“I’m a running nerd, and I knew I needed another goal to keep me motivated. I was stepping away from track, and I looked for the fastest half marathon I could find,” said Smith, a Navy ensign who earned an economics degree and will start graduate work at Boston College this fall. “I went out conservatively today and got maybe 40 seconds behind and then got going.”

Ethiopian Mohammed Beti, 25, an Augsburg junior who attended St. Paul Highland Park, was second in a personal-best 1:03:51 to earn $2,000. Mexico’s Ayrton Ledesma, 27, was third in 1:03:51 to earn $1,500.

Warmer-than-normal temperatures and high humidity meant the medical tents were busier than usual, with 250 patients Saturday.

But race medical director Kaily McLellan said the day went well, considering the conditions.

“It was a little higher number than average, but a much lighter number of runners compared to what we expected,” said McLellan, a sports medicine physician at Essentia Health in her third year with the race.

The majority of runners were treated for dehydration and elevated temperatures, some as high as 108 degrees. Eight runners were transported from the course to a hospital, and all were later released.

There were 170 runners treated in 2024 and 200 in 2023.

An early-morning rainstorm had toppled the medical tents, but they were back in working order for the marathon and half marathon.

A push over Lemon Drop Hill at 22 miles propelled Colombian Luis Francisco Sanclemente, 37, to a second consecutive Grandma’s Marathon men’s wheelchair title. He pulled away from five-time winner and Minnesota native Aaron Pike to win in 1:26:02. Pike, 39, was 48 seconds behind in 1:26:50.

“This is one of the best races in the world for me, and I felt very strong today,” said Sanclemente, a 2024 Paralympic Games entrant in Paris and winner of a third consecutive Los Angeles Marathon men’s title March 16.

The race was the first of 2025 for Pike. “The humidity today was a major factor, and Luis was very strong and handled it well,” Pike said.

Vanessa Cristina de Souza, 35, of Brazil won the women’s race in 1:39:55.

Entering Saturday, two men had completed all previous Grandma’s Marathon races since the event began in 1977.

Two Harbors native John Naslund, 75, extended his streak to 49, finishing in 5:31:06, placing fifth in the 75-79 age group. Now living in Bloomington, he has also finished all 41 Twin Cities Marathon races.

Duluth native Jim Nowak, 74, of Cornell, Wis., was not listed among the marathon finishers, according to Mtec Results. He had no time recorded after passing the 16.2-mile mark.

• Grandma’s Marathon had 7,533 timed finishers as of 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The race record for finishers is 7,578 in 2024.

• The Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon had a record 8,328 finishers from an entry field of 9,762, breaking the mark of 7,917 finishers in 2016.

• Former Minnesotan Charlie Lawrence, 30, of Boulder, Colo., placed 10th in the half marathon in 1:06:27.

• Tanner Longshore, 22, of Duluth was the half-marathon non-binary winner in 1:40:35.