The winners of today’s Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon 2023 were Joel Reichow and Maggie Montoya, respectively. The athletes completed the tough route in Duluth on Saturday under clear sky and in ideal chilly conditions, with Montoya shattering the women’s record.

Reichow, 29, a native of Minnesota, demonstrated incredible speed and tenacity in the men’s race. He pulled away from the group and won with a timing of 1:02:30 after picking up the pace in the final mile and a half.

Reichow’s time was eighth-best in race history. He cut eight seconds off his previous best. Afewerki Zeru secured the second position, clocking in at 1:02:40, while Habtamu Cheney rounded out the podium, finishing with a time of 1:03:19. St. Paul resident Tyler Jermann, 30, was seventh at 1:04:29.

“I tried to get it out a little bit quickly, and then people kind of caught up to me,” the speaker said. stated Reichow.

Reichow was able to establish his authority and come out on top despite a balanced start and tough opposition later on.

“I was pretty confident in my race strategy and I tried to keep the pressure on” running a 4:30 mile near the end, said Reichow, who runs for the Minnesota Distance Elite team and is a sales manager for the Fleet Feet Marathon Sports store in Minneapolis. “This ranks pretty high among my accomplishments. This is an iconic race, and it was super cool to hear people cheering my name on the course.”

For the wins, Joel Reichow and Maggie Montoya each collected Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon prize money of USD $3,000.

The total prize money for the 2023 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon is $26,100.00 and will be delegated down to the top 10 finishers in the elite races.