The women’s title at the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon 2023 was won today by Maggie Montoya. The racer completed the tough course in Duluth on Saturday, shattering the women’s record, under clear sky and ideal mild temps. Maggie Montoya beat Kara Goucher’s 2012 course best of 1:09:46 with a time of 1:09:26. This was Montoya’s debut race in Duluth.

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Who is Maggie Montoya?

Maggie Montoya is a 25-year-old professional distance runner. She began running when she was in the eighth grade. She earned a total of 17 cross-country and track state championships at Rogers High School in Rogers, Arkansas.

Maggie continued to run at Baylor University, where as a senior in 2017 she won the 3,000-meter event at the Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championships, helping the Bears win their first-ever conference championship. She quickly established two new personal records for the 1500 meters in June 2018—a 4:15.77 at the Music City Distance Carnival and a 4:15.71 at the Portland Track Festival. She moved to Boulder in the late summer. She broke many such records since then.

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Maggie was working a shift in the pharmacy section of a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder on March 22, 2021, a day after getting home from her seventh-place result at the U.S. 15K championships in Jacksonville, Florida. Sadly, a disturbed gunman opened fire inside the store, killing 10 people, including the initial responding police officer.

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Although Montoya was unharmed physically, the episode clearly traumatized her. Even if the incident isn’t completely behind her—and possibly never will be—Montoya has moved on and is in a good position right now because to her community of family, friends, and teammates, a person close to her claims.