By Zach Schneider
Noah Stevenson, Khia Kurtenbach and Caleb-Michael Files all made quite an impression in their first-ever William A. Irvin 5K, with each winning their debut to kick off the 2024 Grandma’s Marathon weekend.
Stevenson, who had been to Duluth before but never participated in a Grandma’s Marathon weekend event, won the men’s race and set a new Lakewalk course record with a time of 15:02. The 26-year-old was nearly two minutes faster than runner-up Robby Holcomb, and his time is tied for the ninth-best men’s time in the event’s 31-year history.
Jon Sinclair still owns the event record of 14:43, which he set on the Railroad Street course in the event’s inaugural year of 1994.
Kurtenbach, who will run the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon on Saturday, won the women’s race with a time of 18:19. The 28-year-old was nearly a minute faster than runner-up Regan Dewitt, who is only 19 years old and was one of five runners under 20 in this year’s women’s top 10.
Files, who will run Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday, won the non-binary race and set a new event record in the process with a time of 20:37. Files’ time was more than seven minutes better than the previous event record, which was set just last year by Mads Bartz. Samantha Frey was the runner-up, running the second-fastest non-binary time (27:17) in event history.
This was the largest William A. Irvin 5K on record, with 2,188 official finishers (894 men, 1281 women, 9 non-binary) that beat last year’s event by 35 participants.
Full results of the 2024 William A. Irvin 5K can be viewed HERE.
