Joel Reichow and Maggie Montoya took first and second place in today’s Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon 2023, respectively. Montoya broke the women’s record when the athletes finished the challenging course in Duluth on Saturday under a clear sky and in ideal frigid weather.
In the men’s race, Minnesota native Reichow, 29, displayed tremendous speed and perseverance. After ramping up the pace in the final mile and a half, he separated himself from the pack and finished first in 1:02:30.
The eighth-best time in race history was set by Reichow. He decreased his previous best by eight seconds. Afewerki Zeru finished in second place with a time of 1:02:40, and Habtamu Cheney completed the podium in third place with a time of 1:03:19. Tyler Jermann, 30, a resident of St. Paul, was
“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.
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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.
