Three records broken in 31st annual William A. Irvin 5k

Friday night’s William A. Irvin 5k saw some of their fastest times in their 31-year history.

The race began at 6 p.m. outside of the DECC in Duluth’s Canal Park. Spectators would only have to wait 15 minutes to see Noah Stevenson claim the men’s crown at the finish line in Bayfront Park, finishing with a championship time of 15:02.

“I was trying to come out and beat the overall record, but the course was pretty tough. It was pretty technical. It kind of reminded me of like a crit race, but it was fun. The vibe was really awesome, it was really close to the crowd the whole time,” Stevenson said. “Duluth is beautiful. Everyone needs to come out and do the Grandma’s Marathon weekend.”

Stevenson’s time of 15:02 breaks the Lakewalk course record of 15:34, set by Dustin Franta in 2017. He was just shy of the overall event record of 14:43 set on the Railroad Street course in 1994 by John Sinclair. Stevenson, a 26-year-old from Kansas, finished almost two minutes ahead of the runner-up Robby Holcomb.

Khia Kurtenbach, a 28-year-old from New York, claimed the women’s championship finishing with a time of 18:19. Her mom Kristie would also complete the race in 26:14.

“My mom has been doing Grandma’s Marathon or Half Marathon since the 80’s, and it’s her birthday today. It was really fun to race it with her. She came in a little bit, a few minutes later but now she’s here with me at the finish,” Kurtenbach shared.

Rounding out the winners circle was Caleb-Michael Files, a 32-year-old from Washington D.C., who claimed the non-binary title finishing with a time of 20:37. This beat the original course record of 28:04 by more than seven minutes, set by Mads Bartz in 2023.

In all, there were a record 2,188 finishers (894 men, 1281 women, 9 non-binary) which beat last year’s event by 35 participants. For full results, Click Here.