Grandma's Marathon Round-Up

With the 34th Grandma's Marathon just two days away, we've decided to gather the latest news from up Duluth way in preparation for the event ...

Akor Faces Surgery Post-Race ... Three-time Grandma's Marathon women's champion Mary Akor is scheduled to have surgery for uterine fibroids on June 25, but that won't stop her from racing for an unprecedented fourth-straight Grandma's title on Saturday.

The Nigerian-born American, reports Kevin Pates of the Duluth News-Tribune HERE, has dealt with the problem, which causes intense abdominal pain, for a long time.

Cabada on Comeback Trail ... Fernando Cabada, who won an emotion victory at the 2008 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, will race in the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon at Grandma's as part of a comeback from injury.

In another Kevin Pates story, HERE, Cabada explains how an Achilles tendon injury kept him off the 2009 World Championships team in the marathon. In 2008, Cabada was runner-up in the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon. Last year he finished third.

Hear his emotional media interview after the 2008 Twin Cities Marathon HERE.

Chip Problems Fixed, Timers Say ... A chip-timing problem that lost some 150 names and times from the early, unofficial results at last year's Grandma's Marathon has been fixed, race organizers and timing company officials say.

The DNT reports, HERE, that the race will use an older, more resilient style of timing chip which is impervious to water this year. Runners' dousing themselves -- and their chips -- with water was thought to be the source of last year's problems,

Join Us on Saturday ... We'll be on hand Saturday morning providing live-text coverage of Grandma's Marathon and the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon. If you can't make it to the race, follow all the action with us!