It was an exciting finish in the 2025 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon. Murphy Smith is the 2025 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon Champion. Smith crossed the finish line with an unofficial time of 1:02:49. This is the first time the 22-year-old has run the Half Marathon in Duluth.

He says he was talking with his dad before the race and wanted to go out and embrace the challenge today. “I wanted one more race on the schedule.

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“I didn’t know what I was capable of so I just started pretty conservative,” Smith said. “Then there’s a down hill about a little after five miles, and I worked there and made a break. I took the lead of the chase pack.” Smith said he started pushing the pace and was trading the lead with one other runner.

“Yeah, dream come true,” Smith said about his great start to his marathon and road career.

Smith said he liked the course of the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon. “I embraced the challenge and won another race on the schedule.”

Smith said he just graduated from the Naval Academy about four weeks ago, running his last race in the Navy uniform about 10 days ago.

“I wanted another race to keep training and that way I gave it my all. That was a priority, and this was just the cherry on top, see what I could do, have fun out there and soft transition to the roads,” said Smith during the post-race press conference.

Mohammed Bati followed Smith to the finish, placing second with an unofficial time of 1:03:51.

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