The 2025 Grandma’s Marathon is set to take off Saturday, June 21, and one special group that will be racing is Girls on the Run. It’s a nonprofit that serves girls in third through eighth grade across the state.

“Our primary focus is just building them up socially, emotionally. So we do that through a curriculum where we teach them healthy life skills, like how to advocate for themselves and others, how to make friends, how to set boundaries. We try to build up that confidence within them while also helping them set a goal. And that goal is a culminating end of season 5k,” Stacey Haynes said.

Girls on the Run Minnesota primarily operates in the Twin Cities and SW Minnesota, but does have five locations in Duluth with four at elementary schools and one camp. For those locations, Click here.

Girls on the Run will have nine runners racing Grandma’s as Charity Partners, with the goal of raising $9,000. Launched in 2011 the organization has helped involve over 25,000 participants.

The next event in Duluth will be the KGPCo Girls on the Run Minnesota 5K Saturday, November 8 at 10 a.m. at Leif Erikson Park. For information on signing up, Click here.