The Brothers Evans are nothing if not loyal sons of Duluth. Though they're scattered by time and circumstance, every June for the last 31 years the brothers—Matt, Alan, and Jim—have returned to their Minnesota hometown to run Grandma's Marathon. To date, the Evanses have run the race a collective 102 times—frequently in blistering times, recently in costume as Oregon track legend Steve Prefontaine.
Jim, Alan, and Matt Evans with their parents, Bob and Mary. Photo by Ryan Lowry.
The brothers began competing in Grandma's, which traces the north shore of Lake Superior, as teenagers. Since then, Jim has collected 37 Grandma's medals, Alan has 34, and Matt has 31. Credit goes to their mom, Mary. Back in 1988, the race offered lifetime memberships to runners for $100, and so Mary took advantage of the deal and bought three of them. "It's the best $300 she ever invested," Alan says. "It ensures that we're going to be home every year.'" A tradition was never the plan, the brothers say, but now the juggernaut can't be stopped even as times slow and joints grow noisier. "We're creatures of habit," Jim says. "I don't know if that's sad or not."
Mostly, race weekend is a chance to see parents and old friends and then run alongside brothers. "We aren't doing a lot of marathons because we love marathons," Matt says. "We are doing Grandma's because it's the marathon we do together."
