“I promised her dinner and a cruise,” said Charles. “I left the paddling out.”

However, it proved to be a bonding experience. The couple has celebrated every anniversary since then by participating in some way in the 90-Miler, the annual Adirondack Canoe Classic, a three-day, 90-mile paddling event from Old Forge to Saranac Lake.

This year, they’ll mark 50 years together by joining up with friends old and new on Friday after the boats come in for the day.

They don’t race anymore, but both Charles and Sue will help their friends Brian and Grace McDonnell, the race organizers, make sure it runs smoothly.

Canoe racers start the 90-mile Adirondack Canoe Classic Friday morning in Old Forge. They’ll finish Sunday in Saranac Lake. (Photo provided — Mike Lynch)

“Right now, I’m the mean guy,” said Charles. “I pull people off the course because they haven’t made the time. They could continue if they chose to, but they would be arriving after dark.”

The two of them know the course well, having done it both together and alone.

“You’ve got to work together and make sure that the other is doing OK,” Sue said, of paddling the course as a couple. “One year he got hypothermic. Another year, I had a bum shoulder. He could tell from behind that something was not right.”

Both are glad the Raquette Lake section of the race has been changed. The race now includes Blue Mountain Lake instead.

“Raquette Lake would eat people alive,” Charles remembered.

Sue remembered a time when they paddled onto the lake from quiet water in Brown’s Tract and quickly ran into high waves: “We didn’t dare stop to put our life jackets on. We had to tack into the waves, get to land, stop, get our life jackets on and then head back into the course.”

“Probably someone goes over every year, for one reason or another,” said Sue. “Charlie, one year when he was paddling by himself, was on the smallest lake — Fifth Lake — when he had to get out and portage. He had a water bag, and he grabbed it and threw it over his shoulder. It can be the smallest motion, like that. It threw him over.”

The Boleshes have confidence in Brian McDonnell’s leadership.

“The safety system set up by Brian and his whole crew is unbelievable,” said Charles.

“The racing team canoes are very tippy ones,” Sue notes, “but those guys know what they’re doing. One year someone went over in a two-person, and we just circled back so they could put the bow of their boat over ours (to empty out the water). I don’t think it took two minutes for them to get it right and get back in the race.”

Last weekend, the Boleshes held a pre-anniversary party in their backyard, with their kids and grandkids.

“People knew where we were going to be on our anniversary,” said Sue.

Thinking back on that first race together, she said it wasn’t really a surprise: “We’d been paddling quite a bit, and he suggested it would be a fun way to celebrate. We thought we were ready for it. But that first year we overpacked.”

Charles and Sue both said the race requires a different mindset and stamina.

“If you paddle the way you’ve paddled all summer in a 10-mile race, then you still have 20 miles to go, and what have you got?” Sue said.

But, she continued, “It’s fun. It’s an adventure.

“We didn’t dream, 25 years ago, that 25 years later we’d be doing this.”

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If you go …

What: 35th annual Adirondack Canoe Classic

When: Friday through Sunday, Sept. 8-10

Where to watch:

• Day 2, today — the start at Bissell’s Field in Long Lake from 8:30-10 a.m., a hike into Stony Creek on the Raquette River, and the finish line at the Route 3/30 DEC fishing access site east of Tupper Lake

• Day 3, Sunday — starts at Fish Creek Campground, hike into Bartlett Carry, and finish line festivities on Lake Flower in Saranac Lake

More info: www.macscanoe.com, 518-891-2744 race hotline