Edwards and Konkler each held a 50 percent ownership of Inspiration Sports LLC, their corporation that founded and managed the Lake Placid Marathon and Half until the recent sale. The event began in 2005.

Borzilleri is also race director of the annual Ironman Lake Placid triathlon and owner of Mirror Lake Boat Rental. Edwards is vice president of North American operations for Ironman. Both men live in Lake Placid. Konkler lives in Minnesota.

Borzilleri said Monday he and Edwards are close friends and had talked on and off about Borzilleri purchasing the annual early summer races several times over the past four years, since Edwards was promoted to the vice president position with Ironman. Borzilleri said Edwards was interested in selling the event to him as he had been involved in helping put on the race in recent years and Edwards had less time to focus on it due to time devoted to Ironman North America.

Borzilleri said the sale was finalized in mid-October and that this year’s races will take place on Sunday, June 11. He declined to disclose the price.

Greg Borzilleri rides a bike while working the Ironman Lake Placid. (Enterprise file photo — Lou Reuter)

Since the purchase, Borzilleri has had the marathon certified by USA Track and Field as an official qualifying race for the Boston Marathon, which takes place annually in April.

Borzilleri said the Lake Placid races have seen a major decline in participants, from a high of more than 2,000 between the full and half marathons six years ago down to about 1,000 last year. He hopes its connection to the Boston Marathon will reinvigorate interest. He said he’d love to see 1,500 runners in June and back over 2,000 in subsequent years.

“Before I even signed the purchase agreement, I called Dave McGillivray, the owner of DMSE Sports and the race director of the Boston Marathon,” Borzilleri said. “I called and said, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about buying this race.’ We’re hoping the word will spread and give people a chance to qualify right here in Lake Placid for the most famous marathon in the world.

“That was the goal,” he continued, “because obviously there are a lot of races that are Boston qualifiers, but this is a pretty long-standing race for our region. (The qualifier) was something people were asking for, and we’re finally delivering on that.”

Borzilleri organized the “Boston Strong LP” tribute run in Lake Placid three years ago after the Boston Marathon bombing. On Monday he said the organizing he did in less than a week for that 2013 event has been the highlight of his race organizing career.

In 2012, Borzilleri was hired underneath Edwards as the triathlon’s assistant race director. It’s a job that entails coordinating with many people and organizing temporary infrastructure in the weeks leading up to the race. Borzilleri thinks his track record of helping to prepare the village for the Ironman weekend will benefit the Lake Placid Marathon and Half-Marathon, and he said he plans to use social media more to grow interest in the June races.

His marketing and advertising approach will include outreach to past and current Ironman Lake Placid competitors, promoting the Lake Placid Marathon and Half-Marathon as an ideal warm-up for the 70.3-mile Tupper Lake Tinman triathlon on June 24, 2017, July’s Ironman Lake Placid (140.6 miles) and September’s first Ironman Lake Placid 70.3. He estimates about half of Lake Placid Marathon competitors are currently training for Ironman Lake Placid, past Ironman Lake Placid competitors and others interested in the triathlon.

He said his goal for the event would be to model it after Ironman in increasing its community-wide scope outside of just the races, including an expanded vendor village at the Olympic Speedskating Oval.

“I’m open to suggestions from the local running community,” he said.

Borzilleri is also considering adding a 5K race that would start on Main Street and go clockwise around Mirror Lake to Parkside Drive.

He also said he will redo the event’s logo.

Registration for the Lake Placid Marathon and Half-Marathon opened on Nov. 4, and Borzilleri said 70 people have so far signed up for an early-bird rate in just over a week, which he said was ahead of schedule.

Borzilleri raised prices for the races $2, with the goal of donating $2 from each entrant to two different local charities.

“We will choose a people charity and an animal charity,” he said. “Hopefully it will be something impactful.”

The current entry fees are $82 for the half-marathon or $92 for the marathon, as listed on www.lakeplacidmarathon.com. Starting Dec. 5, prices increase to $92 for the half-marathon and $102 for the marathon. On April 2, 2017, prices increase to $102 for the half-marathon and $112 for the marathon.