Originally slated to be held around the perimeter of frozen Mirror Lake, the 26.2-mile marathon skate was moved to the Olympic Skating Oval as lake ice proved to be too rough for speed skates.

But unlike the modern-day sport of speedskating, this was a throwback to the days when long track was an outdoor sport, and the athletes battled the elements as well as technique while the race grew longer.

Codd, on his home track, turned back the field of 14 in a time of 1 hour, 19 minutes, 9.1 seconds. The event was held on the same surface that saw Eric Heiden win five Olympic gold medals in 1980.

The gold medalist turned 109 laps around the 400-meter oval, and defeated Sergio Almeralla, of Ottawa, who recorded 1:20.53.3 on a wintry, 17-degree Adirondack afternoon. The bronze medalist was Edward Montalbano, of Saugerties.

Riders navigate the Empire State Winter Games bike course Saturday at Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington. (Photo provided — ROOST/eswgames.com)

Larouche, of Orford, Quebec, outskated five other women in claiming ESWG gold. Her time of 1:24.15.3 cleared Lacey Greenamyre, who completed the grueling task in 1:41.56.9. Greenamyre, of Middlebury, Vermont, cleared Sarah Crovella by 6.5 minutes. Crovella, of Manlius, picked up the bronze medal in 1:48.29.7.

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Winter Bike

  WILMINGTON — Winter biking at Whiteface Mountain marked the return of the fat tire events that started at last year’s Empire State Winter Games.

Winter bike used runs that started and ended near the Mixing Bowl and Bear trails. Recent snowfall in excess of two and a half feet made for invigorating biking, particularly on the uphill sections.

Rosanne VanDorn, of Lake Placid, captured the gold medal in the cross country division on Friday, pedaling the course in 1 hour, 5 minutes, 59 seconds. Marit Sheffield, of Pittsford, was about three and a half minutes behind but good enough for the silver in 1:09.35, while Emily O’Mahony, from Saranac Lake, took bronze with a time of 1:25.56.

Andy August, also of Pittsford, broke the 50-minute barrier as he crushed the course in 49.22, followed by silver medalist Tyler Berliner, of Richmond, Vermont, in 50.37. Ben Emery, of Burlington, Vermont, picked up the bronze in 57.42.

Lauren Peterson grabbed gold in winter bike cross, also on Friday, with VanDorn second and O’Mahony third.

In the men’s bracket, Brad Tasik, of Wyckoff, New Jersey, was victorious, ahead of silver medalist Seamus Powell, of Round Top, and bronze medal winner Eric Lendrum, of Queensbury.

The six-lap U14 winter bike enduro event on Sunday went to Lilly Vaughn, of Newcomb, in 54.36, with Elliott Vaughn, also of Newcomb, scoring the boy’s gold and Robbie Sinclair taking silver.

VanDorn won the eight-lap women’s event for her third gold medal. She blistered the course in 37.43, with Sierra and Emily O’Mahony, both of Saranac Lake, getting silver and bronze, respectively. Sierra clocked 1:00.48, while Emily was timed in 1:01.25.

The eight-lap men’s competition saw Scott Lawrence, of Wilmington, race to the gold medal time of 31.48. Silver was taken by Nick Seleni, of Saranac Lake, in 34.13, while Bill McGreevy, also of Wilmington, won bronze in 34.44.

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Big Air, Slopestyle

MALONE — In its second year as a host venue, Titus Mountain in Malone literally went huge this weekend for big air and slopestyle competitions at the Empire State Winter Games.

Jacob Pritchard, of Old Forge, won the gold medal in the Big Air Open Men’s Ski division, as the field put on an aerial display for the fans who could watch from the comfort of the base lodge.

The silver medalist was Maxwell Maurer, of Canton, with the bronze going to Avery Higgins-Lopez, of Ithaca.

The Open Women’s Ski category went to Jordana Parliament, of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, over silver medal winner Julia Schneider, of Little Silver, New Jersey.

Justin Morgan, of Schenectady, was the Open Men’s Snowboard gold medalist. Morgan was followed by two Plattsburgh riders, with Tony Russo, second, and Josh Boise, third.

Youngsters were able to session Titus Mountain’s slopestyle features over the weekend. Skier Zach LaBarge, of Ticonderoga, won the U14 division. Marc Bilow, of Chasm Falls, got the silver medal and Matthew Thompson, of Saratoga Springs, picked up a bronze medal.

The 15 to 17-year old ski division went to Ben Fellion, of Malone, on his home hill. James Ward, of Queensbury, was second and Kevin Quinn, of Lake Placid, third.

Parliament’s second gold medal came in the Open Women’s Slopestyle event, with Schneider, once again, the runner-up.

Bryant Ward, of Queensbury, was the Open Men’s Ski winner; Tucker Lawrence, of Malone, sponsored by Titus Mountain, was the silver medalist; Maurer added a bronze medal to his ESWG collection.

In U14 Slopestyle snowboarding, the gold medalists were Shannon Bentley, of Wilmington, and Robbie Sinclair, of Saranac Lake, in the girls and boys divisions, respectively.

Sullivan Bilow, of Malone, was the gold medalist in the 15 to 17-year-old snowboard competition; silver went to Maxance Daenen, of Bethel, Maine, with bronze earned by Colin Bentley, of Wilmington.

Morgan defeated the field in Open Men’s Slopestyle for his second gold medal. Daniel Badgley, of Owls Head, also sponsored by Titus Mountain, was runner-up, and Russo finished third.

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Women’s Hockey

TUPPER LAKE — The Champlain Valley women’s hockey team, featuring nine former SUNY Plattsburgh players who have won NCAA Division III championships, captured the gold medal Sunday in Tupper Lake at the Empire State Winter Games.

The gold medalists went through the tournament undefeated, and turned back Western New York, 5-1, in their closest game of the three-day event at the Civic Center. Western won the silver medal.

Champlain Valley broke a scoreless tie in the second period with three goals and were never overtaken. Five different goal scorers got the job done, led by Olivia Cook and Kate Fairchild, each with a goal and an assist. Cook is the current girls hockey coach at Salmon River Central School.

Adirondack clinched the bronze medal with a 6-3 defeat of New York City, avenging an opening round 4-2 setback on Friday.

Christin Powers scored twice, while teammates Carolyn Valentine, Stephanie DeMars and Allison Miller added single goals.

The 12U girls ESWG champion was Rochester in a thrilling 5-4 shootout victory over Canton. With Rochester leading 2-1 in the final period, Canton pulled its goaltender in favor of the sixth attacker and knotted the score with :41 remaining. The six-minute overtime was scoreless, but in the shoot-out, Rochester outscored Canton, 3-2, for the gold medal.

Rome went home with the bronze after dropping Albany, 5-1.

Pelham won the squirt tournament in Lake Placid, playing undefeated hockey in the process. They handled Cortland 11-0, SaraPlacid 7-2, Oswego 8-0, Tupper Lake 10-1, and Saugerties 5-2 in the gold medal game. Batavia defeated Oswego, 4-2, for the bronze medal.

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Luge

LAKE PLACID — Temperatures of 15 degrees Saturday morning led to fast sliding conditions at Mount Van Hoevenberg for youth division luge races at the Empire State Winter Games.

Gavin Shamis, of Shelburne, Vermont, came from behind in the second run to overtake Noah Boggess for the gold medal in youth A. Boggess, of Montague, Michigan, held the first run advantage by 0.3 of a second, before Shamis came on to win the final heat and the race.

The gold medalist, racing from the World Cup women’s/doubles start at the Olympic Sports Complex, totaled 1 minute, 33.552 seconds for his two runs down the three-quarters of a mile track. The silver medal time for Boggess was 1:33.888, with Eamonn Bottger, of Burlington, Vermont, taking bronze in 1:34.728.

Selena Jeskanen, of Peru, New York, captured the youth A women’s race from the same start position. 

Jeskanen’s runs totaled 1:32.485. She was followed by Molly Loucy, of Milton, Vermont, 0.2 of a second off the winning pace after posting the best final heat. The effort elevated Loucy from third place to second. The bronze medal went to Reannyn Weiler, of Whitesboro, who trailed Loucy by only 0.01 of a second.

Hunter Harris, of East Fairfield, Vermont, won the men’s youth race. Harris’s two attempts were the fastest of the race and totaled 1:33.140. Sean Rogers took the silver medal in 1:33.888, with Nick Iverson, of Park City, Utah, securing the bronze in 1:38.862.

Matt Greiner was crowned champion in youth B men, showing consistent speed as he had the top two runs of the race. The Park City racer totaled 1:32.421, defeating Aidan Mueller by two seconds. Mueller, of West Islip, recorded 1:34.493. The bronze medalist was Ian Thomas, of Park City, nearly three seconds from Greiner.

Maya Chan, of Chicago, won the youth B women’s event in 1:34.665. Chan was followed by Emma Erickson, of Oneida, Wisonsin, in 1:38.300, and Delaney Duncan, of Park City, in 1:40.420.

Bill Dearborn won the luge Masters division Sunday morning on the third and final day of competition.

Dearborn had a pair of consistent starts from the World Cup women’s and doubles handles and converted them to the fastest heats of the race. The Epsom, New Hampshire. racer had a total time of 1 minute, 31.708 seconds.

Silver medalist Anthony Shimkonis, of Wilmington, North Carolina, was timed in 1:33.025. Bronze medal winner Jim Murphy, of Amherst, New Hampshire, dominated the race everywhere but at the finish, as his split times lead throughout. His third place time was 1:34.400.

Youth C women was contested from the lower start (#5) on a day that saw temperatures moderate into the upper-20s. Finley Mazlo, of Souderton, Pennsylvania, took the gold medal with two heats totaling 1:06.799. Kelsey Mueller, of West Islip, won silver in 1:09.175, while the bronze medal went to Summer Sichler, of Patterson, in a time of 1:11.195.

A group of new athletes were introduced to luge Sunday. They received coaching and several training runs prior to a one-heat race for the medals. Matthew McLaughlin won this novice event as the Holland Patent, competitor put down a run time of 34.392 from start five.

The silver was taken by Marcus Faucon, of North Andover, Massachusetts, in 34.563, with the bronze to Brennan Peters, of Peru, in 34.657.

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Adaptive Biathlon

  LAKE PLACID — On a quintessential Adirondack winter day, Jason Pollock, of Salem, New York, won the adaptive biathlon sit-ski category in 29 minutes, 47 seconds. William Ward, of Schenectady, was on Pollock’s heels and settled for the bronze medal in 30:04.

Gold medalist in standing sprint was David Nichols, of Stone Ridge, in 28.35.

The women’s ESWG standing sprint champion was Jen Allen, of Saugerties, with a time of 31:38. The silver medal went to Antoinette Wallace, of Iselin, New Jersey in 34:02. The bronze medalist was Gail Schnell, of Acockeek, Maryland, who crossed the finish line in 37.36.

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Adaptive Skiing

WILMINGTON — Whiteface Mountain’s Mixing Bowl beginner trail was the scene of adaptive alpine ski and snowboard racing Saturday.

Race organizers used a better of two runs format.

On a snowy afternoon, Abigail Radliff, of Stillwater, was the gold medalist in the sit-ski division. Radliff cruised the course in 30.68 seconds.

The men’s sit-ski gold medalist was Andrew Geyer, of Huntington, crossing the finish line in 26.03, followed by Stephen Wamp, of Farmington, with the silver medal time of 34.11.

In Standing-C, it was Thomas Moran, of Hopewell Junction, defeating Douglas Rogers, of Albany, with a winning time of 24.51. Rogers took silver in 33.47.

Amelia Smollens, of New York City, was the gold medalist among the women.

The standing classification saw Keegan Moreau, of Auburn, Maine, ski to victory in the women’s competition in 26.70. Gold in the men’s category went to Ajay Beaudoin, of Lewiston, Maine, in 24.31, as Michael O’Hearn grabbed the silver medal in 27.22.

Kelly O’Sullivan, of Douglaston, N.Y., won the gold medal among female visually impaired skiers.

The gold medal in snowboarding went to another New York City competitor, Charles Kleiman, in 45.05. 

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Cross-country skiing

LAKE PLACID — Lake Placid’s Jesse Izzo raced to the 6-kilometer cross country ski race gold medal Saturday at the Empire State Winter Games.

Izzo negotiated the 3.7-mile course on the 1980 Olympic trail network, in 19 minutes, 49.7 seconds. On a track that was packed and tracked with a combination of natural and artificial snow, Izzo bested Joseph Wilson, of Keene, by 21 seconds for the victory. Wilson’s second place time was 20:11.0, with third place going to Alexandar Fragomeni, of Saratoga Springs, who clocked 20:50.8.

The top five in the field were under 16 years of age.

The first woman across the finish line was Sylvie Linck, of Saranac Lake, in 23.33.2, followed by Marli Damp, of Lake Placid, in a time of 23:43.2. Annalise Beyerbach, of Queensbury, placed third in 27:20.7.

Paul Allison, of North Creek, cruised to an ESWG gold medal by over two minutes in the 18-kilometer (11.2-mile) race. Allison’s time of 53:36.2 relegated Everett Sapp, of Morrisonville, to the silver medal in 55:27.9, while the bronze medal was taken by Brian Beyerbach, of Queensbury, in 57:21.1.

The 18K woman’s champion was Elizabeth Izzo, also of Lake Placid, who strided her way to a time of 1 hour, 4 minutes, 16.3 seconds. Another Queensbury racer, Emily Atamanchuck, won the silver medal in 1:19.13.5. The bronze medalist was Anna Wiedmann, of Clifton Park, in 1:20.22.0.

Bill and Judy Borzilleri, of Lake Placid, were the veteran competitors in the event. Judy, 79, won the 6-kilometer M10 division in 55:05.3, while husband Bill, 82, won the M11 event in 49:17.5.

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