On an afternoon where temperatures made it warm enough that gloves were almost optional and the trails at Dewey Mountain were in optimum condition for snowshoe racing, 10 athletes competed in a 5-kilometer race and 11 took on the 10k distance.

The field of 21 total participants included numerous members of the Paul Smith’s College Striders snowshoe team, a group of local racers and another handful of visitors to the area who were excited to take a shot at running in snowshoes on the Dewey Mountain Recreation Center’s course.

The races kicked off the third annual Adirondack Snowshoe Festival, with the event also featuring a 15k competition Sunday at the Paul Smith’s Visitors Interpretive Center.

Matt Medeiros and Ellen Beth won the men’s and women’s titles in Saturday’s 10k race and Zachary Sprott-Scribner and Christine Viola claimed the top spots in the 5k.

Christine Viola and Tom Hesseltine compete in the 5-kilometer snowshoe race Saturday at the Dewey Mountain Recreation Center in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Exactly one week before he raced in Saranac Lake, Medeiros was competing in Japan at the 2020 Snowshoe World Championships. The former distance running standout and current coach at Saranac Central said he really was just trying “shake out the cobwebs” in Saturday’s 10k race. He finished runner-up in the same race in 2019 and was about 12 minutes slower this time around. Medeiros crossed the line nearly 10 minutes ahead of the next-closest competitor in a winning time of 50 minutes, 16 seconds.

In Japan last weekend, Medeiros placed 14th among the 89 males who were in the world championship race that was just shy of 10 kilometers.

“I was just trying to get the legs back in motion after the world championships,” he said. “My sleep schedule has been way off since I flew out there. It’s been a long week. I’m starting to get ready for some big races later in the season, and this is training for me.

“I like doing things like this, and I’m a big advocate for being on the trails,” Medeiros added. “I’d rather be hitting the trails. A lot less impact on the joints, and this time of year, it’s a safety issue too. It’s a lot better being off the road and avoiding traffic.”

Saranac Lake’s Jeremy Evans was the overall runner-up in the 10k, finishing in 1:00:12. Ellen Beth placed third overall and won the women’s 10k title. The resident of Haddam, Connecticut crossed the line in 1:00:55.

Paul Smith’s College team members grabbed the next two spots with Nicholas Ferarra placing fourth in 1:04:33 and Zachary Bobbie rounding out the top five in 1:16:52.

Finishing in order, the rest of the 10k field included Michael Dacosta, Karen Kleinschmidt, James Miner, Kelly Bosloper, Margret Montag and Bekkie Wright.

A first-year member of the Striders and also a rookie snowshoe racer, Sprott-Scribner posted a winning 5k time of 31:36. Prior to this winter, the freshman transfer student at Paul Smith’s has solely been a snowboard cross racer and a past competitor in that event at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association’s national championships. Along with his Paul Smith’s teammates, Sprott-Scribner is preparing for the national snowshoe championships taking place this weekend in Leadville, Colorado.

Saturday’s trip to Dewey Mountain was the first time Sprott-Scribner had snowshoed on the trails there.

“It was a fun course, it was nicely packed, good flow to it, light hills — just a nice overall run and a beautiful place,” said Sprott-Scribner, who is a native of Watertown. “I did my first 15k ever on snowshoes two weeks ago. I came in first by a couple minutes. It was hard, but it was satisfying.

“It’s my first winter ever snowshoeing,” he added. “Before this, I stuck to a board and was riding down the hills. Now I’ve started running up them too. I love it.”

Saranac Lake’s Aaron Hesseltine was second overall in the 5k, finishing in 35:32.

Viola had never raced on snowshoes before Saturday, and the resident of Manlius is now 1-for-1 as a competitor, winning the women’s 5k and finishing third overall in 35:55.

Along with her family, Viola was on a weekend visit to the area. In addition to racing, she watched some hockey games and checked out festivities during the 40th anniversary celebration of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid and skated on Mirror Lake.

“I didn’t come specifically for the race, but I figured I’d give it a try,” Viola said. “I certainly didn’t plan on winning. I’ve never done this before. It was all about putting one foot in front of the other.”

Saranac Lake’s Tom Hesseltine placed fourth in 36:39 and Devin Decosta of New York City was fifth in 39:37. Thomas Firkins placed sixth, Alex Evans was seventh, Mary Ryan finished eighth, Joseph Poliquin was ninth and Bonnie Hallinan rounded out the 5k field in 10th place.