Runners take over Main Street after shortly after leaving the starting line in the 14th annual Lake Placid Marathon held on June, 10, 2018. (Enterprise photo —  Lou Reuter)

LAKE PLACID — Since the start of the Lake Placid Marathon and Half nearly 19 years ago, the event has seen runners from all different backgrounds come and go.

Whether it’s someone’s 150th marathon or their first, the marathon and half seem to tell a story. According to race owner and operator Greg Borzilleri, this year will be no exception.

“There is a bunch of good stories,” he said. “A mom and three sisters from Houston, Texas are coming all the way up here to run their marathon. They joined the 50 states club. So they are trying to run a marathon in all 50 states. They’ve only been running since 2021, and this is number 13. It’s lucky number 13 for them.”

According to Borzilleri, this year’s Lake Placid Marathon and Half, which is set to take place on Sunday, might be the biggest in numbers since he took over in 2017.

Borzilleri guessed that the total number of participants on the road Sunday would about 950, which includes the new 10K race.

Since its inception, the event only featured the half (13.1 miles) and full (26.2 miles) marathons, but this year’s event will hold a 10K race.

As of Tuesday, June 6, Borzilleri said that only 30 people had signed up for the 10K, but he expects to sell out by race time on Sunday with the event starting at 8 a.m. Participants aged 13 and older were eligible for the 10K, with racers under 18 needing a parent/guardian signature at check-in.

With the addition of the 10K, there will be a separate medal set and a separate T-shirt for each finisher. The 10K finisher medal will be wooden, while the full marathon medal will receive a medal medallion with a red outline of the course and the half will have a blue outline.

“I’m excited about the 10K to see how popular that becomes and whether that works for us,” Borzilleri said.

The event also lowered the minimum age for the full marathon participants from 18 to 16 for the first time this year. But so far, Borzilleri said there is just one person in that age group signed up.

“Everything else looks pretty smooth,” Borzilleri said. “The weather looks like it will be decent — not great — but I think we’ll be good.”

The three races are slated to start and end at the Olympic Speedskating Oval in Lake Placid for the first time since 2019. All three races will begin at the same time. The cut-off time is 2 p.m.

In 2020, the race was canceled due to the pandemic, and the finish line in 2021 and 2022 was located at Jewtraw Park on Station Street.

Due to the new starting and ending point, Borzilleri said the course has changed a little this year.

“We’re not going up the high school ramp,” he said. “We’re going up School Street and Main Street to the Oval to finish. We’re trying to avoid the hard left-hand turn to that steep ramp. That’s a minor course change but that’s pretty much it.”

The event will also hold registration at the Olympic Speedskating Oval.

“My goals are to make sure everybody has a good time and they are safe and hopefully they come back and visit us again,” Borzilleri said.

On Saturday, the day before the race, the Lake Placid Marathon and Half will hold a children’s run from 2 to 3 p.m. Registration for that event starts at 1 p.m. Kids of all ages can participate on courses of varying lengths.

“We’re going to give them past year’s bibs and past year’s awards,” Borzilleri said. “It’ll be a hand-me-down race, but there’s no charge for it. That’ll be fun.”

The Lake Placid Marathon and Half will donate $2,000 to the Educational Opportunity Fund for the Lake Placid Central School and $1,400 to the Joshua Fund Dog Rescue on race day.

“We’ll probably have one of our biggest charity donation components because we had a lot of check-offs,” he said. “A lot of people would donate through the check-off system when they registered.”

For more information, visit lakeplacidmarathon.com.

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Road closures

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¯ Main Street: Closed between each end of Mirror Lake Drive (between Central Garage and High Peaks Resort) from 7:45-8:30 a.m. No overnight parking Saturday night — from 2 a.m. Sunday morning on Main Street from Central Garage to Cummings Road. Parking will resume on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. Mirror Lake Drive — between Main Street and Harbor Lane — Closed 7:45-8:30 a.m.

¯ Mirror Lake Drive/Lake Placid Club Drive: Closed from Parkside Drive to Northwood Road from 7:45 to 8:45 a.m.

¯ Parkside Drive: Closed from Lake Placid Club Drive to Main Street (Post Office) from 7 to 8:15 a.m.

¯ Local and resident traffic: will be permitted. Please use caution exiting your home. Closed from Mirror Lake Drive to Morningside Drive intersection from 8:15 to 9 a.m.

¯ Local traffic: please use caution.

¯ Route 73/Route 86 intersection at Mill Hill: Expect delays from 8:15 to 9 a.m.

¯ Route 73/Sentinel Road/Cascade Road: southbound lane closed from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. between Main Street intersection and Old Military Road intersection. Northbound lane open (use caution) to local traffic with delays expected at Old Military Road intersection. Runners will travel in northbound lane from the John Brown Farm/Sentinel Road intersection to River Road.

¯ Mill Pond Drive/McLenathan Avenue: closed inbound from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Local traffic only. Please use caution.

¯ School Street: will be closed in the outbound lane from Main Street to McLenathan Avenue from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Please use McKinley Street as a detour.

¯ River Road: Open to local traffic only, please use caution.

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Alternate routes

(8 a.m. – 2 p.m.)

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¯ For Northbound through traffic on Route 73 entering Lake Placid: Head west on Old Military Rpad at the ski jumps. Follow Old Military Road to firehouse and make a right on Mill Pond Drive. Make a left on WesValley Road and right onto Cummings Road to arrive at Main Street.

¯ For Southbound traffic leaving Lake Placid on Route 73: Make right off Main Street at Cummings Road and left at Wesvalley Road. Make a right onto Mill Pond Drive and left onto Old Military Road at the firehouse. Old Military Road intersects Route 73 at the ski jumps.

¯ Two-way alternating vehicle traffic will continue throughout the event at the ski jump bridge on Route 73 with Old Military Road accessible in both directions. Runners will be confined to northbound Route 73 between the John Brown Farm/Sentinel Road intersection and River Road while traffic is metered in the southbound lane.

¯ Runners will proceed clockwise around Mirror Lake Drive on the inside lane from 8 to 8:45 a.m. Vehicles will be allowed around Mirror Lake Drive from Northwood Road to Harbor Way during this period.

¯ For those traveling on Rte. 86 West through Lake Placid, avoid possible early morning delays by utilizing Northwood Road, Mirror Lake Drive and Harbor Lane to reach Saranac Avenue.

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LOCAL ATHLETES

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Bloomingdale

Half Marathon

Kyle Alexanian

Zoe Carpenter

Elizabethtown

Half Marathon

Mikaela Foster

Jay

Full Marathon

Justin Hart

Haley Jeanette

Half Marathon

Alex Concepcion

John Prendergast

Heather Prendergast

Ismael Rodriguez

Keene

Half Marathon

Caitlin Quinn

Megan Quinn

Lake Clear

Full Marathon

Pam Palumbo

Half Marathon

Jami Clark

Lake Placid

Full Marathon

Courtney Bastian

Kirk Fasking

David Garrison

Marcus Marti

Half Marathon

Kayla Beck

Ron Brenner

Jacqueline Clark

Maria Curry

Deborah Erenstone

Barry Fitz-James

Brooks Fraser

Amy Garrison

Joni Gerken

Jason Gruhot

Michael Lapez Trenche

Andrea Lautenschuetz

Dennis Lautenschuetz

Robert Morganson

Maddy Pfeifer

Simon William Shergold

Ayla Thompson

Chase Turner

Darci Whitney

William Whitney

10K

Lisa Grigoriadis

Curtis Howard

William Izzo

Ray Brook

Half Marathon

Amanda Gibbs

Saranac Lake

Full Marathon

Ben LeBlanc

Ann Monroe

John Monroe

Half Marathon

Ruth Hagmann

Joseph Henderson

Tracey Henderson

Heidi Holderied

Alexandra Jefferson

Kaysie Kyler

Kristin Makrin

Bobby O’Connor

Ruth Schmidt

Sarah Schoemaker

Audrey Schwartzberg

Katie Seleni

10K

Erin Tuthill

Tupper Lake

Full Marathon

Michael Schram

10K

Cecilia Allen

Vermontville

Half Marathon

Kevin Tuthill