Race organizer Kathy Dyer, who used to race in the Willard Hanmer and helped bring it back to Saranac Lake, said this event means everything to her.

“This is the Adirondacks,” she said. “This is Saranac Lake. That’s what it is.”

The event, which started at the Riverfront Park in Saranac Lake and finished at the Fish and Game Club along the Saranac River, featured multiple classes, including guideboats, canoes, kayaks and stand up paddleboard races. At the finish, there was a picnic with vendors, live music and games for children.

Last year the event had 92 racers compete in 56 boats. While Dyer didn’t have all the numbers available by press time, she said there were at least 20 more people this year.

Liam Munn, left, paddles toward the finish line in a kayak with his father Taylor during the Willard Hanmer on Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“Which means it’s working. We’re building it back,” she said. “That’s what we want to do is build it back.”

Among the growing numbers include a handful of children, which included the race’s youngest competitor 6-year-old Lewis Hann.

Last year, Hann stood off the side cheering for paddlers, but this year, he was able to race in his own kayak. Hann was one of a group of kids, who competes in the junior guideboat, canoe or kayak class. Other youngsters raced with their parents.

“The kids are coming back,” Dyer said. “Last year there were hardly any. But this year we have a ton of kids.”

The day started with the junior classes and the two-man guideboat race competing first. Once those two races were finished the rest of the competitors started their journey to the finish line.

Nancie Battaglia paddles during the Willard Hanmer on Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

As paddlers hit the water on Sunday, they pulled hard on their oars cutting through the Lake Flower water. After reaching the end of the lake, toward the corner of Kiwassa Road and Main Street, racers got out of the water and carried their boats 0.2 miles across Main Street, through a parking lot and down a hill to put back in after the dam.

For many, including Saranac Lake native Chris Dyer, the brother of Kathy, the carry was one of the more challenging parts of the race.

“With the oars and the seats it’s about 80 pounds,” he said. “Once I get it up there, I’m OK, but getting it up is challenging. Last year it fell on top, which was frustrating because I’m very competitive.”

Much like his sister, Chris used to compete in the Willard Hanmer in the 1970s.

“There were always a lot of kids, a lot of families,” he said. “It was just a big community event.”

Jim Susville, Jennie Susville, Nick Gowens and Chris Burnham dig their paddles in as they approach the finish line of the Willard Hanmer Guideboat and Canoe race on Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Chris said one of his fondest memories of the Willard Hanmer was just getting to the finish line on a hot Fourth of July weekend.

“We would all roll the boats and just float in the water to cool off,” he said. “That was the tradition. Having food and having the community come out that’s really what is great about it. That race itself is cool though.”

Chris competed in two different races on Sunday. He started the day off by racing in the two-person guideboat race, alongside Jennifer Okonuk, and then a little under two hours later, he and Okonuk took on the one-person guideboat race.

They were the second guideboat team to cross the finish line in the two-person race. Chris said it was a very tiring day overall.

In the one-person race, Okonuk was the second woman to cross the finish line, with Bridget O’Leary edging her out. Okonuk said it was an amazing race.

Okonuk, who grew up in Saranac Lake and now lives in Owls Head — a little under an hour north of Saranac Lake — said she raced in the Willard Hanmer because she loves guideboats.

“My guideboat is the really old one. It’s circa 1900,” she said.

Okonuk has been guideboat racing for 10 years. She said that she fell in love with guideboats when she compete in the 90-Miler for the first time.

“I was in a solo kayak and I followed a guideboat into the finish line and without them, I don’t know if I would finish,” she said. “That’s why I like guideboaters and he was smiling the whole time.”

John Dupree, of Saranac Lake, was the winner of the men’s one-man guideboat race. Tim Hesseltine, of Saranac Lake, crossed the finish line shortly behind in second.

Full results and times for the Willard Hanmer will be posted in Wednesday’s Enterprise.