“Let’s goooo!” Cho shouted as he crossed the finish line at the 2:34:33 mark.

He was one of 299 people who participated in the 20th running of the marathon. With 571 people running the half marathon and 176 running the 10K, the races had 1,046 athletes on the course, the largest crowd the event has put up in eight years.

Cho said that around the halfway point, he was a minute behind Adam Quinn in the lead. But he just ran his race and started gaining.

“John caught me at about mile 20 and just flew right by me,” Quinn said.

Last year, the two raced neck-and-neck for a while, too, but the opposite thing happened when Quinn took first and Cho took third then. Cho chalked his improved time up to all the extra training he’s done in the last year, including another marathon.

“Experience really pays dividends for me,” Cho said. “It’s not about fitness sometimes.”

He said the Lake Placid Marathon course is challenging, but not as hard as it seems on paper. He’s done it before, so he knew what was coming. Cho said he turns on his brain for hills and then locks into a rhythm on the flat parts. He enjoys running because it feels like he accomplishes something every day.

Quinn said he was happy for Cho and that his race looked great.

Quinn, of Stowe, Vermont, called Tri-Lakes his “home away from home.” His parents live in Lake Clear and he visits and runs here often.

“I’ve probably ran more miles here than anywhere else,” Quinn said.

Christian Alberico of Hoboken took third in the full marathon with 2:42:30.

With the temperature rising more than 10 degrees during the race, what started as a cool morning turned into a sweltering one with full sun and high 60-degree air. Racers were dumping cups of water on themselves at the finish line.

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20 years

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Lake Placid Marathon and Half owner and operator Greg Borzilleri said this was the best race he’s had leading the event. It ran smoothly thanks to dedicated staff and volunteers returning, he said.

Borzilleri took over the race in 2017. For the celebration of the 20th marathon this year, one of the event co-founders, Jeff Edwards, visited from Maine and fired the starting gun for the race.

Organizers also scheduled a low-flying helicopter flyover, with 1st Lt. Shae DeRosier from Fort Drum buzzing the starting line in an Apache.

Borzilleri said this year had the largest starting lineup of racers since he got involved, with 1,046 participants.

The event had a walk of fame, with names like Edwards’, co-founder Brad Konkler and Chris Harwood of Short Hills, New Jersey, who has raced in all 20 marathons.

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Running for charity

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Some people were running for a cause.

Colin Francis (3:19:07) ran the full marathon to raise $1,000 for Vermont Children’s Hospital as part of his senior capstone for Lake Placid High School, and to give back to the hospital that helped give him the ability to walk after a rare neural tube defect nearly left him paralyzed from the waist down for life at 18 months old.

To read more about Francis’ fundraiser, go to tinyurl.com/yujtucna and to donate, go to tinyurl.com/3hrmcafw.

Michael Tartaglia (1:37:45) of Peekskill has been running a half marathon in every county in the state since April of last year to raise money for the Children’s Heart Foundation. The Lake Placid Marathon was number 46 of 62.

Tartaglia ran a lap around Lake Pleasant in Hamilton County the day before.

“No puns intended by my scheduling,” he said. “This weekend was Pleasant and Placid.”

Most of these runs are done by himself, but he enjoys the opportunity to do one with a crowd, support, scenery and safety.

To follow Tartaglia’s progress and donate, go to mikeytarts.com/13by62.

Tartaglia was chatting with fellow half marathon finisher Wes DaSilva (1:41:35) of Sackets Harbor. DaSilva said he knew of Tartaglia and his mission through the running app Strava, and said he loves the project.

He also loved the Lake Placid Marathon.

“It’s a runner’s race for sure,” DaSilva said.

He said with a beautiful course and a crowd, it’s a fun one.

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Half marathon and 10K top three

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In a year with only around half the number of Canadians who usually compete coming south of the border for the race, they still took the podium.

Christian Parenteau, of Montreal, Canada, took first in the half marathon with a time of 1:15:07. Bryant Farley (1:19:23) of Syracuse took second. Rich Burke (1:21:46) of Morristown took third.

Everett Bryant of Mexico, New York ran his first-ever 10K and took first with 35:36. Aiden Hesseltine of Saranac Lake placed second with 36:19. Eamon McDonough of Tupper Lake took third with 38:20.