Syd Steger races in the Lake Placid Marathon and Half on June 9. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — Despite living in Stowe, Vermont, Adam Quinn knows this area pretty well.

With his parents living in Lake Clear, he’s competed in various events around Lake Placid and even says the village is like “a home away from home.”

On a rainy Sunday, June 9 morning, Quinn topped the marathon division of the annual Lake Placid Marathon and Half. He cruised to a victory in a time of 2 hours, 37 minutes, 43 seconds.

His time was just a few minutes short of the Lake Placid Marathon record of 2:34.39, which was set by Chuck Engle in 2006.

“One day I’ll get that record, if I run a few minutes faster,” he said.

Brynn Orban-Salley of Burlington, Vermont, nears the finish line of the Lake Placid Marathon and Half on June 9. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

Quinn was one of over 1,000 runners who took to the streets of Lake Placid and competed in one of the three divisions: the full marathon (26.2 miles), the half marathon (13.1 miles) and the 10-kilometer race.

While the rain wasn’t ideal for those watching, it didn’t seem to bother many of the runners.

“You couldn’t ask for a better day,” Quinn said. “I know it’s not great for spectating, but cool and rainy. Its a perfect Adirondack day to run fast.”

Jac Guerra of Guilford, Connecticut finished the men’s marathon division in second place overall in a time of 2:40:50 and John Cho (2:41:19) of Summit, New Jersey was third.

Burlington, Vermont native Brynn Orban-Salley completed the marathon sweep for her home state when she topped the women’s full marathon field in a time of 3:19:42. Hillary Schmitt (3:21:38) of Skillman, New Jersey, placed second, while Celia Seigers (3:28:34) of Oneonta was third.

Tracy Henderson, left, and Joe Henderson of Saranac Lake near the finish line of the Lake Placid Marathon and Half on June 9. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

For Orban-Salley, it was also her first-ever marathon victory along with a personal best time.

“It was pretty exhilarating,” she said. “The support was really nice, it was well-marked. All in all, it was a great day.”

For most runners asked what the worst part about the Lake Placid Marathon and Half is would say one thing: The hills. Orban-Salley, on the other hand, had no problem figuring out the hills.

“I liked that at the start it was all downhill and we didn’t have to go back out that, so that was nice,” she said.

Jenna Wilson, who won the women’s half marathon, wasn’t as prepared for the hills.

Ian Tibbals of Rye finishes half marathon division of the Lake Placid Marathon and Half on Sunday, June 9. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

“I’m exhausted right now and there a huge hill at the end that I wasn’t expecting, but I felt good,” Wilson said. “My calves are going to be very sore tomorrow.”

Wilson is from Ottawa, Canada, and is currently living in the Albany area with her husband. She said that Ottawa is very flat.

“So running is very different from here,” she said. “But it’s beautiful and I love this place.”

Wilson decided to take part in this event with her family and crossed the finish line in 1:25:31. Amelia Tucker of Hanover, New Hampshire, was second in 1:27:11 and Syd Steger of Lake Placid was third in 1:30:02.

Ian Tibbals of Rye won the men’s half marathon in 1:15:12, and while he didn’t achieve his goal of breaking 1 hour, 15 minutes, he was still happy with his result.

Leda Carpenter crosses the Lake Placid Marathon and Half finish line on June 9. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

“You can’t complain about coming in first,” he said. “The hills on the back end definitely take a lot out of you, but it’s a beautiful course over by the river. You see some famous sites, like the ski jumps.”

Tibbals edged out Cincinnati, Ohio native David Bea, who won the Lake Placid Marathon in 2023 and 2018. Bea also won the event’s half marathons in 2019 and 2022. Bea placed second in 1:17:02 and Bryant Farley of Syracuse was third in 1:18:22.

Lake Placid’s Andrew Scanio (1:20:37) and Tupper Lake’s Michael Schram (1:21:01) placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

In the second year of the 10K race, after debuting in the Lake Placid Marathon and Half in 2023, Shawn Powers of Attleboro, Massachusetts broke the course record in a time of 34:12, despite only signing up for the race to train for a full marathon in the fall.

“I came looking to run the the first 5K fast like I did and then second 5K was hard,” he said.

Shawn Powers of Attleboro, Massacusetts races along Parkside Drive in Lake Placid during the Lake Placid Marathon and Half on June 9. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

While Powers lives around five hours away from Lake Placid, the reason he chose to compete here was because his wife plans on competing in the Ironman this July.

“She’s up here training and I jumped in here,” he said. “If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be here.”

New Jersey natives and best friends Ryan Selfridge (43:42) and Zach Van Der Wall (43:42) placed second and third, respectively.

Elsa Yaccarini of Quebec, Canada was the overall winner in the women’s race, finishing in 45:53. Meredith King of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania was second in 46:05 and Rebecca Dawson of East Bridgewater, Massachusetts was third in 47:12.

While King was actually the first to cross the finish line in the women’s 10K race, she didn’t win. It was later determined that Yaccarini actually started behind King at the beginning of the race, meaning she finished the marathon with a slightly faster time than King.

Despite not winning, King said she was just racing for fun and didn’t really plan on trying to win. She was Lake Placid racing with her husband to celebrate their anniversary.

“My husband and I have been coming here for as long as we’ve known each other and we’re building a cabin here,” King said. “This just happens to be our anniversary weekend and we just try to do this race, if we can for our anniversary.”

Joseph King, Meredith’s husband, crossed the finish line a little less than two minutes later to earn fifth place in the men’s division.

Yaccarini, who was later named the women’s winner, crossed the finish line with her boyfriend, Hubert Renaud. He finished with the exact same time as her, placing him fourth overall in the men’s division of the 10K.

The event had 327 runners finish the full marathon, 628 people finish the half-marathon and 109 finish the 10K race.

Hadley natives David Tamas, left, and Nicole Woodcock, who were recently engaged, take part in the Lake Placid Marathon and Half on Sunday, June 9. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)