2026 Sackets Harbor Marathon & Half Results: Records, Progress & Community
The 2026 Sackets Harbor Marathon & Half Marathon delivered one of the strongest editions of the race yet. On Sunday, September 6, runners returned to Sackets Harbor for the fourth annual event, and the day produced far more than a list of winners. Course records fell in both races, repeat competitors showed just how much can change from one year to the next, local runners continued to build their own histories with the event, and family and community connections were visible throughout the results.
That combination is what makes Sackets Harbor worth looking at beyond the finishing order. A marathon result is one snapshot. When you put several years beside each other, you start to see the real story: consistency, development, comeback races, breakthrough performances and runners who keep returning to test themselves on the same North Country roads.
Timing note: Course records and overall winning performances are based on official gun time. Runner-to-runner improvement comparisons below use net/chip time where available so the comparison reflects the runner's actual time from start line to finish line.
A course-record day at the front
The men's marathon came down to seconds in the record book. Colin Verrett of Binghamton won the full marathon in 2:35:41 gun time, edging the previous men's course record of 2:35:44 by just three seconds. Behind him, Dave Cook ran 2:36:29, making the top of the men's marathon exceptionally fast.
The women's marathon story was even bigger. Collette Soucy won in 2:49:23, lowering her own 2025 course record of 2:56:07 by 6 minutes, 44 seconds. Her Sackets Harbor progression is remarkable: 3:10:40 in 2024, 2:56:07 in 2025 and 2:49:23 in 2026. In two years, she has taken 21 minutes, 17 seconds off her winning time on the same event.
The half marathon produced the largest record drop of the day. Sam Morse of Syracuse ran 1:08:23, smashing the previous men's half-marathon course record of 1:14:29 by 6 minutes, 6 seconds. That is not a marginal record improvement; it changes the standard for the event.
On the women's side, Allyson Casey won in 1:23:28 and improved her own course record by 56 seconds. Casey has now progressed from 1:26:37 in 2024 to 1:24:24 in 2025 and 1:23:28 in 2026. Three consecutive years tell a clear story: even at the front of the field, there can still be room to improve.
Year-over-year: runners who moved the needle
The winners deserve attention, but some of the most useful performances to study are the returning runners. These are athletes who came back to the same event and gave us a direct look at what a year of training, health, experience and race execution can do.
| Runner | Race | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Cook | Marathon | 2:56:30 | 2:36:29 | 20:01 faster |
| Blake Werner | Half | 1:31:32 | 1:26:43 | 4:49 faster |
| Conner Zehr | Half | 1:21:19 | 1:17:39 | 3:40 faster |
| Brandon Whitman | Half | 1:23:29 | 1:20:05 | 3:24 faster |
| Jason Rudd | Half | 1:32:27 | 1:29:25 | 3:02 faster |
| Michael Burdick | Half | 1:45:39 | 1:42:40 | 2:59 faster |
Dave Cook's marathon jump stands out immediately. Moving from 2:56:30 to 2:36:29 in one year is a 20-minute, 1-second improvement and placed him second overall in 2026. In the half, the improvements are smaller in raw minutes but significant at those paces. Taking three to five minutes off a half marathon when you are already running near the front of the field represents a meaningful shift in fitness and execution.
Tomas Holt: a 20-minute transformation
One performance especially close to the Confluence Running community came from Tomas Holt, who works with Confluence Running. Tomas finished the 2026 half marathon in 1:39:37 net time, averaging about 7:37 per mile. He placed 61st overall and 50th among men.
For context, Tomas ran the Sackets Harbor Half in 2:00:03 in 2024, at roughly 9:10 per mile. His 2026 result is 20 minutes, 26 seconds faster than that race two years ago. His average pace improved by approximately 1 minute, 33 seconds per mile, and he moved from 142nd overall in 2024 to 61st in 2026.
That is the kind of improvement that is easy to miss if you look only at podiums. It represents a different level of racing from the same runner on the same event. Whether the goal is sub-two hours, sub-1:45, sub-1:40 or something much faster, Tomas's result is a reminder that a race can become a useful benchmark when you return to it over time.
Brian Boutilier: a strong Henderson Harbor performance
Brian Boutilier of Henderson Harbor also turned in a strong half-marathon performance, finishing in 1:48:19 net time at age 63. His average pace was approximately 8:17 per mile, and he finished 5th out of 19 runners in the men's 60-69 division.
Brian's result adds another North Country connection to the race. Henderson Harbor and Sackets Harbor are neighboring waterfront communities, and the event has increasingly become a meeting point for runners from Jefferson County, the broader North Country and runners traveling in from across New York and beyond. A donation was also made on Brian's behalf through the race's community fundraising effort, which supports the emergency-service organizations that help make race day possible.
Family speed: Conner and Mason Zehr both crack the top 10
One of the best family stories in the half marathon came from brothers Conner and Mason Zehr. Conner finished eighth overall in 1:17:39, while his younger brother Mason finished tenth overall in 1:19:58. They were separated by only 2 minutes, 19 seconds.
Conner's performance was also a sizable year-over-year step forward: he ran 1:21:19 in 2025, making his 2026 race 3 minutes, 40 seconds faster. Mason, meanwhile, was the top finisher in the men's 19-and-under division. Two brothers in the top 10 gives the results sheet a family story that goes well beyond individual placing.
Local runners are building their own Sackets Harbor histories
For local runners, repeated participation can tell a story even when every year is not a personal best. Michael Werner of Sackets Harbor is a good example. His marathon results over the event's history include 3:33:31 in 2023, 3:10:54 in 2024, 3:08:40 in 2025 and 3:18:18 in 2026.
That sequence matters. Werner improved by more than 22 minutes from 2023 to 2024 and another 2:14 in 2025 before running 3:18:18 this year. The 2026 result was not his fastest, but that does not erase the larger progression or the value of returning year after year. Marathon development is rarely a perfectly straight line.
Blake Werner of Sackets Harbor supplied another local progression in the half marathon. Blake ran 1:31:32 in 2025 and improved to 1:26:43 in 2026, a gain of 4 minutes, 49 seconds. For a young runner already running well under seven minutes per mile, that is a substantial year-over-year jump.
What makes the Sackets Harbor race community different
The event's community identity is not just marketing language. The race's fundraising program supports the Sackets Harbor Fire Department, Sackets Harbor Ambulance Service and Thousand Islands Emergency Rescue Service, recognizing the organizations that help support race day and the surrounding community.
The race also rewards more than the first runners across the line. The Sackets Harbor Chamber of Commerce supports local-resident awards, while community and business partners have helped support overall prize money, most-improved awards and recognition deeper into the field. That creates a broader definition of what is worth celebrating: elite speed, local pride, personal progress and simply continuing to compete.
Race leadership is local, too. Race director Karyn Reinhardt was born and raised in Sackets Harbor, giving the event a direct connection to the community it runs through. The result is a race that can attract fast athletes chasing records without losing the character of a small North Country village.
Four records, but hundreds of individual stories
The headline from 2026 is easy to write: four exceptional winning performances and four course-record marks across the men's and women's marathon and half marathon. But the more interesting story is what sits underneath it.
- Collette Soucy has improved by more than 21 minutes at this marathon since 2024.
- Dave Cook took more than 20 minutes off his 2025 marathon time.
- Conner Zehr improved by 3:40 and joined his younger brother Mason in the top 10.
- Tomas Holt cut 20:26 from his 2024 Sackets Harbor half-marathon performance.
- Blake Werner improved by 4:49 in one year.
- Brian Boutilier ran 1:48:19 at age 63 and finished fifth in his age group.
- Michael Werner continued a four-year streak of marathon results that now gives him a genuine history with the event.
Those are the performances that make a recurring race meaningful. The clock gives everyone the same finish line, but the significance of the number is different for every runner.
If the 2026 results have you thinking about what you could take off your own time next year, stop into Confluence Running. Whether the next goal is finishing your first half marathon, breaking two hours, qualifying for Boston or simply getting through a training cycle healthier, the best benchmark is the one that helps you build the next step.
