I participated in the 2017 Lake Placid Half Marathon. When the first round of results were posted I was listed as the first place finisher in my age group. I confirmed this with events staff and I was given my award. I have been racing for years and this was my first age group victory. I was very proud of this accomplishment and I celebrated with friends and family. When I got home and checked the final results I was now listed as the second place finisher. I contacted timing company as well as race organizer who after several emails finally admitted their error. Bad timing chips were handed out and some runners were not counted for this reason. These runners were added back in later and this caused a shift in the standings. I can live with the mistake but it was the poor customer service which drove me crazy. For all of my disappointment and hours of writing emails to figure out what happened, the organizer told me 'well, you do not have to return the maple syrup you received as the prize for finishing first'. My experience was ruined as I had to tell my friends and family that I did not actually win and I even had to retract my Facebook post announcing my accomplishment. I was offered absolutely nothing despite having being humiliated and disappointed due to their error. I traveled five hours and paid over $100 to do this race which is overpriced to begin with and I had my experienced ruined. I will never run this race again and I do not recommend it to anyone. Aside from this, the course was beautiful but super hilly. The hill leading up to the finish was the most difficult I have seen in a race. Volunteers were excellent and aid stations were plenty. It is sad that the race organizer is such an absolute amateur at customer service and race staff still don't know what they are doing at the ground level. This was the worst experience I have ever had at a race after doing so many races over the year. This is the only negative race review I have ever written.