Daniel Cameron of North Babylon wins Suffolk Marathon

Daniel Cameron earned an impressive title when he was on the run for West Islip High in the 4x800 relay — All-American.

Then he took some time off from competitive running, through his college days and grad school. He started again about three years ago. His grandfather, Edward Hynes, now living in Florida, got him into becoming a marathon man.

“He ran 29 marathons, but he’s with me through it,” Cameron said. “We talk after every long run.”

The 28-year-old North Babylon resident had something great to talk about with Hynes after Sunday morning’s long run because Cameron earned another impressive title — Suffolk County Marathon champion.

It marked his first win at this 26.2-mile distance in four tries, twice here and twice in the Long Island Marathon, which included an eighth-place showing back in May.

His personal-record time of 2 hours, 41 minutes and 59.49 seconds in this latest race beat Smithtown’s Stephen Bienemann’s runner-up finish of 2:50:00.17 at Gardiner County Park in Bay Shore.

“It’s incredible,” Cameron said. “It’s such a representative course of Long Island, going through the village [of Babylon at the start], across the [Great South] Bay. It’s a beautiful course. It means so much.

“… Early mornings, long miles, but it’s worth it.”

Cameron immediately took the lead and kept hold. The morning chill could only help the cause.

“The temperature was perfect,” he said. “Great to start. The wind was a little rough on the bridge back, but I can’t complain about that. It was a beautiful day.”

His regular job title is one long word — bioinformatician.

It involves biology research at NYU Langone in Manhattan.

“I do computer analysis,” he said.

Cameron will run Boston in the spring. His analysis of his future in the marathon goes like this:

“You know what? I just keep getting excited at what I’m capable of,” Cameron said. “Seeing what I did in marathon pace today was half marathon pace not that long ago. Just chasing that continual self-improvement, chasing times.”

Aaron Robertson claimed the half marathon in his first time competing in it here. The 48-year-old elementary school music teacher from Melville crossed at 1:18:06.47. Bay Shore’s Darin Cofield was a close second at 1:18:11.62.

“It’s a nice day,” Robertson said of the victory. “It was a little brutal. The guy in second place, Darin, we were duking it out. Oh my gosh. Downhill on the bridge with probably about two miles to go. And then I dropped him a little bit. But he came back.”

Brayden Clements won the 10K for the second time. The 22-year-old from Patchogue finished in 38:01.96. Bay Shore’s Michael Larose’s wheelchair win came with a time of 2:45:34.6. And Bayville’s Kevin Bartolotto Sr. took Saturday’s 5K in 19:05.34.

The Suffolk County Marathon, including its accompanying races, grew in this 12th year.

“It means a great deal [to Suffolk],” County Executive Ed Romaine said. “First of all, we’ve had more runners this year than any other year with 3,600 runners. Everyone gets to test their personal best. It’s a tremendous spirit lifter. We have a number of sponsors. Plus, we’re raising a ton of money that goes 100% to veterans’ causes.”