A Woodbury-area marathon runner who suffered sudden cardiac arrest during a June training run returned to the scene with fellow runners to thank the strangers who saved his life.

Scott Penticoff collapsed face-down on a sidewalk near Pioneer Road during what he planned as a 10-mile run on a Sunday morning. Three passersby immediately responded: a woman driving north on Pioneer Road who called 911, another runner who stopped to help, and Aaron, a Bayport first responder who performed chest compressions until paramedics arrived.

"I knew that it was a very critical situation and had to act quickly," Aaron said during the rescue. "In that situation he had minutes." Emergency responder Michael arrived shortly after and used a defibrillator to restore Penticoff's normal heart rhythm. "We had a good solid pulse so we could tell that we've brought Scott back to a normal heart rhythm," Michael said.

Penticoff, an ultra-marathon runner and former Ironman competitor, attributed the cardiac arrest to genetics rather than fitness level. "At the end of the day, the genetics weren't on my side," he said, noting both parents had high cholesterol and heart attacks. "I couldn't outrace those genetics."

Months later, Penticoff organized what he called a "redemption run" with about 18 members of his Hood to Coast team, Team Mojo. The group ran the same route and stopped at the collapse site, where Michael and Aaron joined them. "We just had a moment to take some pictures, but also just thank everybody publicly in that spot, in that place, which is a sacred place for me," Penticoff said.