Run to Win

This morning was the 11^th Annual TD BankNorth Beach to Beacon 10k in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It was a beautiful day in the mid-80s that left the runners very happy to reach the shade on Shore Rd.

Repeating last year’s performance, Ed Muge led the way in 28:05, about 13 seconds behind last year’s time. 11 of those 13 seconds came from the first mile, which went out at only 4:23 this year and allowed for a lead pack of about 12 people to stick together for a few miles. Local favorite Ben True was a part of that pack but fell off the back side, only to pick up the pace and finish in the top 10 with a new Maine Record time of 29:11!

Speaking of Maine Records, Sheri Piers took down the Maine women’s record by 20 seconds with her 34:17 finish (also in the top 10!) Fantastic! That was just over 2 minutes behind Kenya’s Irene Limika, who won the race in 32:06.

There were 5613 finishers this morning, and I was not one of them. I broke my foot last week so I volunteered with the Atayne crew instead and cut D-Tags off of people’s shoes to recycle them with the help of my 11 year old niece. My nephew and my sister ran with the Sweep Crew picking up all of the trash that was left behind on the course, so hopefully we left things a little cleaner than they were before the race and got everything separated into recyclables, compostables and actual trash.

I’ll have another update probably tomorrow about the volunteer experience with the race, which certainly a different way to experience a large race like this.

(More Info: Full Results)

The 10^th annual TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10k was this morning in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. As always, it was a closely contested race that is great for spectating. While the temperature was not very high during the race, it was quite humid. Unlike last year, the fog never burned off so that combined with a low tide caused the race to not quite lead up to it’s reputation as one of the more scenic New England races.

Leading the way was Ed Muge of Kenya, who had to battle it out with Maregu Zewdie of Ethiopia to earn his 0.6 second win in 27:52.4. Duncan Kibet fell back to 4^th place in 28:21 this year.

The women’s race was also pretty exciting, despite there being a slightly larger lead. The race was won by masters runner Edith Masai of Kenya in 31:55.6, followed by Liudmila Biktasheva of Russia (although she now resides in New York, I believe.)

The Maine race was won by 22 year old Ben True in 31:01.8, over 40 seconds ahead of a pack of Mainers that all came in right under 32 minutes. Women’s winner Kristin Barry set the Maine record, dropping it by over 6 seconds to 34:37.1. She was working hard for that win, and you can see how much pain she was in at the finish line in the news video, but she regained her composure by the time I turned to see her come through the finishing chute.

There were a total of 5248 finishers, the first time that the race has cracked 5000 finishers in it’s 11 year history. That the race sold out in about a day this year is just a small testament to the popularity of what Joan Samuelson has brought to her hometown.

My race went pretty well; I just barely run negative splits (17:05/17:03) to finish in 34:08.1, getting outsprinted by PR Racing’s TJ Hesler to the finishing line. I felt really good, though, and I know that I need to have a lead on TJ at the end of a race if I am going to beat him. He is especially hard to edge out when he has a downhill finish.

WCSH6 has full video coverage of the race, including 5 minute videos that show everybody coming across the line. I picked out my wife’s finish and you can clearly see her disgust with her time after she crosses the line and checked her watch.

Congratulations to everybody that ran this morning and thank you to everybody that came out to support or cheer at the race. Almost everybody that I spoke with ran well today and enjoyed themselves and the crowd support was as good as it normally was. The race also requires a large number of volunteers who are all kept extremely busy from hours before the race to hours after, and we appreciate the hard work that goes into putting this event on.

(Official Results – Full Results w/better formatting – Race Photos – Photos Source: Home Page)

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