The 10th 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 4th 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)
Congratulations on a good race. I know you had to be pleased with being able to coach others to the finish line.
Congrats Blaine! Great race.
Congrats Blaine. Sounds like a great race.