Expect new contenders in Maine division of Beach to Beacon 10K

Orono Excessive’s Ruth White is the reigning New England highschool cross nation champion and is vying to develop into one among solely a handful of youngsters to win a Maine championship on the TD Seaside to Beacon 10K. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

CAPE ELIZABETH — Teenager or veteran? Acquainted determine or newcomer?

Winners of the Maine resident class in Saturday’s TD Seaside to Beacon 10K earn $1,000 in prize cash. In addition they obtain acknowledgment because the state’s finest male or feminine highway runner.

As a result of this would be the first in-person B2B in three years, it’s anyone’s guess who will emerge as Maine champions.

“I feel there shall be a brand new pecking order established,” stated race founder Joan Benoit Samuelson. “Throughout COVID, lots of people improved drastically as a result of there was nothing else to do however prepare.”

On the lads’s aspect, 9 completely different runners have achieved high Maine billing since 2010. The one repeat winner (Jesse Orach of Gorham) did so in 2017 with a sporting help from runner-up Rob Gomez after Orach collapsed yards from the end line.

Gomez is now in control of assembling the native elite subject, and he doesn’t see a transparent favourite amongst Mainers, male or feminine.

On the ladies’s aspect, Standish native Emily Durgin (who received in 2017) now runs professionally and lives in Arizona. She’ll be among the many ladies’s elite subject that begins at 8 a.m. Saturday, shortly after the wheelchair racers and 12 minutes earlier than the overall subject.

Michelle Lilienthal of Portland is a three-time Maine champion, but additionally 39 weeks pregnant along with her second youngster and planning to be induced into labor later Saturday. She stated a Seaside to Beacon child can be becoming, provided that she met her husband, Marc Halverson, on the 2013 race when she was within the elite subject.

“I cannot be operating the race, however I most likely will run longer than 6 miles that morning,” stated Lilienthal, who plans to observe the end to cheer her coaching companions, then seize molasses doughnuts on the close by Cookie Jar earlier than heading to the hospital.

As for high contenders, Lilienthal echoed Gomez.

“There are some younger individuals now I don’t know so properly,” she stated. “The individuals I run with, we’re all 40-year-old mothers with jobs.”

Sheri Piers of Falmouth and Erica Jesseman and Kristin Barry of Scarborough have received a number of B2B titles, however none of them are anticipated to be in rivalry for high Mainer this time.

“It’s going to be attention-grabbing,” stated Piers, 51. “I don’t know who’s even operating this yr.”

Right here’s a take a look at every division:

Amongst Maine males, Matt Rand of Portland received the Sea Canine Mom’s Day 5K however is rebounding from a COVID an infection. A Cape Elizabeth native, Rand ran a 2:19 marathon in January and is again in Maine after dwelling in Washington D.C. and New York Metropolis.

“That is actually my first probability at this since 2013,” stated Rand, 31, who competed for Tufts. “It’s one thing I’ve all the time wished to make a run at … and I’m going to go for it.”

Defending champion Dan Curts, an Ellsworth native now dwelling in Vermont, will not be entered. Orach positioned second within the Emily’s Run 5K in Auburn final month however has been slowed by knee points. Caribou native Spencer McElwain, who received the Emily’s Run 5K, was runner-up to Rand within the Sea Canine 5K and is adjusting to the calls for of fatherhood.

“I’m not getting fairly the quantity that I would want, however I’m making it work,” stated McElwain, 33, who ran for the College of Maine and is making his eleventh Seaside to Beacon run.

Two different Maine males to think about are Sam Mills of Biddeford and Ryan Jara of Gorham. Mills, 21, is a rising senior at Maine who has been coaching in Orono all through the summer season. He stated he has dreamed of becoming a member of the elite subject ever since ending in 65 minutes as a highschool freshman.

“Now that I’m right here, I’ve each ambition of being the primary Mainer throughout the road,” he stated. “I’ve been lacking my absolute favourite race these final couple of years.”

Jara, 35, ran a 2:23 marathon this spring, took fourth within the L.L. Bean July 4th 10K and received the latest Ocean Park 5K in Previous Orchard Seaside (15:29).

Amongst Maine ladies, defending champion Sofie Matson stated she has a piece battle and received’t be operating. She was 16 when she received the race three years in the past, becoming a member of Eric Giddings (2003), Ayalew Taye (2007) and Ben Decker (2015) as the one teenage winners within the Maine resident class.

Ruth White, a rising junior at Orono Excessive and reigning New England highschool cross nation champion, has an opportunity to hitch them. Different high contenders within the Maine ladies’s subject are Heather Gallant of Wayne, Sarah Mulcahy of Fort Kent, Alexis Wilbert of Cumberland, Aly Ursiny of Yarmouth and Veronica Graziano of Falmouth.

Gallant, 41, received the latest Bridgton 4 on the Fourth. Mulcahy, 36, ran the Boston Marathon this spring in 2:50. Wilbert, 37, was a sprinter at Greely Excessive and Colby School and moved again to Maine from Colorado late in 2019. A mom of three, she received the latest Clam Pageant Basic, a five-mile race, in 29:20.

Ursiny, 34, was runner-up on the Clam Pageant and L.L. Bean races. A mom of two, she ran on the College of Vermont and moved to Maine from Boston final winter. Graziano, 35, is one other pandemic newcomer to the Maine operating scene. A mom of 14-month-old twins, Graziano ran a 2:42 marathon on the 2020 Olympic Trials in Atlanta.

“I’ve cheered for it earlier than,” stated Graziano, who’s aware of Seaside to Beacon as a result of her siblings dwell in Falmouth and Yarmouth. “So I’ve seen the superb spectators. I don’t know if I’ll be contending for prize cash. That might be a pleasant shock.”

« Earlier

Associated Tales