Early Saturday was not the time to seek solitude in this upscale, waterfront burg, as more than 6,000 runners and spectators immersed themselves in a glorious, scenic and dramatic Maine morning.

In an atmosphere of clear, blue skies, refreshingly crisp air and a spectacular view of Casco Bay, Johannes Mabitle ignored his surroundings.

He wanted to be alone.

Catherine Ndereba and Johannes Mabitle, winners of the first Beach to Beacon.

The 30-year-old runner from South Africa never quite freed himself from the lead pack. But he did manage to finish a stride ahead of two Kenyan competitors in a memorable finish to the historic, first Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K road race, which ended at postcard-perfect Fort Williams Park.

Mabitle was a surprise winner of the inaugural race, running in a personal-best time of 28 minutes, 18 seconds – one second ahead of the favored Kenyans, second-place William Kiptum and third-place Peter Ndirangu.

About four minutes later, the drama continued as another tight race ended. Kenyan Catherine Ndereba sprinted ahead to win the women’s competition, in 32:15, closely followed by American Libbie Hickman (32:17) and another Kenyan, Helen Kimaiyo-Kipkoskei (32:18).

Hickman hardly despaired over not winning. Standing in the shadows of the Portland Head Light, she spoke with enthusiasm about the race, the largest running event in Maine history.

“A perfect day and a gorgeous course,” she said. “This is a race that people will want to come to. This is a vacation for me – and I’m working. What a good feeling.”

No one felt better than Joan Benoit Samuelson, the founder and soul of this race. Samuelson, the Maine native and 1984 Olympic gold medalist, conceived and organized the race, yet she continued to duck the continual praise heaped upon her …

She referred to the people who made the race happen, as well as Peoples Heritage Bank, the chief sponsor and distributor of more than $50,000 in prize money, including $7,500 each to Mabitle and Ndereba.

Others also cashed in from among the 2,408 finishers of the race (there were 3,000 registrants). The masters (40 and over) winners – Oregon’s Steve Plasencia (29:37) and Washington’s Kim Jones (34:35) – each received $2,000. Top Maine finishers – Ogunquit’s Bob Winn (30:52) and Harpswell’s Julia Kirtland (34:56) – took home $1,000 checks.

– From the Aug. 2, 1998 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

They all expected the worst.

From the runners, who expected to wake up Saturday morning to either rain or humidity, to the organizers, who thought, surely, after last year’s near perfection, there would be some major gaffe.

But no. The second running of the Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K road race went better than anyone could have expected, better than anyone could have hoped for, better, dare say, than the first running.

“I didn’t think it was possible that we could do better than last year, ” said Dave McGillivray, the race director. “But look. The weather was perfect again. It might have even been a little less humid than last year. And the race was better. We’ll take this.”

The event was almost too good to be true. From the crystal clear weather – again – to the postcard-perfect view of Casco Bay, to what race organizers like to call “the little things.” There were no public address problems, no pileups at the finish line, no major injuries or illnesses reported.

The runners, hailing from more than a dozen countries and 47 states, put on a thrilling show for the thousands of fans who lined the 6.2-mile route along Cape Elizabeth’s coastline and crowded into Fort Williams Park for the finish.

Khalid Khannouchi, a Moroccan national trying to gain U.S. citizenship, won the men’s race with a course record time of 27:48 – 31 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Joseph Kimani. The two were shoulder-to-shoulder with a little over a mile remaining.

Khannouchi began the race by sprinting through the green and white balloon arch at the starting line on shaded Route 77, near Crescent Beach. Behind him were well over 3,000 more runners.

Catherine Ndereba of Kenya successfully defended her Beach to Beacon title, once again winning with an all-out sprint in the final meters. She ran the course in 32:05, 10 seconds faster than a year ago and a second faster than fellow countrywoman Teresa Wanjiku.

– From the Aug. 8, 1999 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

The sun danced on the ocean again. The world’s best runners returned Saturday and dazzled as well.

The town of Cape Elizabeth wrapped its arms around the event for a third year, as thousands of people lined the curves of the course, waving flags, shouting encouragement, offering water, soaking in the sights.

Even with controversy at the finish of the elite women’s race, which provoked debate all morning, the third Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K road race matched its young legacy: It drew top talent, provided a showcase for New England running, and served up a spectacle for people who woke up early, just to watch.

The morning started cool. And as the dew on the grass dried, 3,429 runners made their way along the 6.2-mile course – the largest field to run the race.

Organizers estimate 7,000 to 8,000 spectators watched from pockets along the course and at Fort Williams. Even that’s up. Last year the crowd estimate was 6,000.

Joseph Kimani of Kenya, the world record-holder in the 10K, and last year’s second-place finisher, owned the men’s race from early going.

Kimani peeked behind his shoulder at mile 4 and saw a gap. The distance between him and the second-place finisher just continued to grow over the last 2.2 miles. He won in 28 minutes, 7 seconds.

But it was the women’s race that provided the drama. It was the closest and most exciting … of the day.

Catherine Ndereba of Kenya was judged the winner, her third Beach to Beacon title.

But she and Libbie Hickman of Colorado Springs, Colo., sprinted to the end; each of them thought she’d won. Hickman said she touched the finish line first – a plastic ribbon, stretched not quite correctly across the end.

But all three judges ruled Ndereba broke the plane first. Both runners recorded times of 32:19.

– From the Aug. 6, 2000 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

The rain never showed up and the humidity faded. The fourth annual Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K began like the previous ones – thousands of runners lined up on Route 77 ready to begin another Vacationland August day with a 6.2-mile run. But there were surprises, with unexpected runners named Evans, Christine and Andy collecting championships and first-place checks.

And there was more of the same, namely Catherine Ndereba of Kenya.

Ndereba, 29, won her fourth consecutive Beach to Beacon women’s title with a time of 31 minutes, 34 seconds, beating her own course-record time by 31 seconds. Lornah Kiplagat finished two seconds behind.

The crowd cheered on Ndereba and others, like 23-year-old Evans Rutto, who outkicked his fellow, but elder, Kenyans to win the men’s race in 28:30.

Both Ndereba and Rutto accepted $7,500 in prize money. Andy Spaulding (31:29) of Freeport and Christine Snow-Reaser (36:13) of Dayton will cash $1,000 checks, having each won the Maine-only divisions for the first time.

But the winners were only part of the 3,718-runner throng that finished the race. The number was a record as Cape Elizabeth neighborhoods again welcomed the world-class event.

Five hundred children – the limit – took part in the kids’ run as parents and a few racing legends looked on, including (Joan Benoit) Samuelson and Sir Roger Bannister. Bannister, 72, famous for running the first sub-4-minute mile in 1954, was a special guest of the race this year.

– From the Aug. 5, 2001 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

This was after James Koskei, having learned from last year’s too-early sprint, outkicked Henrick Ramaala to win by one second.

This was after Adriana Fernandez, eight months after giving birth, dethroned the four-time champion, Catherine Ndereba. This was more than two hours after the fifth annual Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K road race had snaked its way through Cape Elizabeth on Saturday, past Crescent Beach, around Old Ocean House Road and up to Route 77, under a white arch of firetruck ladders supporting an enormous American flag.

Firefighters and police officers both locally and from New York crowded an awards platform. Don Campbell strummed his guitar and asked a crowd of 4,000-plus runners and their families to join hands on a hillside overlooking the mouth of Portland Harbor and sing along to “America the Beautiful” as a fireboat sprayed plumes of colored water – blue off the bow, red off the stern and white from above.

That’s when Joan Benoit Samuelson, founder of this race, stepped to the microphone and attempted to describe her experience of participating in this event not only as an organizer, but finally, for the first time, as a runner.

“This year, I saw the race like I’ve never seen it before,” she said. “You all made it very special.”

She spent the morning greeting friends, solving last-minute snafus, accompanying a New York firefighter, John Gleason, through the race, hugging her 81-year-old Freeport neighbor, Nelson Soule (who recovered from a heart attack near the end of the inaugural Beach to Beacon) after he completed the course, and making sure all 4,109 finishers felt welcome.

Of course, none felt so welcome as Koskei, 33, a Kenyan who became the fifth different men’s winner in a time of 28 minutes, 11 seconds, or Fernandez, 31, a Mexican who pulled away from Ndereba to win the women’s race in 31:56.

The Maine champions defended their titles. Andy Spaulding of Freeport overcame a five-second deficit inside the fort to beat course-record holder Bob Winn of Ogunquit in 31:26. Christine Snow-Reaser of Dayton held off Jenna Richardson of Waterville to win in 36:30.

– From the Aug. 4, 2002 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

At about 5 o’clock Saturday morning, three hours before the scheduled start of Saturday’s sixth Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K road race, race director Dave McGillivray dropped two tables on his big toe, possibly breaking it. Bad omen.

An hour before the race, heavy rain fell over Cape Elizabeth as traffic backed up and runners wearing garbage-bag vests scurried to reach the remote starting line near Crescent Beach State Park.

And yet when the horn sounded to start the race, a little behind schedule at 8:11 a.m., the rain had stopped and sunshine could be seen.

“Too many good people come to the race, ” said the Beach to Beacon founder, Joan Benoit Samuelson, “and so much good is done as a result of this race, that the pressure was there for the weather to cooperate.”

The sixth running of Maine’s largest road race produced a record-setting performance by Kenyan Gilbert Okari on his 25th birthday – he won in 27 minutes, 27.5 seconds to shave 20 seconds off Khalid Khannouchi’s 4-year-old mark.

And it marked a fifth title for Catherine Ndereba of Kenya in a time (31:52.5) second only to her 2000 course record, and more finishers (4,273) than ever before.

Also, Maggie Hanson, 23, of Bowdoinham won bragging rights among Maine women, ending the two-year reign of Christine Snow-Reaser.

But the morning’s most surprising development was the emergence of Eric Giddings, 16, of South Portland, a high school junior who stunned everyone by winning the Maine men’s race over veterans twice his age, including Andy Spaulding of Freeport and Bob Winn of Ogunquit, two-time winners both.

Moreover, Spaulding didn’t discover he was the runner-up until after he had crossed the finish line, been announced as winner, received a congratulatory hug from Samuelson, and stood next to Giddings in the chute.

“So,” Giddings said shyly, “who was the next Maine runner after us?”

Spaulding’s eyes opened wide. Us?

Shocked and disappointed, Spaulding nevertheless managed grace.

“Usually when you’re second in the race you have a lot of time to accept it, ” he said after finishing 10 seconds behind Giddings, who won in 31:17.5.

– From the Aug. 3, 2003 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

A few minutes before the start of the seventh Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K road race Sunday, as raindrops spattered thousands of runners gathered behind the starting line on rural Route 77, Joan Benoit Samuelson took the microphone.

“The weather is a little bit different at the finish line,” she advised, “so you’ll have to hurry up and get there to see the sun.”

As it turned out, the sun waited for all 4,354 finishers to complete the 6.2-mile course from near Crescent Beach State Park to the Portland Head Light before breaking through the gray clouds.

Ethan Hemphill of Freeport, the first Maine runner across the finish line, was thrilled to avoid what could have been a hot and humid morning.

“I woke up at 5:15 and checked the weather,” Hemphill said. “I saw the gray skies and thought, ‘Great! That’s perfect for me.’ ”

Indeed, it was perfect weather for running – if not viewing – but the umbrella-clutching crowds along the course didn’t seem to mind as they cheered Kenyans Gilbert Okari and Susan Chepkemei to victory. Both earned $10,000.

No records fell on the rain-slicked roads, but Chepkemei’s time of 31 minutes, 35.1 seconds was only 1.1 second shy of the mark set by Catherine Ndereba, the five-time champion, in 2001.

After winning last year’s race on his birthday in a time (27:28) that turned out to be the fastest of 2003, Okari won a three-man sprint through the south side of Fort Williams Park to win in 27:35, the fastest time of 2004.

Hemphill, 32, surged up the final hill before the park to finally shake 22-year-old Evan Graves of Bar Harbor and win by three seconds the $1,000 prize for first Mainer, in 31:46. He was 22nd overall.

Susannah Beck, 36, of Yarmouth won the Maine women’s division by more than a minute in 35:22. Emily LeVan of Wiscasset was second and Maggie Hanson of Bowdoinham, the 2003 champ, was third.

Not only was this the first Beach to Beacon run in the rain, it was the first run on a Sunday, to avoid a conflict with next weekend’s Falmouth (Mass.) Road Race.

– From the Aug. 2, 2004 edition of the Portland Press Herald

Under a bright sky and thin, scattered clouds Saturday, the eighth TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K road race sparkled again through the streets of Cape Elizabeth, ending at a postcard-perfect Fort Williams Park. Leading the pack of 4,306 runners who finished was Gilbert Okari, a tall Kenyan who wore the champion’s laurel wreath for the third straight year. His time was 27 minutes, 37.8 seconds, nine seconds off the race record he set in 2003.

The humidity was low and the temperature was 70 degrees at race time, comfortable conditions, especially in the shade of Cape’s tree-lined streets.

But perspective is everything. Lornah Kiplagat, the women’s champion, wasn’t so comfortable.

“I just came two days ago from Europe. It was a cold day in Holland, rainy and chilly, ” Kiplagat said. “For me this is hot.”

Kiplagat just missed the women’s course record by 1.4 seconds, finishing in 31:34.2.

One record fell as Eric Giddings, 18, of South Portland stretched his youthful legs over the course in 30:34.0, setting a Maine men’s record, beating Bob Winn’s mark of 30:52.

More teenagers followed, and their parents, and octogenarians. This race used to have such a fitting name when it was the Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K. But the race sponsor, Peoples Bank, merged and changed its name to TD Banknorth.

It is still the people’s race, and it is still Joan’s Race, as the race founder, Joan Benoit Samuelson, bounced across the park, wearing a green cap and backpack, shaking hands, congratulating winners and, as always, promoting her sport.

“How many of you ran their first race today?” Samuelson asked the crowd at the awards ceremony. “Hopefully it’s the first of many.”

For most, this was not their first race, nor their first Beach to Beacon.

Peter Bottomley, 43, of Cape Elizabeth, ran in his sixth Beach to Beacon, placing third in the Maine men masters division. He likes the race and the local pride that surfaces every August.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It’s such a beautiful venue. We like to show it off.”

– From the Aug. 7, 2005 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K road race, with the attendant expectation of celebration for such a milestone event. But gee whiz, how could you possibly top Number Nine?

On what might have been the most glorious Saturday of summer – early-morning fog burned off by cloudless sunshine and nary a hint of humidity – the ninth Beach to Beacon offered up these morsels, along with distributing nearly $60,000 in prize money:

• A course record of 31 minutes, 25.7 seconds by Alevtina Ivanova of Russia to neatly complete her three-year placement countdown of three … two … one. Her paycheck: $10,000 plus a $2,500 bonus for lowering the mark set by Catherine Ndereba.

• The culmination of a determined comeback from a horrific injury – the loss of sight in one eye sustained during an aborted carjacking – by 34-year-old Kenyan Tom Nyariki, who admitted he did not expect to beat three-time champion Gilbert Okari, then wound up running alone through Fort Williams Park and won in 27:45.5.

• Yet another surprise winner in the Maine men’s division, with Deering High graduate and University of Maine senior Donny Drake and his four-digit bib number (2659) rising above the cream of the local crop.

• Emily LeVan of Wiscasset surging to an early lead and never looking back on her way to a second straight victory among Maine women, the only favorite to fulfill expectations.

• Patrick Doak of Concord, Mass., in his Beach to Beacon debut, setting a wheelchair record of 23:58 to beat six-time champion Tony Nogueira of New Jersey even though Nogueira’s time of 24:11 also bettered the old course record.

A record field of 4,813 athletes completed the 6.2-mile course, and that doesn’t include Paul Tormey of Orrington, an Army Reserve supply sergeant who embarked before dawn in Baghdad for a 10K trot around Al-Faw Palace and clocked a 49:30, which would have tied him for 1,303rd place.

– From the Aug. 6, 2006 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

The Beach to Beacon 10K road race turned 10 in grand fashion Saturday. Three new champions were crowned. A wheelchair course record was lowered. The race founder, Joan Benoit Samuelson, ran through the streets of her youth.

“It was great,” Samuelson said after arriving at fog-bound Fort Williams alongside Jacqueline Gareau, the respective 1979 and 1980 Boston Marathon champions. “I’ve run these roads all by myself for so many miles and so many years. To see the course transformed on race day is hard to explain.”

Duncan Kibet of Kenya and Luminita Talpos of Romania are the new men’s and women’s champions, respectively. Kibet, in his first Maine visit, outsprinted a fellow Kenyan, Evans Cheryiout, to win by six-tenths of a second in 27 minutes, 51.7 seconds, after passing two runners inside Fort Williams.

Talpos, in her seventh attempt at this race, finally broke the tape with a toothy smile to win by eight seconds over Nataliya Berkut of Ukraine in 32:20.3. Talpos had been fifth four times, third and second before leading from start to finish this year.

Roughly $60,000 in prize money was awarded Saturday, including $1,000 to the three-time winner of the Maine women’s category, Emily LeVan of Wiscasset. Her winning time of 35:01.3 missed the oldest of the course records – set in 1998 by Julia Kirtland – by five seconds.

Nineteen-year-old Ayalew Taye, a former Portland High runner who will be a freshman at Georgetown University this fall, won the Maine men’s race in 30:46.8 after finishing third the previous two years.

On top of a $30,000 cash donation from the race sponsor, TD Banknorth, the race director, Dave McGillivray, pledged a dollar for every runner who beat Samuelson.

She finished 364th in a time of 41:57.2.

McGillivray told a crowd at the awards ceremony that math was never his strong suit, so he rounded up from 363 to $2,000.

– From the Aug. 5, 2007 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

The 11th running of the TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K road race Saturday morning turned out to be a foggy affair, with a pair of Kenyans winning the overall titles, two new champions being crowned in the Maine division and one state icon wrapping another in a larger-than-life embrace.

In the absence of sunshine, a record field of 5,258 from 14 countries and 41 states completed the 6.2-mile course from Bowery Beach Road near Crescent Beach to Portland Head Light, specially decorated for the occasion. More than $60,000 in prize money was awarded.

Edward Muge of Kenya twice came from behind within the gates of Fort Williams Park to win the overall title in 27 minutes, 52.4 seconds, beating Ethiopia’s Maregu Zewdie for the second week in a row.

Zewdie, who pulled up two blocks from the finish in last weekend’s Quad-City Times Bix 7-Miler in Iowa after mistakenly thinking he had beaten Muge, could not hold off the 25-year-old Kenyan over the final 200 meters Saturday morning and finished sixth-tenths of a second behind.

The victory was worth $10,000 to Muge, but he wasn’t the biggest winner Saturday. Fellow Kenyan Edith Masai, who started running seriously at age 32, not only won the women’s race by more than seven seconds in 31:55.6 to claim $10,000 of her own, she also collected another grand for winning the masters category.

The other record that fell in Saturday’s fog was the oldest one on the books. Kristin Barry, 34, of Scarborough more than made up for a disappointing performance at the U.S. Olympic Women’s Marathon Trials in April by winning the Maine women’s race in 34:37.1, eclipsing by nearly 20 seconds the standard set by Julia Kirtland (34:56) in the inaugural edition of this race in 1998.

On the Maine men’s side, 22-year-old Ben True of North Yarmouth continued a youthful trend started five years ago by Eric Giddings of South Portland and continued in recent years by Portland’s Donny Drake and Ayalew Taye. A graduate of Greely High and a senior at Dartmouth College (which happens to be Barry’s alma mater), True cruised to victory in 31:08.8, well ahead of runner-up Judson Cake of Bar Harbor (31:48.2).

– From the Aug. 3, 2008 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

A day that began with trucks loaded with starting-line equipment mired in the mud in fields off Fowler Road ended in victory for a pair of Kenyans, a triple-dip for a pair of Mainers and ice baths for the overheated in a busy medical tent.

Ed Muge successfully defended his title in the 12th TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K, and fellow Kenyan Irene Limika took advantage of a scary tumble by prerace favorite Berhane Adere to win the women’s crown on a warm and sunny Saturday morning.

Each runner earned $10,000 for the victory.

Ben True of North Yarmouth and Sheri Piers of Falmouth provided a bigger story, not only winning the Maine residents’ races, but also setting course records and breaking into the overall top 10.

True, 23, a recent graduate of Dartmouth College embarking on a professional running career, established a course record of 29 minutes, 10 seconds – lopping 85 seconds off the mark of 30:35 set by Eric Giddings of South Portland in 2005.

Piers, meanwhile, cut 21 seconds off training partner Kristin Barry’s 1-year-old mark, lowering it to 34:17. Piers already has home-improvement plans for her $2,000 prize money.

Chris Troyanos, medical coordinator of the race, said 102 runners received treatment, more than double the number at the fog-enveloped 2008 event. Overheating was the issue for most, with one man and one woman transported by ambulance to Maine Medical Center.

“The temperature and the humidity were kind of the perfect storm for us, medically,” said Mike Baumann, medical co-director. “The only thing that helped us was that it’s morning, and not the hottest part of the day.”

The most poignant part of the day occurred after the last of the 5,613 runners and walkers crossed the mats, with race founder Joan Benoit Samuelson greeting as many as she could. Hustling up a hill to the awards ceremony moments later, Samuelson was overcome with emotion when she was unexpectedly honored by the Road Runners Club of America on the 25th anniversary of her historic Olympic marathon victory. Mitchell Garner, a director of the RRCA who traveled to Maine for the race from Ann Arbor, Mich., also cited Samuelson for her efforts to give back “to your community through this race and your many charitable efforts.”

– From the Aug. 2, 2009 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

Cool temperatures, no threat of rain or fog, cloud cover for sensitive skin, the gentlest of breezes, sunshine on the awards ceremony and two women breaking the old course record.

The latest edition of the Beach to Beacon 10K road race had it all.

“It was Lucky 13, what can I say?” said Joan Benoit Samuelson, standing on a hill overlooking the Portland Head Lighthouse early Saturday afternoon. “We’ve been blessed.”

Lineth Chepkurui, a 22-year-old Kenyan who was forced to miss the race the previous two years because of back and ankle injuries, turned in the first sub-31 minute performance for a woman in this annual race from Crescent Beach to Fort Williams that Samuelson started in 1998.

Chepkurui led from opening air horn to closing tape-breaking beneath a graceful arch of white and green balloons in a record time of 30 minutes, 59.4 seconds. Wude Ayalew of Ethiopia, a year older, was seven seconds behind. Until Saturday, the fastest women’s time had been 31:26 by Alevtina Ivanova of Russia, set in 2006.

In a tactical men’s race featuring three runners within a stride of each other as they entered the old gate of Fort Williams Park, Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia used a superior finishing kick to surge past a pair of Kenyans and win in 27:40.4.

The winners each earned $10,000 in prize money, with Chepkurui receiving an added $2,500 for setting a course record. Gebremariam, who finished a second and change ahead of 20-year-old Alan Kiprono, ended a string of 10 consecutive victories for Kenyan men at the Beach to Beacon.

Among Maine residents, Pat Tarpy of Yarmouth joined Ben True, a North Yarmouth native who now lives in New Hampshire, as the only local men to finish under a half-hour. Tarpy’s time of 29:28 bested runner-up Phil Richert of Bar Harbor by a full minute. True, who set the course record of 29:10 a year ago, ran in the elite division after having turned professional. He placed 12th overall, out of the money, a shade over 29 minutes.

Kristin Barry of Scarborough won her second Maine women’s title in three years, but didn’t cross the finish line until she had reached back to clasp hands with her training partner and good friend, Sheri Piers of Falmouth, whose time was three tenths behind Barry’s official clocking of 34:34.9.

In all, 5,671 runners and walkers crossed the finish line, a slight increase from last year. David Weatherbie, the race president, noted that 23 Maine men ran faster than 33 minutes, from Tarpy to Wade Davis of Hallowell, showing remarkable strength in the state’s road-racing community.

– From the Aug. 8 2010 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

Sheri Piers grabbed a long-sleeved shirt and headed to the starting line of the 14th Beach to Beacon 10K road race near Crescent Beach State Park. After a short warmup, that shirt was soaked with sweat.

“I said, ‘I can’t believe this!'” Piers said. “‘It’s going to be hot today.’ And it was hotter than ever. I don’t know what happened.”

The unexpected heat and humidity made for a muggy morning along the scenic 6.2-mile course as a record-setting parade of 5,876 runners, walkers and wheelchair racers crossed the finish line in sight of the Portland Head Light.

Piers wound up winning her second Maine women’s title Saturday, but in a time nearly a minute slower than the course record she set two years ago.

Micah Kogo of Kenya was on pace for a course record through five miles but downshifted though the rolling hills of the final 1.2 miles and won in 27 minutes, 46.9 seconds, well off Gilbert Okari’s 8-year-old record and 6 seconds behind the time of last year’s winner, Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia.

That country’s athletic federation kept Gebremariam home this year to prepare for the track and field world championships in South Korea later this month, so the first seven men to finish Saturday all hailed from Kenya.

But Aheza Kiros became the Beach to Beacon’s second Ethiopian champion, beating all other women in 32:08.7, more than a minute slower than last year’s winning time, the course record of 30:59 set by Lineth Chepkurui.

Similarly, Maine’s top male – Louie Luchini of Ellsworth – was 1:07 slower than Patrick Tarpy’s winning time of a year ago. Luchini came in at 30:35.5 – still the fourth-fastest winning time for the in-state division – and 7 seconds ahead of runner-up Jonny Wilson of Falmouth in what turned out to be the closest of the event’s four major competitions.

– From the Aug. 7, 2011 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

It’s not every competition where 14-minute milers are greeted at the finish line with handshakes and high-fives from an Olympic gold medalist, but Joan Benoit Samuelson’s Beach to Beacon 10K is not your ordinary road race.

Resplendent in red after running the 6.2-mile course herself alongside fellow marathon legends Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter and 77-year-old former L.L. Bean president Leon Gorman, Samuelson welcomed walkers and runners as if they were long-lost friends.

Behind her, half a dozen volunteers in red vests with large white crosses below the word “MEDICAL” watched for anyone suffering unduly from the heat and humidity.

Yes, it was another hot time in Cape Elizabeth on Saturday morning, with approximately six dozen runners treated in the medical tent and one transported to a local hospital.

Even so, more folks made the journey by foot or wheelchair from near Crescent Beach to the Portland Head Light on this first Saturday in August than in any of the previous 14 editions of this annual event: 6,177.

“There were a lot of people out there struggling,” Samuelson said, “but they knew their bounds, and they were walking and running and jogging accordingly.”

With few clouds, temperatures in the mid 70s and barely a breath of wind, Saturday was not a day for records. Stanley Biwott of Kenya was the only runner to finish in under 28 minutes. His time of 27:58.6 was the second-slowest for a winner in nine years.

Only once since 2002 has the winner taken longer to pass beneath the arch of green and white balloons inside Fort Williams, when Ed Muge ran 28:05 in 2009.

Muge placed fifth Saturday in 28:18, but his wife, Emily Chebet, nearly stole the women’s title when each of the two women ahead of her, fellow Kenyans Margaret Wangari-Muriuki and Lineth Chepkurui, misjudged the finish line.

Wangari won in 31:51.6 with Chebet six tenths of a second behind. Chepkurui was another two seconds behind followed four seconds later by Rita Jeptoo in one of the closest, most crowded conclusions in race history.

In the Maine women’s category, Sheri Piers of Falmouth won her second straight title and third overall, in a time (34:23) six seconds off the course record she set in 2007. At 41, Piers also won her second straight women’s masters title.

Among Maine men, two former Falmouth High teammates battled for the title, with Ethan Shaw overtaking Jonny Wilson in the final mile to win by 14 seconds in 30:37.

– From the Aug. 5, 2012 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

The day started somber and gray, with 10 seconds of respectful silence to remember victims of the April 15 bomb blasts near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

It ended, for the first time in the 16-year history of the Beach to Beacon 10K road race, amid raindrops inside Fort Williams Park. Not for every finisher, mind you.

Men’s winner Micah Kogo of Kenya got wet at Pond Cove but beat the sprinkles to the break tape in 28 minutes, 3.2 seconds, his second victory in three years.

Women’s winner Joyce Chepkirui held off a surprising and determined Gemma Steel of Great Britain for a 12-second victory in 31:23.2.

“There just seemed to be renewed energy here this year,” said the race founder, Joan Benoit Samuelson, the Olympic champion and Cape Elizabeth native.

“It’s always a great event but it just seemed like a lot of people were so happy to be here. I saw a lot of first-time runners, a lot of legacy runners (who have run all 16 Beach to Beacons) and a lot of families running together.”

Veazie native Riley Masters, who returned last week from his first professional track races in Europe without the racing gear emblazoned with his sponsor’s name, tugged at the MAINE on the Maine Track Club singlet he purchased for $20 at Friday’s prerace expo just before crossing the line as the Maine men’s champ in 30:19.3, good for 15th overall.

“Home-state pride,” Masters, 23, said of his gesture. “There’s a lot of pride for winning this.”

Erica Jesseman of Scarborough collapsed and sat on the grass for several minutes after a finishing sprint that wound up six-tenths of a second shy of a course record in the Maine women’s category. Still, she won her first Beach to Beacon title in 34:17.6.

The sun finally began to break through during the awards ceremony on the top of a hill overlooking the lighthouse. Temperatures that began in the low 60s climbed barely to 70 by the time the last of the 6,244 finishers completed their journey.

– From the Aug. 4, 2013 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

The scene just beyond the finish line of the 17th annual TD Beach to Beacon 10K resembled a bowling alley with human pins.

Four runners had arrived but only North Yarmouth native Ben True remained on his feet. He bent over and clasped hands with each of the three Kenyans sprawled on the green turf beneath the arch of green and white balloons.

Bedan Karoki, 23, turned over to his back and squeezed True’s hand. It was Karoki who pushed the pace from Crescent Beach all the way to Fort Williams on Saturday and broke the tape in 27 minutes, 36.4 seconds – fastest in the world this year for a 10-kilometer road race.

To Karoki’s left lay Stephen Kosgei, the runner-up by six seconds. To the right was Patrick Makau, who was fourth in 27:56.

True finished third in 27:49 – the highest overall placing by an American male in race history.

“Ben True ran out of his mind,” said Larry Barthlow, who recruits the Kenyans and other elite athletes to this race each year. “I think that’s the biggest surprise. His race was amazing.”

Still, True being True, he took in the scene and figured the only guy standing had too much left in his tank.

“It was evident that they put it all out there,” he said. “I think that if I had burned a little bit more in the middle I could have had a lot more at the end.”

For the 17th year in a row, no American won the men’s or women’s title. But True and women’s runner-up Shalane Flanagan came as close as any U.S. runners since Libbie Hickman broke the ceremonial tape in 2000 but lost when the timing chip on Catherine Ndereba’s shoe crossed the electronic mat first.

Under overcast skies and occasional spits of rain, Gemma Steel, a Northern Ireland native representing Great Britain, outkicked Flanagan to win in 31:27 and become the race’s first non-African female champion since Luminita Talpos of Romania in 2007.

In the Maine resident category, Will Geoghegan of Brunswick became only the third male winner to break 30 minutes (29:53) and Minnesota transplant Michelle Lilienthal of Portland lopped more than a half-minute from the women’s course record, with a time of 33:39.

By the time the final stragglers among the record field of 6,488 completed their 6.2-mile journey, the beacon beckoned with foghorn blasts.

– From the Aug. 3, 2014 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

Stephen Kosgei Kibet looked over his shoulder and almost felt relief. No one was in sight.

After finishing second twice, including last year, and fourth another time, the 28-year-old Kenyan finally won the TD Beach to Beacon 10K on Saturday. He pulled away from the lead pack in the final mile to finish first among a record 6,598 participants in the 18th annual race.

Kibet’s time was 28 minutes, 28.2 seconds, nearly 12 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Moses Kipsiro of Uganda.

It was another near-perfect edition of the race, founded by Joan Benoit Samuelson and run on the roads where she trained while growing up here. While weather conditions seemed ideal at the start – Samuelson called it a “bluebird day” – the day warmed quickly and the pace was slow for just about everyone.

But it was a day of celebration all around. Hundreds of fans lined the streets, some setting up hours before, others having breakfast on their lawn. They banged pots, played music, waved banners and cheered – loudly – as the runners ran past.

Among those who passed by were Boston Marathon bombing victim Karen Rand McWatters and 90-year-old Dottie Gray, who started the race an hour before the other runners. McWatters, a Westbrook native, volunteered last year but soaked in the atmosphere as a participant this year. She promised to return, but not on the course.

“I’ll go back to volunteering,” she said. “I’ll always volunteer. I know what this race means.”

Kibet wasn’t the only elite runner to win a first title Saturday. Women’s winner Wude Ayalew, a 28-year-old from Ethiopia, overtook Burundi’s Diane Nukuri in the final 200 meters, to win in 31:55.5. She finished second and sixth in her previous visits.

– From the Aug. 2, 2015 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram

Out of the hordes of spectators offering empathy and encouragement to the local boy trying to make good, there was really only one guy who knew exactly how Ben True felt Saturday in the 19th TD Beach to Beacon 10K.

Like True, Matt Lane grew up in Greater Portland.

Like True, Lane twice narrowly missed qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team in the 5,000 meters.

“Physically, he’s great,” Lane said as he watched True attempting to stick with race leader William Malel Sitonik of Kenya as the runners approached Pond Cove late in the fifth mile. “And psychologically, he’s really, really pissed off.”

So when Sitonik failed to shake True and another American, Dathan Ritzenhein of Michigan, before reaching the hills of Shore Road in the final mile, the 18-year African reign at Beach to Beacon was over. Spurred on by determination and a roaring crowd not quite believing what was unfolding, True surged ahead up the final incline and pulled away inside Fort Williams for an astonishing 11-second victory.

True, 30, is the first American runner – male or female – to win the Beach to Beacon title. That he grew up in North Yarmouth and first ran this race as a teenager made his victory even sweeter.

“You hope and you pray and then you see it delivered,” said race founder Joan Benoit Samuelson, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist who grew up in Cape Elizabeth running these same roads. “Knowing about his disappointment and then having him come home and do this in a stellar field, in a special year with the Olympics going on, I would say he got his redemption today.”

Samuelson’s eyes brimmed with tears as True, arms upraised, broke the tape at 28 minutes, 16.3 seconds and continued to her for a heartfelt embrace. This was True’s seventh time at Beach to Beacon, a race he first ran in 2003. He twice won the Maine resident category, and since turning pro had finished 12th overall in 2010 and third in 2014.

Even before True raised goosebumps by barreling to his unprecedented victory, the 19th Beach to Beacon already had taken on a special feel. Friday marked the inaugural High School Mile, and Saturday – instead of a threatened thunderstorm – featured cloud cover, temperatures in the low 70s and an early start for elite women, culminating in Mary Keitany of Kenya lopping 14 seconds off the course record to win in 30:45.0.

In the Maine-only categories, Michelle Lilienthal, 34, of Portland won her second women’s title (in 34:53) and Jesse Orach, 22, of Gorham won in his B2B debut (31:32).

– From the Aug. 7, 2016 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram