Maine's popular Beach to Beacon 10K race opens their online registration tomorrow, Sunday, March 15th at noon. The 6,000 limit field is expected to sell out in 24-hours and the only way to register is online. My suggestion is either bring your handheld or plan your Southie St. Patrick's day celebration accordingly because you do not want to miss this registration.
Ten years ago, Joan Benoit Samuelson 1984 Olympic Marathon Gold Medalist, started this beautiful race in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It is a gorgeous 6.2 mile race that starts at Crescent Beach and ends at Portland Head Light.
This years race will be run on August 1, 2009 at 8:00am. The registration fee for the 10K road race and 10K wheelchair race are $35. Beach to Beacon is also offering a children's fun run for $5. Bring your co-workers out for the Corporate Challenge for a fee of $35. Each registration fee will have an additional $3.75 charge for the online registration. Remember, only online registration is available for this race. No paper applications are available.
Beach to Beacon is a big draw for elite runners from all over with its large prize purse. The top ten men and women will receive cash prizes ranging from $500 or 10th place to $10,000 for first place. Cash prizes are also available for the top three men and women in the wheelchair, masters and seniors divisions. The top five Maine finishers will receive a cash prize. If the winners should sent a course record, a bonus of $2,500 will be given to open runners and $500 given for the Maine course record. The current mens course record is 27:28, set by Gilbert Okari of Kenya in 2003. The womens course record is 31:26, set by Alventina Ivanova of Kenya in 2006. The current Maine course record was set in 2005 by Eric Giddings of South Portland.
To register for Beach to Beacon, visit their website beachtobeacon.org at noon on Sunday. Do not delay as the 6,000 spots will sell out quickly.
