It’s two days before the Beach to Beacon and Janet McLaughlin’s phone is ringing off the hook.
The coordinator of the race’s host family program, McLaughlin is charged with matching visiting elite runners with Cape Elizabeth families; lining up airport pick-ups and transportation; and making sure that the athletes get to the Friday morning press conference and Saturday morning race on time.
With world-class runners flying into Portland or Boston from various spots in and outside the country, McLaughlin fields calls, makes adjustments, passes on information and keeps the process flowing smoothly.
“You have to be organized and use email and live with the telephone,” McLaughlin says to a guest, whose conversation with her is interrupted several times by race-related calls.
After hosting a runner in 1999, the event’s first year, McLaughlin went to the race’s volunteer coordinator and said, “This is something I can do for you next year.” She’s been overseeing the host program since.
“I’ve always thought Joan Benoit Samuelson was a super person and it gave me a chance to work more closely with her, which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed,” McLaughlin says. “I work in Augusta and this keeps me grounded here in Cape. It gives me a chance to meet some people from Cape that I wouldn’t know otherwise, as well as meeting the international and American elite runners.”
The exchange and appreciation of different cultures is at the heart of the host family program, and the Beach to Beacon offers a unique setting to athletes accustomed to staying in hotel rooms.
“Joanie wanted the host program to expose Cape Elizabeth children to other cultures,” says McLaughlin. “I think the athletes get to see how American families really live. So much of the world thinks we all live in Hollywood or New York and there’s lots of crime or we’re all movie stars.”
This year 31 families signed up to be hosts, which meant that – as of Thursday – five of the families were without runners. Plans change at the last minute, however, so McLaughlin keeps those families involved.
“This year I’ve put more runners paired up. The Kenyon fellows, especially, like to hang out with their training partners. They’re laid back, but their not here to be tourists. They’re here to work.”
McLaughlin was able to expand on her understanding of the Kenyan runners, who have dominated the race in recent years, when she and two host families visited the East African nation in January.
“We were in country for nine days and had the trip of a lifetime. We saw a cross-country race in which some of our runners participated. We stayed in Iten, which is where the runners’ training camp is. The track was dirt and it had goats and sheep on the track.
“They were pleased that we went. It was a wonderful immersion into their culture.”
William Chebon, a Kenyan who arrived Tuesday night to run his second Beach to Beacon, was staying for a second time with Kathy Tarpo, a Cape Elizabeth teacher, and her 8-year-old son Vince.
Late in the afternoon Thursday the trio was enjoying tea and cookies around Tarpo’s dining-room table. Chebon might have been mistaken for a neighbor who’d just dropped by for a visit.
“I got involved in the host program when I couldn’t run last year and I wanted to do something with the race,” says Tarpo. “I called Janet and we got William last year and it was great, so we got him again this year.
“He’s pretty outgoing. We walk up to Video Jam and get movies and ice cream. He stayed up late last night and watched a horror movie.”
Chebon is from a large family and has a brother Vince’s age, so the pair get along well. Vince has even taught Chabon to play video games.
“I love it when families have the same athletes, and they develop close ties,” says McLaughlin, a former state legislator who has two grown daughters living in the Boston area.
McLaughlin and others on the organizing committee begin meeting in February each year, and a mass email goes out in May to those who might be interested in becoming involved.
“I talk to people before they are hosts to just feel them out, making sure they can be flexible and go along with the changes,” says McLaughlin. “Sometimes I have to call at the last minute and say, ‘They’re not coming.’ Or, ‘They’re coming into Logan, not Portland and the time is all changed.’ One family just found out Tuesday night they were getting someone. That’s the flexibility needed, but people are wonderfully generous.”
Dave Backer and his family hosted Tom Nyarika, this year’s winner. Backer was hopeful that “good company and encouragement” played a role in Nyarika’s success.
“I think it’s the fourth year we’ve had a runner stay with us,” Backer says, “and they’re all so humble and so gracious and so appreciative. It’s fun and it’s an honor.”
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