Cape Elizabeth residents snapped up 600 available bibs in the 2019 TD Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race early Wednesday morning.
Organizers employed a queue system similar to that used for concerts and other popular events that sell out quickly. The system is designed to allow anyone who has moved from the waiting to area to begin filling out the registration form sufficient time to complete the sign-up without having to rush through it.
Phil Walsh was first to officially register, in 72 seconds. Within five minutes, 600 runners were either registered or in the process of filling out the form. It took another nine minutes for a sell-out to be declared.
The average time to complete the form was 3 minutes, 20 seconds. Women were slightly faster to do so, and made up 49.7 percent of those registered. The most popular area of those failing to meet the residency requirement was South Portland.
Online registration for the general public begins at 7 a.m. Thursday at beach2beacon.org. The only way to secure one of the 4,000 available bibs is to first set up an account with Race Roster.
“I was already registered with Race Roster, so that made a big difference,” Walsh wrote in an email response. “I verified my registration a couple of days ago, so I knew my info was correct and up to date.”
A lottery for the remaining 1,950 bibs will run from Thursday to March 24, with winners announced March 26. The race is scheduled for Aug. 3 in Cape Elizabeth.
Entry fee for the 22nd running of the popular race is $55.
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