Race founder Joan Benoit Samuelson laughs at remarks during a news conference Friday in advance of the TD Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
CAPE ELIZABETH — In what shapes up as a deep women’s field for the TD Beach to Beacon 10K, two names stand out as top contenders to win the 25th-anniversary event founded by marathon legend Joan Benoit Samuelson:
Hellen Obiri, 33, of Kisii, Kenya, and Keira D’Amato, 38, of Oakton, Virginia, appear to be the favorites in Sunday’s race.
Obiri, who earlier this year won the Boston Marathon in just her second marathon attempt, has been a top professional for over a decade and is the most decorated runner in the women’s field. She is the only woman in history who has won world championships indoors (3,000 meters, in 2012), outdoors (5,000, in 2017 and 2019), and in cross country (2019). Plus, she owns two Olympic silver medals in the 5,000 meters.
This is Obiri’s first trip to the Beach to Beacon. She’s coming with a purpose.
Hellen Obiri of Kenya won the women’s division of the Boston Marathon in April. On Saturday, she’ll compete for the first time in the TD Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth. Charles Krupa/Associated Press
“When you come to a race, you come to win,” she said. “Of course, we have a strong challenge, so for me, I’ve worked extra hard, and if the weather is good, I’ll try to do my best and try to win.”
D’Amato has been on a record-setting roll. In addition to winning national championships at three distances in the last two years, she set a since-broken American record for the marathon in Houston in 2022 with a time of 2:19:12, then broke the U.S. half marathon record when she clocked 1:06:39 on July 1 in Australia. D’Amato finished eighth in the marathon at the 2022 world championships in Oregon and is preparing for the 2023 world championships marathon on Aug. 26 in Budapest, Hungary.
What makes those accomplishments more amazing is that D’Amato didn’t race for eight years.
A four-time All-American at American University, where she graduated in 2006, D’Amato stopped competing in 2009 because of injuries and disillusionment. D’Amato said she’s gone through the stages of hating running and being an injured runner “and really thought I was never going to run again.”
She didn’t return to the sport until after the birth of her second child, daughter Quin, who just turned 7.
Keira D’Amato of Oakton, Virginia, set a U.S. half marathon record of 1:06:39 on July 1. Charlie Riedel/Associated Press
When D’Amato did return, it was not with a grand plan to crash the world stage, but “I always thought I had unfinished business,” she said, “I just never thought that I would have the courage to see what that unfinished business was. And I guess I finally found the courage to really go for it. It’s been a really beautiful journey and I’ve learned that I’m capable of much more than I imagined.”
Mary Keitany’s 2017 course record of 30 minutes, 41 seconds would seem to be in jeopardy. A new record would be worth an extra $2,500 on top of the $10,000 first prize. Obiri’s personal best for 10,000 meters on the track is 30:10.2, set last summer when she won a silver medal at the world championships. D’Amato has run 31:17 on the roads, at the B.A.A. 10K last June.
Masters runners Edna Kiplagat and Sarah Hall are also capable of being record breakers. The Beach to Beacon women’s masters record is 31:56, set by Edith Masai of Kenya in 2008.
Hall, based in Flagstaff, Arizona, turned 40 on April 15, just two days before setting the Boston Marathon masters record of 2:25:48 while finishing 17th. But the Boston effort, along with some nagging injuries before Boston, caused Hall to slow her training and race schedule. Hall, who was second in the London Marathon in 2020, third in Chicago in 2021, and fifth in the world championships marathon in 2022, is gearing toward the 2024 U.S. Olympic marathon trial, on Feb. 3 in Orlando.
“This is a race I’ve been trying to get back to for a while, one I really enjoy,” said Hall, who was sixth at the 2016 Beach to Beacon. “For me, it’s kind of the start of my season. I ran the Boston Marathon and had an injury and am kind of coming back from that. I knew it would be a really good competition here and it’s a fast-ish course. I was looking for an opportunity to just really blow out the pipes with a really good field and have them drag me to like see where I’m at. It’s six months to the Olympic Trials, so everything is just kind of working backwards from that.”
Kiplagat, 43, a Kenyan who now lives in Colorado, was the 2011 and 2013 world marathon champion and has been a professional runner since 1996. She won the Boston Marathon in 2017 and was elevated to another Boston victory after the 2021 winner was disqualified for using a banned drug.
THE MEN’S RACE has no clear favorite. Conner Mantz, who competed at Brigham Young University, has posted a 10K time of 27:25 this year and could be in the mix for both the overall and top American (worth $5,000) spots.
Ethiopians Edris Muktar, 29, and Amedework Walelegn, 24, are two runners who have earned medals in top international competitions. Muktar is a two-time world champion in the 5,000 (2017, 2019). Walelegn was runner-up in the Under-20 World Cross Country Championship in 2017 and took bronze in the world half marathon in 2020.
Kenyan Edwin Kurgat, an assistant coach at Iowa State, where he was a 10-time All-American, is coming off a 27:49 fifth-place finish at the Peachtree 10K in Atlanta on July 4. Tatsuhiko Ito leads a trio of Japanese professionals. It is his country’s record holder in the 10,000 meters on the track in 27:25. Reid Buchanan of San Diego placed third at the recent Bix 7-mile race in Iowa and could be in the mix for top American, along with Biya Simbassa, who finished third at B2B last year in 29:01.
SANFORD NATIVE Rachel Schneider Smith is back for a second consecutive year. Smith, 32, competed in the 2021 Olympics and was fifth in her first Beach to Beacon last year. A week after last year’s race, Smith found out she was pregnant. Her daughter, Nova, was born on April 19.
“The main (goal) is just to have fun. Soak in the energy of this beautiful community. Gratitude for being back healthy and running and racing. My family and my husband’s family are going to be here. My daughter is going to be here, so just really soak in this experience,” Smith said.
CATHERINE NDEREBA is back in Cape Elizabeth. Known as “Catherine the Great,” Ndereba won the first four Beach to Beacon women’s titles and added a fifth in 2003.
“This race is one of the amazing races and where we are celebrating the 25th anniversary, I feel like I’m part of the history,” Ndereba said. She said Beach to Beacon was an important part of her career, which included two Olympic silver medals and four Boston Marathon wins.
“I can say that where Beach to Beacon lies is that it’s one of my best races because I used it as part of my preparations for the big championships,” Ndereba said. “I could come here as part of my tuning up for my speed, and then after that, I have to join my team for the Olympics or the world championships.”
Ndereba is planning to run Saturday, possibly with race founder Joan Benoit Samuelson.
NOTES: Winners of top divisions this year will receive, in addition to cash prizes, a pair of classic L.L. Bean boots, adorned with the TD Beach to Beacon 10K logo. … At Friday’s press conference, Orono High’s Ruth White and Portland’s Nathan Blades were among the special guests. Both were scheduled to run in Friday’s High School Mile, which was canceled because of thunderstorms. White was the defending girls’ champ and Blades placed second in the boys’ race a year ago. White confirmed that she will also be in Saturday’s race. Last year, coming from the back of the field, the 4-foot-8 senior-to-be placed second in the Maine women’s race in 36 minutes, 27 seconds, 10 seconds off the winning time of Aly Ursiny of Yarmouth. This year, White will start with the elite women and other top Maine runners. … Race director Dave McGillivray, 69, introduced White and Blades, then told a personal story. McGillivray, who grew up in Medford, Massachusetts, related how he had only asked for an athlete’s autograph twice in his life. When he was 10, he and his brother asked former Boston Celtics great Bill Russell for an autograph. Russell, who disdained giving out autographs, declined. Thirty years later, McGillivray and his brother had to again approach Russell, with the same game-day program they’d had as youngsters. Russell again said no. At the end of the story, McGillivray asked for an autograph for the third time in his life. Samuelson granted his wish.
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