TD Beach to Beacon 10K race goes virtual this year after 2020 cancellation
File photo
In this 2017 photo, Larry Wold, TD Bank's Maine president, leads colleagues on a training run to prepare for the TD Beach to Beacon race.
The annual TD Beach to Beacon 10K road race, which COVID forced to cancel last year for the first time, is back — virtually.
Instead of sending runners through the streets of Cape Elizabeth, the 2021 race is inviting competitors to complete their favorite 10-kilometer route anywhere and at any point between July 23 and Aug. 8. Race times can then be submitted and prizes will be awarded.
Race President David Backer said in a news release this week, “After talking with members of our medical team and with town public safety officials, it ultimately became clear that the safest decision for our runners, volunteers, and the community is for us to stage only a virtual event in 2021. Our team is working hard to make this a meaningful and memorable event for everyone.”
The race typically attracts runners from throughout the world, and ones competing this year will be hitting the road at the same time as other international athletes. The dates of the virtual race coincide with the 16-day span of the Tokyo Summer Olympics.
The 2020 Beach to Beacon was to have drawn over 6,500 runners, from professional, world-class athletes to casual joggers. In 2019, the race field comprised 6,417 runners from nine countries, 42 states and nearly 260 Maine cities and towns.
The event, whose title sponsor is the TD Bank Charitable Foundation, typically provides an economic boost for Cape Elizabeth and the Portland area. Thousands of spectators, vendors, media and others flock the course, which begins near Crescent Beach State Park, winds along tree-lined streets and ends in Fort Williams.
The Beach to Beacon was founded in 1998 by Joan Benoit Samuelson, the Cape Elizabeth native, Freeport resident and famed runner who won the first Olympic women’s marathon in 1984. Today the race is the largest running event in Maine.
All registered participants of the virtual Beach to Beacon will receive official T-shirts and other swag. Registration will open online June 2 at 10 a.m. and more information is available here.
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