It’s never too early to be thinking about summer, and registration for one of Maine’s premiere summer sporting events is set to open in early March.
That event, the TD Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race, will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in August.
Registration for the Aug. 5 race in Cape Elizabeth will open on March 9, and if past years are any indication, runners who want a bib will have to be as quick with their keyboards as they are their feet.
Last year, all 4,000 bibs reserved for the general public were gone in three minutes, 43 seconds.
The Beach to Beacon was founded by Olympian and Freeport native Joan Benoit Samuelson, and it attracts the best runners in Maine, the country and the world to the Pine Tree State.
The first 600 race slots, allocated on March 5, are reserved for Cape Elizabeth residents. The following day, the general public will be allowed to register, with 4,000 slots open.
Registration on both days begins at 7 a.m.
“While you don’t have to be fast to run the TD Beach to Beacon 10K, you do have to be fast to register, as is proven year after year,” race President Mike Stone said in a press release. “Everyone who wants to assure themselves of a place at the starting line needs to be alert, nimble and ready to go when the proverbial horn sounds.”
A lottery for the remaining 1,950 slots will take place March 10-19, with lottery entrants announced on March 21. A $5 fee will be charged to enter the lottery, and race registration will cost runners $50.
Lottery winners will be posted at beach2beacon.org.
Transfers will be allowed April 1-June 30 for a $5 fee. Cape Elizabeth residents who registered among the 600 from that town can only transfer to another resident in town.
Bib numbers may not be exchanged after June 30.
The 2016 race included a record-setting 6,336 runners from 15 countries and 43 states, compared with 2,408 for the race’s 1998 debut.
More than $90,000 in prize money is expected to be awarded.
