enlarge 2004 Press Herald File

The men's elite field will be relatively unaffected by the Bejing Games, officials say, as three-time Beach to Beacon winner Gilberk Okari of Kenya and other top finishers of the past five years will be in Cape Elizabeth

Saturday marks the 11th running of the TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race, but only the third time it has bumped up against the Summer Olympics.

Each time it happens, the man who assembles the field of elite runners, Larry Barthlow, has to be particularly patient and resourceful, waiting for national federations to release runners on the Olympic bubble and ready to snatch up others bypassed in the selection process.

"We're always caught in these wait-and-see games," Barthlow said by phone recently after returning to the United States from Dubai. "Because of the Olympics, we sort of have a strange year. We're always waiting for people."

The Beijing Summer Games begin next weekend, six days after the 6.2-mile footrace from near Crescent Beach to the Portland Head Light.

The Games have claimed the 2007 Beach to Beacon women's champion, Luminita Talpos of Romania, but the men's winners of the past five years all plan to line up along Bowery Beach Road Saturday morning: Duncan Kibet, Thomas Nyariki and three-time champion and course record-holder Gilbert Okari, all of Kenya.

"The Olympic guys are usually the track guys, other than in the marathon," said race president David Weatherbie. "So I don't expect -- and I'm not seeing it with those who are coming -- any deterioration in the quality of the race."

The first year the Beach to Beacon bumped up against the Olympics came in 2000 with the Sydney Games, but they didn't begin until September. Libbie Hickman of Fort Collins, Colo., Lidia Simon of Romania and Marian Sutton of Great Britain had no problem competing in Cape Elizabeth in August of that year prior to their Olympic adventures.

Khalid Khannouchi, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Morocco, was injured for the U.S. Olympic Trials that year, the first he was eligible, and made his running debut as a U.S. citizen at the 2000 Beach to Beacon.

Four years later, the Athens Games began 12 days after Beach to Beacon, which saw Okari run the year's fastest 10K road race (27:35) and lead four runners across the line in less than 28 minutes. Women's winner Susan Chepkemei of Kenya came up two seconds short of Catherine Ndereba's since-broken course record. Ndereba finished fifth in Cape Elizabeth, tuning up for a silver medal marathon performance in Greece.

Because the Beijing Games begin less than a week after Beach to Beacon, nobody in this year's field will be using Cape Elizabeth as a springboard to China.

"We still have a strong field," said race founder Joan Benoit Samuelson. "I wish it was a stronger American field, but most of the top distance runners are going to Beijing. Or if not, they're injured or they've shut it down. When you're training at that level, it's not just the physical strain, it's emotionally taxing, too."

Samuelson said she heard many comments from top Americans who hoped to come to Cape Elizabeth next year.

Even so, she said, "We'll have some Americans here who are fun to watch."

The top American in the men's field is Rod Koborsi, an eight-time All-American from Georgetown who grew up in Texas and has run a 28:30 at this distance. The top American women are Elva Dryer, a 2004 Olympian from Colorado who placed fifth here last year, and Nicole Aish, the seventh overall woman in 2005 and eighth in 2004.

Besides the Olympics, the high cost of travel driven by record fuel prices has affected Barthlow's overseas recruiting efforts. Plane tickets from Africa are now in excess of $2,000. In years past, Barthlow often paid less than $1,200 to bring foreign athletes to Maine.

"We have a certain travel budget," he said, "and it doesn't take too many people out of Africa to fill up your budget."

The top international women expected at this year's race are Millicent Gathoni and Lineth Chepkurui of Kenya -- who have three American road racing titles between them already this year -- and Wude Ayalew...