How far ahead of the rest of the world is the Bangor-area Sub 5 Track Club? So far that the club's 2009 race series actually began on Dec. 28, 2008, with the Epic Sports 5K in Bangor.

"Serious runners don't stop in the winter," Sub 5 Club President Samantha Matoush pointed out. "The idea was to extend the season, by including events like the Epic and the Flattop 5K in Lamoine in March, and continue through the (Brewer) Turkey Trot at Thanksgiving."

The Sub 5 series, which is sponsored once again this year by TradeWinds Marketplace, marked its third event with Saturday's Orrington 10K. Next up are the Sugarloaf Marathon and 15K on May 17 (see www.sugarloaf.com); and the (seriously-Downeast) Cobscook Bay 10K on June 6.

Check out the series in its full glory at www.sub5.com and you will discover 13 quality events, rich in hills (e.g. the Tour du Lac 10-Miler in Bucksport), history (such as the venerable Bangor Labor Day 5-miler), nicknames (the Walter Hunt Memorial 3K, aka Shinsplint 3,000), turkeys stuffed with money (the Turkey Trot 5K) and head-shaking course records, such as Mike Gaige's longstanding 24:45 at the Machias Blueberry Festival 5-Miler in 1982. (And it is said that roadwork has since de-steepened the Machias hills of those days.)

Last year, Judson Cake of Bar Harbor and Kristine Guaraldo of South Portland were the overall series winners. You have to run at least five races to be eligible for awards, for which there are age-group categories as well as overall men's and women's awards, which are determined on a points system using runners' five best races.

As of Friday, Erik McCarthy of Orono and Brewer grad Guaraldo were the overall leaders. ...

The excellent Portland Sea Dogs Mother's Day 5K isn't the only show in town next weekend. On Saturday, McAuley High will host the Run for Hope 5K, to benefit the Jim and Maxine Pouravelis Scholarship Fund. The race has raised more than $40,000 for the fund in just two years. The postrace feed includes baklava, pizza and much more. Two sets of Red Sox tickets, one for highest pledge sheet, one in the raffle, will be given away.

The 5K begins at 10 a.m., and the 2.5-mile walk starts 15 minutes later.

The fee is $15 by May 8 or $20 on race day; kids 12 and under get in free but don't get a T-shirt, which go to the first 250 to register.

The course: a flat loop down Stevens Avenue toward Morrill's Corner, back east on Forest Avenue, then through Woodfords neighborhoods to Stevens and home to McAuley.

Photographer Sasha Chipman will be on hand to immortalize the event with her camera, and the plan is for photos to be available for sale.

For more information or an entry form, contact Rita Yavinsky at 899-0981, or see www.mcauleyhs.org or www.mainetrackclub.com. ...

The many fine performances at Boston included marathon debuts for two Cape Elizabeth natives, David Downing, 25, and Steve Bagdasarian, 26, who now live in Boston.

Both having lost grandfathers to cancer, they ran the 26.2-miler in their grandfathers' memories to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. And despite long-run training that topped out at 17 miles, they finished in 4:02 with notably even 5K splits and a positive split of under 2 minutes while running together. Capping the joint effort, they raised more than $10,000 for Dana-Farber. ...

Speaking of Sugarloaf, note that the marathon kicks off the inaugural Summit to Sea Series, which concludes with the MDI Marathon on Oct. 18. (Yes, it's a "series" of two, but still, for marathons that's a legit series, unless you're Mike Brooks.) Combined times will be used to determine male and female winners. Check out www.summittoseamarathon.org...