enlarge Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Ben True gets a hug from race founder Joan Samuelson after he broke the course record for Maine men.

enlarge Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Ed Muge of Kenya grabs the early lead Saturday on the way to his second straight victory in the TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K at Cape Elizabeth. Muge joined three-time champion Gilbert Okari as the only men to win the race in consecutive years.

enlarge John Ewing/Staff Photographer

Kristin Kerney, center, and her teammates on the Cape Elizabeth High girls’ soccer team celebrate after finishing the race.

CAPE ELIZABETH — A day that began with trucks loaded with starting-line equipment mired in the mud in fields off Fowler Road ended in victory for a pair of Kenyans, a triple-dip for a pair of Mainers and ice baths for the overheated in a busy medical tent.

Ed Muge successfully defended his title in the 12th TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K, and fellow Kenyan Irene Limika took advantage of a scary tumble by prerace favorite Berhane Adere to win the women's crown on a warm and sunny Saturday morning.

Each runner earned $10,000 for the victory.

Ben True of North Yarmouth and Sheri Piers of Falmouth provided a bigger story, not only winning the Maine residents' races, but also setting course records and breaking into the overall top 10.

True, 23, a recent graduate of Dartmouth College embarking on a professional running career, pocketed $2,000 for being the first Maine man ($1,000) and 10th overall ($500), and establishing a course record of 29 minutes, 10 seconds – lopping 85 seconds off the mark of 30:35 set by Eric Giddings of South Portland in 2005.

Not that True was particularly pleased with himself, shaking his head in mild disgust as he crossed underneath the arch of green and white balloons at the finish.

"I wanted under 29 (minutes)," he said. "I think I got too complacent (running alongside Kenyan Richard Limo, a former world champion at 5,000 meters). I should have pushed it."

Piers, meanwhile, cut 21 seconds off training partner Kristin Barry's 1-year-old mark, lowering it to 34:17. Piers already has home-improvement plans for her $2,000 prize money.

At a prerace pasta dinner Friday night, someone spilled spaghetti sauce on Piers' white rug. Rather than scrub the stain, Piers thought about the money she'd earn with a record-setting victory.

"As soon as that happened I said, 'I'm going to have to run hard for a new hardwood floor.'"

Chris Troyanos, medical coordinator of the race, said 102 runners received treatment, more than double the number at the fog-enveloped 2008 event. Overheating was the issue for most, with one man and one woman transported by ambulance to Maine Medical Center.

"The temperature and the humidity were kind of the perfect storm for us, medically," said Mike Baumann, medical co-director. "The only thing that helped us was that it's morning, and not the hottest part of the day."

The most poignant part of the day occurred after the last of the 5,613 runners and walkers crossed the mats, with race founder Joan Benoit Samuelson greeting as many as she could. Hustling up a hill to the awards ceremony moments later, Samuelson was overcome with emotion when she was unexpectedly honored by the Road Runners Club of America on the 25th anniversary of her historic Olympic marathon victory. Mitchell Garner, a director of the RRCA who traveled to Maine for the race from Ann Arbor, Mich., also cited Samuelson for her efforts to give back "to your community through this race and your many charitable efforts."

As Garner recounted Samuelson's Olympic journey, applause swelled until reaching the crescendo of a standing ovation. Samuelson fought back tears, her voice cracking, as she professed her thanks and recounted her thoughts inside that dark tunnel in 1984, all cool and quiet and, for the last time in her life, very private, before emerging into the light of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before 77,000 cheering fans and the eyes of the world.

She said she wondered at the time, "What can I do to give back to a state and a country that have given so much to me?"

The answer may have taken some time, but never was it more evident than a few minutes later, when the award winners were being announced, starting with the 10th woman and 10th man.

There, upon the stage, before the sparkling waters of Casco Bay stood Samuelson in white, Piers in blue and True in green....