Running icons join Samuelson in Beach to Beacon

CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine (AP) - Maine's Joan Benoit Samuelson will be joined by two other road-racing icons in Saturday's Beach to Beacon.

Samuelson announced Friday that's she's being joined by Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers, two runners who inspired her during her career. Shorter took gold in the marathon in the 1972 Olympics, and Rodgers is a four-time winner of both the New York and Boston marathons.

She's also being joined by the chairman of L.L. Bean, Leon Gorman, who'll be wearing the No. 1 bib.

Samuelson, who won gold in the first women's marathon held in the 1984 Olympics, grew up in Cape Elizabeth, where Saturday's race runs from Crescent Beach to the Portland Head Light at Fort Williams. Every five years, she chooses people who inspired her to join in the event.

 

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