True, Keflezighi, Flanagan Lead Beach to Beacon Field

Published by the Portland Press Herald on July 14, 2014

North Yarmouth native and former Greely High standout Ben True will return to Maine’s biggest road race next month.

Now 28 and running professionally, True plans to compete for the overall title at the 17th edition of the TD Beach to Beacon 10K road race in Cape Elizabeth on Aug. 2.

“He certainly is more than capable,” said Larry Barthlow, the race’s elite athlete coordinator, in a prepared statement. “But there are also a handful of international runners who will have something to say about that. We’re set up for another great race day.”

Joining True in the men’s field are reigning Boston Marathon champion Meb Keflezighi and defending B2B champ Micah Kogo of Kenya. The women’s field includes defending champ Joyce Chepkirui and Olympic medalist Shalane Flanagan, a 33-year-old native of Marblehead, Massachusetts, who ran B2B while still in high school.

Flanagan placed fourth in the 2013 Boston Marathon and appeared on the CBS television show “60 Minutes” prior to the 2014 race, talking about the bombings and her anger “that someone would ruin … what is such a celebratory day and a historical moment with that kind of action.”

In April, Flanagan led Boston for 19 miles before dropping back to seventh in a time (2:22:02) that was the fastest by an American woman in the 118-year history of the race, and third anywhere behind Deena Kastor and B2B founder Joan Benoit Samuelson.