PORTLAND -- Talk to any of the runners who have participated in the TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K and you'll inevitably hear stories about the elite runners that help to make this one of the best road races not only in Maine, but in the world.

They'll talk about meeting Kenyan Catherine Ndereba, who won the first four women's elite races. They'll talk about checking out the posted results at the finish line with Khalid Khannouchi.

But then, they'll talk about the things that really matter: the beauty of the course, the camaraderie of the runners, the friendliness of the fans lining the route from the start at Crescent Beach to the finish line at Fort Williams Park.

These are the memories that make the Beach to Beacon, which will run its 10th edition Saturday morning in Cape Elizabeth, an event worth coming back to year after year. According to race officials, 112 runners have competed in every Beach to Beacon to date. Not surprising, 28 of them are from Cape Elizabeth, founder Joan Benoit Samuelson's hometown and the host for Maine's biggest running event of the summer.

For them, there is no race better.

"There are a couple of things that make this race special,'' said Steve Brocklebank, a physical therapist from East Falmouth, Mass., who has run the previous nine Beach to Beacons. "The location, just visually, is spectacular. And the field (5,500) is just the right size. I've run Falmouth for 20 years and Falmouth is too big if you're just a runner.

"This is a great number to run that distance, if you just want to go out and run a certain pace. This race just has a special feel to it.''

Race organizers sent out a survey this year, asking runners what made the Beach to Beacon so memorable. Those who responded used words such as "tradition,'' "breath-taking,'' and "small-town America.''

Brocklebank's wife, Debra, who has missed only one Beach to Beacon (because of an injury), likened it to "a little honeymoon.''

They spend three or four days in Maine, depending on how soon they have to get back home, where they host baseball players in the prestigious Cape Cod League. (Of interest, the first player they ever took into their home: Red Sox prospect Jacoby Ellsbury.)

"We come up and go to our favorite restaurant, the Fore Street grill, on Thursday night," said Steve Brocklebank. "Friday is a beach day in Ogunquit where my parents have a cottage. Saturday we run the race and, if we have time, we stay in Ogunquit that night.

"We've done pretty much the same thing every year.''

This year, however, they had to scramble to get in. The Brocklebanks, like many runners, missed out on the on-line registration, which filled up faster than ever. Debra Brocklebank contacted race officials and donated $300 to one of the designated charities, allowing her husband to get into the race. Then, a couple of days later, a registration form for her arrived in the mail as well.

"Now we know,'' she said.

But you don't have to be from away to appreciate what the race means. Michael Payson, of Falmouth has never missed a Beach to Beacon, which has sometimes necessitated a change in his family's vacation plans. Most summers, they vacation in Vermont, on Lake Champlain, but when the race falls in the middle of the vacation "we miss a day or two. It really is sort of a must-run for us.''

Payson is usually listed among the top Maine men's runners in the race, but this year is hampered by a hamstring injury. So instead of competing for a top spot, he will run with his 13-year-old son, Maxwell, making his 10K debut.

"What's really neat about the Beach to Beacon is that, before it began, everyone would pick a race, a goal race to run, and they'd get ready for it,'' said Payson. "Now you might have some good runners show up for it, and you might not. But the Beach to Beacon becomes the focus for the competitive runners, it is the Maine road racing championship. Everyone shows up, unless you're injured.

"The other thing that's neat about it is that it also becomes a goal for people who may have never run. It gets people involved in running.'' That was the goal of Samuelson when she proposed holding the race in her hometown. To her, the best moments of the race don't occur in the all-out sprints to the finish by the elite runners, but in the later times, when the final few runners come in. She's always there to greet them.

"I know there are people out there for whom this is a really great accomplishment, who watched the race in one of the early years and decided they were going to make running, or participating in the race, a goal,'' she said. "Whether they run the whole distance, walk the whole distance, walk then jog, they finish it. This pulled people off the sidelines.''

Cape Elizabeth's Carrie McCusker takes great pride in the fact that she has never missed a Beach to Beacon. Its date is circled on her calendar and, she said, "I run it regardless of what's going on in my life at the time. I've run after having a baby, I've run after competing in the Ironman. It really is more than a race, and it's like that for a lot of people.''

What makes it special?

"It's a combination of things,'' said McCusker. "The elites, the venue is gorgeous, it's a great time of year to come to Maine. It's also about our town. It is our race.''

She's nursing a pulled hamstring this year, but will run nonetheless. "I don't have a choice,'' she said. "I can't back out of it.''