Cape Elizabeth, ME—Some performances don’t just impress, they imprint. Think Jesse Owens in Berlin 1936; Bob Beamon’s 8.90m long jump in Mexico City 1968, or Joan Benoit Samuelson’s Women’s Olympic Marathon victory in LA 1984. All three come readily to mind as iconic performances. 

While none of their times or distances still sit atop the record lists, their performances are etched into our collective consciousness, resonating long after the original fanfare subsided. 

But the greatest heroes are the ones who recognize their role in the lives of others and attempt to give something back beyond the memories. Not just with autographs or speeches, but in living testimonials that inspire others to join them in their passion. 

Joan is such a hero and the TD B2B 10K is the living testimonial she has given to her hometown, home state, and to all of us.

This year, the iconic 10K race course from Crescent Beach to the Portland Head Light—once just another of Joan’s training loops as she prepared for her Olympic moment in Los Angeles—filled with thousands of fellow runners still inspired by that August 5th race in 1984 when the world’s best women’s marathoners were finally allowed to display their talents on the Olympic stage.

As always, a world–class assembly of international talent headed the 6500-person B2B field. Leading the way was Utah’s Connor Mantz, who redeemed his disappointed runner-up finish in 2023, when he tussled with eventual winner Addisu Yihune of Ethiopia in a track–like collision that sent him into the crowd fencing in the final 200 meters, leaving him two seconds in arrears at the finish line. He redeemed himself in full this year with a course record win (27:26) becoming just the second American to take the Beach to Beacon title in 27 years. On the women’s side, two-time Australian Olympian, Izzy Batt–Doyle, prepared for the upcoming World Championships in Tokyo with an impressive victory on the women’s side (31:25).

But beyond the race itself, like so many road races worldwide, TD B2B ripples out into the community well beyond race day. This year, the race beneficiary was Best Buddies Maine, which aims to eliminate the social, emotional, and economic barriers for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities through one-to-one friendships and leadership opportunities.

TD Bank donated $30,000 to Best Buddies Maine this year, adding to the $700,000+ in contributions they’ve made to race beneficiaries throughout the years.

In Fear and Trembling, Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote: “Each person shall be remembered, but each became great in proportion to his (her) expectation. One became great by expecting the possible, another by expecting the eternal; but he who expected the impossible—he was greater than them all.”

Not sure Soren ever saw Joan attack the marathon, because, though great by any standard—and certainly in the realm of the eternal—her greatness seemed very possible—bordering on expected.

It is that can-do determination that continues to imprint her spirit on this race and its community. Together, runners explore the possible, reach for the eternal, while not succumbing to the easy cynicism that seems to be spreading like a new pathogen.

Perhaps that is Joan’s greatest contribution, saying, stride by stride, it’s all worth it, the ups, the downs, with every step today building on yesterday and setting you up for tomorrow. That’s where passion leads to meaning, in the willingness to keep going.

Onward, into the unknown.

END