Who will win the Beach to Beacon 10K? These runners have a good shot 28%
By Drew Bonifant22%
7/31/2026, 3:57:00 PM
Topics: Beach To Beacon 10k, Elite Runners
BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Representativeness Heuristic, and Availability Heuristic, with Recency Bias as the most egregious example at 21.5% saturation with 177 hits. Analysis detected 1,399 faulty-reasoning hits from 823 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 34.2% and a BS Rank of 28% (18,501 of 25,564 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 72.40% of the article peer group.
CAPE ELIZABETH — There will be a new winner in both the men’s and women’s races at the TD Beach to Beacon 10K on Saturday.
Whose turn will it be to break the tape?
Neither of last year’s champions are in the field for this year’s race.
A year ago, Conner Mantz became only the second American winner and broke the course record — 27 minutes, 26 seconds.
The women’s race feels even more up for grabs, given the absence of last year’s top three — Izzy Batt Doyle, Asmarech Anley and Fiona O’Keeffe.
Here are five men and five women who could be contend for the $10,000 first-place prize:
MEN
Patrick Kiprop, Kenya: A good place to start the conversation is with the runner who was second last year.
Kiprop finished 10 seconds behind Mantz in 27:36, clocking the fourth-fastest time in Beach to Beacon history.
“Without Patrick, we don’t get the course record (last year),” professional athlete coordinator Larry Barthlow said.
“He put it all on the line, he made things happen.”
Kiprop has won three 10Ks this season, including the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta.
“I know how the course is,” he said.
“The key is to be patient in the beginning, because the beginning is downhill, and then push a little bit toward the end and save a little bit for the last.”
Habtom Samuel, Eritrea: Samuel has never run Beach to Beacon, but he has the talent — and confidence — to be the first one across the finish line.
“I’m hoping to break the course record … and take the win at the same time,” he said.
“This is my first 10K road race, so I’m excited.
I’ve heard this course is amazing.”
Samuel was called “one of the most exciting runners” in the field by Barthlow, and his results indicate as much.
He won NCAA Division I championships at the University of New Mexico in the 10,000 meters in 2024 and then in cross country in 2025.
Patrick Dever, Great Britain: Dever placed fourth last year in a 10K personal-best 27:44.
He competed in the Olympics in 2024 and ran the London Marathon this year, finishing in 2:06:18.
A two-time All-American at the University of Tulsa, he took third place in the 2025 New York City Marathon.
Biya Simbassa, United States: Perhaps the top American runner in the field, the 33-year-old Simbassa recorded a ninth-place finish last year in 28:07, and he was third in 2022.
Simbassa won U.S.
10K and 25K championships in 2021.
“He’s always in the hunt here,” Barthlow said.
Raphal Dapash, Kenya: The race could come down to a battle between two Kenyans.
Dapash was third at the Peachtree 10K, and he has a personal-best 10K time of 27:09.
WOMEN
Pamela Kosgei, Kenya: A junior national champion in her home country, Kosgei continued her success in the United States by running for the University of New Mexico and winning the NCAA championship at 10,000 meters in 2025.
She was also the runner-up for the NCAA cross country title in 2024.
Saturday will be her first road race.
“I feel like anybody (can) win,” she said.
“It would mean a lot to me.
… I expect maybe to win, be second or be at the podium.
I’d be proud to be at the podium.”
Julia Paternain, Uruguay: Paternain is typically a marathoner, which could give her a conditioning boost late if she has the speed to stick with the 10K specialists.
She ran her only other road 10K in Arizona in February, finishing in 33:04.
“This is going to feel pretty fast for me,” said Paternain.
“I have to trust in my strength.
Since I train at altitude, I have a lot of aerobic strength.
… There are a lot of really fast women in this, so hopefully I’ll kind of get dragged along to a fast time.”
Vicoty Chepngeno, Kenya: Chepngeno showed her ability to compete in big-time races with a sixth-place finish at the Los Angeles Marathon (2:29:56), and she won the Beijing Marathon and was second in the Houston Marathon in 2024.
She has a 10K personal best of 30:14, set in February 2022.
Elise Cranny, United States: Cranny, who competed in both the 2021 and 2024 Olympics, is all about speed.
She won three straight USATF titles in the 5,000 meters from 2021-23, and she took a fourth national title in the 10K in 2023.
The former Stanford standout’s personal-best 10K time of 30:14 makes her the third-fastest American ever, according to worldathletics.org.
Molly Born, United States: Finally, there’s the highest returning finisher from last year’s race.
Born showed she can handle the demands of the Cape Elizabeth course, coming in fourth at 31:55.
She’s impressed this season as well, winning the USA Half Marathon Championship in Atlanta in March with a time of 1:09:43.
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