CAPE ELIZABETH – So much for being a rabbit.

After joking around at Friday’s press conference that he would probably serve as a pace-setter for perennial Maine men’s contender Andy Spaulding, fellow Freeport resident Ethan Hemphill did him one better on Sunday by capturing the Maine men’s crown for himself on a day when course conditions were nearly ideal.

“This race is unique in that you know who the top runners in the race are, and they are so good you just let them go right from the beginning,” Hemphill said. “I just marked up the Maine guys and pretty much hung around with them during the race, trying to figure out when to make a move.”

Hemphill, Evan Graves, Michael Payson and Spaulding were tightly bunched for a while, but Spaulding started to falter.

“That has been the story of my season,” Spaulding said. “I ran a great race strategy-wise, but my overall fitness is not where it needs to be. I am happy with the way I ran, though.”

By the five-mile mark, Payson and Hemphill were still together, but the younger Hemphill started to pull away.

“I have been regarded as a 5k runner all my life,” Hemphill said. “It’s nice to walk away with a win in a big 10k like this.”

Beck wins it – really

Last year, people thought that Susannah Beck had won the Maine women’s division. The Yarmouth native was not, however, technically a Maine resident yet, and therefore did not qualify.

This year, she was eligible, and she again displayed her brilliance, taking the Maine women’s title by more a minute over Emily Levan of Wiscasset. Maggie Hanson of Bowdoinham, a past Maine champion, finished in third among Maine women.

“I ran much faster than I set out to,” Beck said after the race. “The conditions didn’t feel that fast, but they must have been. I was trying for the Maine title today, but it wasn’t a guarantee. I hadn’t been able to do speed work in a while because of an injury.”

Beck’s time of 35:21.6 is the third-best Maine women’s winning time in the seven-year history of the race.

Mastering the course

After finishing just shy of the Maine title, Michael Payson had something to fall back on: The 41-year-old from Falmouth was the first runner over 40 to cross the line, giving him the men’s masters title in a time of 31:53.5.

The time is slower than in past years, when some of the world’s top masters runners have entered the event, but still fast under Sunday’s race conditions.

In the women’s masters event, Valentina Yegorova of Russia took top honors with a time of 34:36.4.

Rolling to a win

Two familiar faces crossed the finish line in first place in the wheelchair divisions on Sunday.

Tony Nogueira of New Jersey took home his fifth People’s Beach to Beacon title in a time of 25:11, besting Chris Waddell of Utah by more than a minute.

Laurie Stephens of Massachusetts also won her fifth wheelchair title on Sunday, finishing in a time of 33:32.