CAPE ELIZABETH — With all that he’s accomplished in running, there was one race missing from his resume.

Martin Lel will have a chance to add a TD Bank Beach to Beacon 10K this year as he makes his race debut Saturday morning alongside some of the top road racers in the world.

“One of the reasons this field is so deep, it’s so good and brings in all the top runners in the world, is the course is fast,” Lel said. “I am very happy to be here, to race in this race this year.”

Lel is a three-time London Marathon champion and a two-time winner of the New York City Marathon. He also finished in fifth place at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Lel is one of a host of world-class athletes attracted to Cape Elizabeth as the Beach to Beacon, the brainchild of Olympic champion Joan Samuelson, celebrates its 13th running.

“It’s amazing what’s happening with the growth of this sport,” race director Dave McGillivray said. “The intimidation factor has been knocked down. Everybody and anyone believes that they can do this, and the fact of the matter is that they can.”

McGillivray runs Dave McGillivray Sports Enterprises, Inc., and he also oversees the Boston Marathon, among several other races around the country. In recent years, McGillivray said he’s started to delegate responsibility more at most of his races.

“There are two races I still refuse to let go of myself,” McGillivray said. “The Boston Marathon, and the TD Bank Beach to Beacon.”

Elite athlete coordinator Larry Barthlow helped assemble a who’s who of runners again this year. Among the top men in the field, joining Lel, is two-time defending champion Ed Muge, who is bidding to become the second three-time champion in the race’s history. He’d join Gilbert Okari, who accomplished his three-peat from 2003-05.

“I am very excited to have a chance to win it a third time,” Muge said. “I love this race. It is a fast race, and I think I can go fast again.”

Also in the race is U.S. marathon record-holder Khalid Khannouchi. A champion at the Beach to Beacon in 1999 as a Moroccan citizen, he returned to the race in 2000 and ran for the first time as an American citizen. This race will be the first step on what he hopes will be a successful return from injury.

A host of other top distance runners from around the globe are also entered, including Lee Troop, one of Australia’s best-ever distance runners and a three-time Olympian, Martin Fagan of Ireland, another Olympian, and Andrew Lemoncello of England, yet another Olympian and the top European in April’s London Marathon.

On the women’s side, Irene Limika of Kenya will return to defend her title. She cruised to a win last year in 32:06.

Back again is inaugural Beach to Beacon champion — and five-time champion — Catherine Ndereba. A four-time Boston Marathon champion, two-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist, Ndereba has been a fixture at the race since its inception.

Rebecca Donaghue and Ilsa Paulson are the top two American women in the field, both coming off impressive summer seasons, and the Maine women’s race will go through defending champion a course record-holder Sheri Piers of Falmouth, who won with a course-record time of 34:17 last year. Past Maine women’s champ Kristin Barry is also in the field, as is one of southern Maine’s top young runners, Erica Jesseman of Scarborough.

The wheelchair division of the race begins at 7:55 a.m., with the elite runners taking the gun at 8 a.m.