Joan Benoit Samuelson, with Portland Head Light in the background, says she’s excited to see the next wave of talented young female runners in Maine, led Ruth White of Orono and Teanne Ewings of Houlton. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

CAPE ELIZABETH — Joan Benoit Samuelson is excited to have two Maine teenagers who will compete at the front of the pack with the professional women in Saturday’s TD Beach to Beacon 10K.

Ruth White did it last year and used the early pace to finish in 34 minutes, 56 seconds as she won the Maine women’s title. White graduated from Orono High this spring and is set to attend the University of New Hampshire.

White and Teanne Ewings of Houlton are expected to be at the starting line with the top women. White is a three-time New England high school cross country champion, and Ewings, who will be a home-schooled senior representing Greater Houlton Christian Academy, was this spring’s Varsity Maine Girls Track Athlete of the Year.

“It’s great. I’ve followed their careers. Ruth’s especially, having won the high school mile,” Samuelson said Wednesday, referencing the Beach to Beacon High School Mile that White won in 2022 in a course-record time of 5:32.2.

In 2022, White ran both the high school mile on Friday and the 10K race on Saturday, finishing second in the Maine women’s race – after sleeping in a tent with her family at a campground in Pownal on Friday night.

“Had she said they were camping out the night before in Pownal, I would have said, ‘Well Ruth, maybe we can find you a host family,'” Samuelson said. “But, she doesn’t ask for any favors, and that’s going to serve her well.”

White is no longer eligible for the high school mile, which is Friday. Ewings said in June that she intended to do both races.

THE WOMEN’S PROFESSIONAL FIELD LOST its most decorated runner when three-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion Tirunesh Dibaba, 38, of Ethiopia, withdrew because of an injury.

Dibaba, a mother of three children, recently returned to competition after a nearly five-year break while raising her family. She medaled in four straight Olympics from 2004 to 2016 and won two golds at 10,000 meters (2008, 2012) and one at 5,000 (2008).

American Jenny Simpson of Hagerty, Florida, will compete Saturday. A bronze medalist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in the 1,500, Simpson has recently moved up to longer distances, placing sixth at the NYC Half Marathon and 18th at the Boston Marathon. Interestingly, Simpson has never competed in a 10K road race.

MOVIE NIGHT AT THE FORT: On Thursday night, a montage of films about Samuelson will be presented in a 40-minute viewing session at Fort Williams Park. The footage will include parts from two documentaries: “There is No Finish Line,” which was produced by Samuelson’s longtime sponsor, Nike, in 2011; and a separate movie released this year by the Maine Historical Society that tracks Samuelson’s entire life.

The viewing will start at 7:05 p.m., preceded by a welcome hour at 5:30 p.m. and a speaking program at 6:30. The cost is $25, which includes two complimentary beverages. Details can be easily found on the TD Beach to Beacon Facebook page.

The Maine Historical Society documentary celebrates Benoit Samuelson’s running career, with special emphasis on this being the 40th anniversary of her gold medal run in the first Olympic women’s marathon in 1984. But some of its most fascinating material is about Samuelson’s childhood in Cape Elizabeth as the third of Andre and Nancy Benoit’s four children, and how the Benoit family moved to Maine from French-speaking Quebec and built the A.H. Benoit clothing sales business that was a popular southern Maine retailer for most of the 20th century.

“They did a wonderful job, and the history, some of that was brand new to me,” Samuelson said.

TWO SPECIAL GUESTS for this year’s race will be 1972 Olympic men’s marathon champion Frank Shorter and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi, Samuelson said.

“We’re excited about that. We were hoping Deena (Kastor) was coming, but she would have had to fly out here, fly back to San Francisco, and then fly to Paris, and it just got too complicated,” Samuelson said.

Shorter and Samuelson are the last Americans to win Olympic marathons. Shorter also took silver at the 1976 Games. Keflezighi and Galen Rupp (bronze, 2016) are the only American men to medal since Shorter. Kastor (bronze, 2004) and Molly Seidel (bronze, 2020) are the only American women to medal in the marathon since Benoit’s 1984 win.