Fans cheer as the elite women runners pass by at the 28th annual Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth on Saturday. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

Frances Haywood, of Cape Elizabeth, has sat at the end of her or her neighbor’s driveway on Shore Road to watch the Beach to Beacon 10K almost every year since the event was launched 28 years ago. She stays put to cheer until the very last racer, usually a slow-trudging walker, passes by.

“There used to be a lady who was like 90, and she always wanted to be the last (racer) so that nobody else would be left behind,” Haywood said. “She made sure she lagged in the back to be the slowest one.”

Haywood was always there to see that woman go by.

Fans cheer as the elite women runners pass by at the 28th annual TD Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth on Saturday. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)<?xml version="1.0"?> Purchase this image

The race, which brings more than 6,500 runners from all over the world to Cape Elizabeth, is fueled by local spectators and over 800 volunteers who hold the tradition of supporting the participants dear. Onlookers lined the edge of Saturday’s sunny course cheering, dancing and holding signs. Many waited in eager anticipation of seeing a loved one dash by.

When Cape Elizabeth resident DJ Nelson’s kids were young, they would stick their palms out to high-five racers. Now, they are adults who run themselves. He came this year to watch his 21-year-old daughter, whom he brought to the event as an infant, compete.

“It’s about giving people energy to keep going. It’s really fun to see everyone giving their full effort,” Nelson said.

Meredith Cooney and her mother, Mary Kay Cooney, wore inflatable blue and pink shark costumes, dancing and waving their arms at runners. They said they were inspired by costumed spectators of the Tour de France, a three-week bike race in France in July. Mary Kay Cooney wears the same costume when she attends “No Kings” protests against Trump administration policies.

“It’s so memorable when you see (the costumes) from the road,” Meredith Cooney said. “And it allows our friends who are in the race to find us. They can just look for the sharks.”

Meredith Cooney and her mother, Mary Kay Cooney, wore blue and pink shark costumes and waved their arms at runners as they passed. (Madeleine Kaptein/Staff Writer)

Jon Passmore stood solo on the edge of the road on Route 77. His 39-year-old daughter, Victoria Ellis, slowed her run for just a few seconds to hug him and tell him she loved him before taking off again. Passmore said he always watches Ellis and his son, Anthony Passmore, race from the same spot near where the large American flag is set up.

“I’m making sure they make it,” Passmore said. “If they get by me, they’re on the downhill.”

Suzanne Knight, of Gorham, and her family had lined up along on the road’s curb near the race’s halfway point by 7:30 a.m., half an hour before the race began. She has come to 27 races in a row, only having missed the very first one in 1998.

“My daughter-in-law wants to beat my son this year, so we’ll see if it’s going to happen,” Knight said.

Judy and Danny O’Brien, of Cape Elizabeth, waited for the race to begin from the back of their pickup truck, where Danny was slicing apples from a white cooler. They were relaxed, saving their energy for when their son would later run by.

The participants in the wheelchair division “are incredible,” Danny O’Brien said. “I think it’s better than the elite runners.”

Lisa and Ron Gillolly biked 6 miles from Scarborough to watch the race. Lisa Gillolly used to run the race herself, and now enjoys being a spectator.

A spectator looks for her father near the finish line at the 28th annual TD Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth on Saturday. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)<?xml version="1.0"?> Purchase this image

“It’s just a fun event to watch,” she said.

Even as some runners slowed their pace, the onlookers continued to hold up their homemade signs. They ranged from plainly encouraging to sarcastic and humorous.

Colleen Heal, of Gorham, made a sign that achieved both: “You’re not almost there, keep going!”

Colleen Heal, a sports photographer from Gorham, made a sign reading “You’re not almost there, keep going” to hold up to spectators as they ran the Beach to Beacon race in Cape Elizabeth on Saturday. (Madeleine Kaptein/Staff Writer)