The 108th Boston Marathon will feature 163 Maine runners in the field of 20,000 when the 26.2-mile road race begins Monday at approximately 11:30 a.m. in Hopkinton, Mass.

One of those 163 Mainers is Surry’s Andy Beardsley, a high school coach who will take a break from his busy schedule of guiding the fortunes of Ellsworth’s spring track and field teams to squeeze in the Patriots Day run.

One of his former athletes, Eric Rudolph of Sullivan, a standout at Unity College, is the youngest Mainer in the field at 20.

The 40-year old Beardsley will be competing in Boston for the second time (1988) and running his eighth career marathon. He’s excited to be back in the “world’s famous marathon.

“It puts running in a world perspective when you go up against world-caliber runners,” he said.

Some of those world-caliber men’s runners are the Kenyans, who have dominated the race in recent years. Kenyans have won 12 of the last 13 races in Boston, with the exception coming in 2001, when Lee Bong-Ju of Korea earned the win.

Beardsley has trained long and hard for Boston, but marathon training differs from normal distance training.

“A long run of at least two hours is important,” he said. “They are the most important runs in marathon training.”

Beardsley’s Ellsworth athletes may be tuning in. Well, some of them anyway.

“I haven’t actually told all of them [that I’m running the marathon],” he said.

He expects one of the key factors in the race will be the weather.

“It’s a big deal,” he said.

The weather forecast for Boston Monday is partly cloudy with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s.

Defending champs are Svetlana Zakharova of Russia, who took the women’s race last year in 2 hours, 25 minutes, 20 seconds while Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot of Kenya won the men’s crown in 2:10:11. Zakharova won’t compete this year as she is doing the London Marathon Sunday, but Kipkoech will return to Boston.

The marathon course features a fast start, a slow middle and steady finish.

The start is one of the best in marathon racing, virtually all downhill. The first five miles, which roll through Hopkinton, Ashland and Framingham, are fairly comfortable.

At this point, the course has been fairly flat. Runners encounter a few rolling hills through Framingham, Natick and Wellesley (miles 5-15), then the real work starts: the Newton Hills.

That stretch is one of the toughest in road racing as it is a draining five-mile section that includes the king of all hills, Heartbreak Hill.

“It’s at a point in the race where your body is running out of fuel,” Beardsley said. “It makes it tough no matter what.”

Just after runners conquer Heartbreak Hill, the field goes by Boston College, where a throng of students are usually there to cheer runners on. At this point, about 5.2 miles remain through Chestnut Hill into Brookline and winding into Kenmore Square.

Other Maine runners from the area include Jeanne Butterfield of Bangor, Renee Collins of Brewer, Peter Daigle of Dedham, Belfast’s Louisa Dunlap, Judson Esty-Kendall of Glenburn, Adam Ghander and Oger Huber of Bangor, Margaret Jones from Bucksport and Mary Parsons of Hampden.

The race will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

Race organizers are using a different format this year. Wheelchair competitors will head down Route 135 at 11:25, followed by the elite women at 11:31, and the elite men, and all others at noon.

Mainers in the Marathon

BOSTON MARATHON ENTRIES

Beth Allen (Farmington), Gary Allen (Cranberry Island), Chris Almy (Charleston), Jessica Anawalt (Brunswick), Jefferson Ashby (Fort Fairfield), Robert Ashby (Brunswick), Jeanette Bazinet (Auburn), Andy Beardsley (Surry), Pamela Benedetto (Eliot), Peggy Bensinger (Portland), Aaron Bishop (Falmouth), Jennifer Blastow (New Gloucester), Bryant Bourgoin (Winslow), Jayne Brainerd (Lewiston), Hans Brandes (Falmouth), Mary Brandes (Falmouth), Amanda Brewer (Saco), Robert Brooks (Portland), Scott Brown (Lewiston), Elizabeth Brundige (Portland), Alvin Bugbee (Cape Elizabeth), Emily Bugbee (Cape Elizabeth), Jordan Bruke (Waterville), Jeanne Butterfield (Bangor), Timothy Carven (Kittery), Julie Caswell (Scarborough), Richard Cavanaugh (Freeport), Jon Chapin (Oakland), Amy Chekos-Sedgwick (South Portland), Rene Collins (Brewer), Richard Collins (York), Terrence Connelly (Eliot), Ken Cota (Gorham), Ken Cotton (Bristol), Bob Coughlin (Cape Elizabeth), Wendi Cryan (York), Peter Daigle (Dedham), Bryne Decker (Yarmouth), Patrick Devou (Portland) Craig Dickinson (Moody), Daniel Dishner (Camden), Sue Dorris (Auburn), Michele Douglass (Portland), Linda Driver (Eliot), Bob Dunfey (York), Eileen Dunfey (Cape Elizabeth)

Louisa Dunlap (Belfast), Judson Esty-Kendall (Glenburn), Richard Evans (York), George Ferland (Van Buren), Todd Forsgren (Brunswick), Laurie Gaudreau (Springvale), Adam Ghander (Bangor), Paul Goransson (Eliot), Mike Grant (Scarborough), Dick Graves (Gorham), Lance Guliani (West Bath), Jillian Hansen (Yarmouth), Joni Hewitt (Cape Elizabeth), Emily Howes (Portland), Brian Hubbell (Bangor), Donna Hurley (Spruce Head), Kendra Jarratt (Brunswick), John Jensenius (Cumberland), Kevin Johnson (Bar Harbor), Margaret Jones (Bucksport), Paul Josephson (Waterville), Gregory Kaknes (York), James Katz (Portland), Chip Kelley (Cape Elizabeth), Patrick Kelly (Peaks Island), Polly Kenniston (Scarborough), James Kilburn (Saco), Kirby Knight (Winslow), Ross Lane (Franklin), Alex Lange (Cumberland Ctr.), Nelson Larkins (Freeport), Newell Lewey (Bradley), Dick L’Heureux (Sanford), Dale Lolar (Indian Isle), Mary Lou Lowrie (New Gloucester), Richard Lyons (Hampden), Kevin Mahoney (Gorham), Julius Marzul (Gorham), Laura Matthews (MDI), Joe McGurn (Spruce Head), Connie McLellan (Sinclair), Carlton Mendell (Portland), Joseph Mitchell (Belfast), John Mollica (Freeport), Joseph Montimurro (Cumberland), Debra Moreau (Canton), John Morey (Portland), Anthony Mullin (Shapleigh), Laura Mullin (Shapleigh), Michael Musca (Falmouth)

Chris Newell (Cape Elizabeth), James Newett (Ellsworth), Kim Niederberger (Gardiner), Kenneth Norton (Bath), Clifford Olson (Yarmouth), David Painter (Bar Harbor), Mary Parsons (Hampden), Theresa Patten (Scarborough), Anna Perna (Holden), Donavee Pettingill (Beaver Cove), Stephen Pfister (East Blue Hill), Philip Pierce (Falmouth), Jennifer Piesik (Cumberland), Janice Pilotte (Bangor), Bob Poirier (Minot), Veerle Pottie (Scarborough), John Raby (Saco), John Reali (No. Yarmouth), Michelle Reali (Portland), Peter Rearick (Hebron), Stephen Reed (Wiscasset), Dorothea Rex (Gorham), Theresa Riccardo (Portland), Timothy Rider (Eliot), Kelly Rodrigue (Lewiston), John Rolfe (Portland), David Root (Union), Eric Rudolph (Sullivan), Robert Ruesch (Portland), Jonathan Rundell (Scarborough), Therese Salewski (Jefferson), David Saltmarsh (Springvale), Erik Seastead (Mount Vernon), Peter Sedgwick (South Portland), Peter Serunian (Falmouth), Julia Sheridan (Portland), Thomas Shorty (Gorham), William Shuttleworth (Buckfield), Daniel Simpson (Standish), Peter Smtih (Yarmouth), Jennifer Snow (Brunswick), Jonathan Spelke (Bowdoinham), Ellen Spring (Thomaston), Ashley Stanton (Northeast Harbor), Thomas St. Germain (Bar Harbor), Christy Stout (Holden), Matthew Sturgis (Gray), Vladimir Suchan (Fort Kent), Deborah Taylor (Wiscasset), Debra Tenenbaum (Portland), Dan Thayer (Auburn)

Tom Thomas (Waterboro), Rebecca Thomas (Wilton), Peter Tilney (Kennebunkport), James Toulouse (Cape Elizabeth), Michael Trundy (Hebron), Tom Trytek (Lewiston), Kate Vickery (Portland), David Walker (Newry), Gary Weber (Lewiston), Jeannie Weber (Lewiston), Matthew Welch (Portland), Merrily Welch (Temple), Conrad Welzel (Saco), Peter West (Wiscasset), Jennifer Wilbur (Kittery)