PORTLAND – The University of Maine has been awarded the right to host the national Masters Track and Field Championships for the third time.

The four-day competition will be held in early August 2007, and is expected to involve more than 1,100 athletes.

UMaine previously hosted the championships in 1998 and 2002. During those events, 54 American masters and 18 world masters records were set at the Clarence Beckett Family Track on the Orono campus.