Judy Blake, a Mount Desert Island ultra-marathoner, will be one of more than 3,000 women who will come together in New York City’s Central Park for the third annual More Magazine Marathon Sunday.

More Magazine, which is the race’s main sponsor along with the New York Road Runners, is the only magazine that celebrates women more than 40 years of age.

Thus, women over 40, including elite runners and Olympians, will come from all over the world to participate.

Blake trains with Eden Athletics, an MDI-based club.

Grete Waitz, an Olympic silver medalist in the marathon and nine-time New York City Marathon winner will serve as a race spokeswoman along with Katherine Switzer, the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon and the 1974 NYC Marathon winner.

The event also includes a half-marathon.

A fast start

With the first two major 5K races of the season in the books, the young racing season appears to be

The first major 5K of the spring, the Irish Road Rover race through Portland’s Old Port, attracted 442 runners and generated some very fast times.

Ethan Hemphill, 33, of Freeport came away victorious in a blazing 15 minutes, 44 seconds, pretty quick for this time of year. Two high school cross country coaches placed in the top 15. Caribou girls coach Thomas Beckum finished 10th in 17:06 and Cape Elizabeth boys coach David Weatherbie 13th in 17:24.

A week later in Saco, at the Kerryman Pub 5K, Hemphill continued to show he’s in great early-season shape by blistering the Saco course in 15:36, breaking his former course record set last year by 10 seconds.

From Kittery to Salisbury

Three states. One race. No, we’re not talking about a marathon here. We’re talking about the 11th annual Eastern States 20-miler and Run for the Border 10-miler, which will take place Sunday.

The 20-miler starts at Traip Academy in Kittery, heads across the Piscataqua River into Portsmouth along Route 1 before picking up Route 1A and finishing in Salisbury, Mass.

The 10-miler starts in Rye Beach, N.H., and also finishes in Salisbury.

Both races start at 11 a.m.

Mainers have fared well in this race in the past – particularly in the 20-miler, where Emily LeVan of Wiscasset holds the course record

LeVan set the standard just last year, touring the fast course – which mainly runs along the New Hampshire seacoast – in 2 hours, 1 minute, 49 seconds.

The race is a great tuneup for the Boston Marathon.

Beach to Beacon registration

Runners know the racing season is under way when registration for Maine’s most prestigious race, the Beach to Beacon 10K, is up and running.

People wishing to participate in the Aug. 5 race can register by logging onto www.beach2beacon.org. The field limit will be upped to 5,500 runners this summer, compared to 5,000 last year, but as usual, the field is expected to fill quickly.