Eight individuals, including a few with local ties, have been chosen to be inducted into the Maine Running Hall of Fame Sunday at the Governor’s Hill Mansion in Augusta.

The members of the hall of fame’s 20th class are:

• Pete Bottomley ran for Oxford Hills High School before moving on to the University of Maine at Orono. He started the Dirigo Running Club and ran with the Dirigo Masters Cross Country squad as it became a top team in New England. He also founded the New England Mile, a fundraiser for Easter Seals.
• Faye Gagnon started walking and jogging in Auburn to stay fit. That started a hobby that has lasted 41 years and counting. She is a member, and has even served as president, of the Androscoggin Harriers Running Club. She also has served as a coach with Girls on the Run.
• Gary Allen of Great Cranberry Island hasn’t stopped running since he took up the sport at Mount Desert Island High School. He has run sub-three-hour marathons in five different decades.
• Brunswick’s Tom Blake started running in the eighth grade in South Portland. He has served as a scorer and clerks of races for several years.
• Running helped change Rock Green’s life. When he was 23 years old, he was homeless and addicted to alcohol and tobacco. Then he started running, and within two years he ran his first marathon and did well enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Since 1978, he has run 40 marathons and ultra-marathons.
• Colin Peddie started running in high school, first at Maranacook and then at Cheverus. He led the latter to a Class A state championship in 1981. He went on to be a NCAA Division I runner at the University of Virginia, where he was named All-ACC six times and also earned All-America honors. He qualified for the 1996 Olympic trials in the marathon, and has since opened a chain of running stores called Marathon Sports.
• Since starting to run at Lincoln Academy, Steve Reed has continued a 40-year running streak, placing ninth in the United States and 10th in the world, according to the U.S. Running Streak Association. He plans to compete in his 30th consecutive Boston Marathon in 2019.
• Journalist and race director Ed Rice has contributed to the sport in several ways, including creating Maine’s Terry Fox Run, which has raised more than $125,000 for cancer research in Maine.

Two Maine races also will be inducted into the Hall of Fame: The Mid-Winter Class 10-miler and the Mount Desert Island Marathon and Half Marathon.

The Maine Running Hall of Fame induction ceremony and banquet are open to the public. It begins at noon on Sunday, Nov. 11. Tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased through Event Brite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-maine-running-hall-of-fame-induction-banquet-tickets-49925633915. Space is limited, so reservations are encouraged.

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