Like all holidays, The Glorious Fourth (of July) is all about tradition, and Maine’s foremost road racing tradition on the day is Bridgton’s 4 on the Fourth.

This year the honorary starter at 8 a.m. will be Colin Peddie, the Farmingdale native who ran 18 minutes, 46 seconds in 1987 to set a course record that has not been approached.

Cheverus and Virginia grad Peddie now lives in Weston, Mass., and operates six-store, Boston-based Marathon Sports. He’s expected to fire the starting gun with son Cameron.

Numbers for Bridgton, which was founded in 1977, have boomed as always. The 500 free T-shirts were gone in March and more than 1,500 people have registered, said race director Jim Cossey. And that’s with five additional summer camps expected, plus race-morning registration.

Last year there were 1,757 finishers, an event record, and 1,896 registrants, second only to 1,910 in 2009. Only 2,000 bibs are available.

It’s always hard to know what hotshots might be at Bridgton. Last year, Phil Richert, 23, who happened to be working on Mount Desert Island for the summer, won in 19:58. Erica Jesseman of Scarborough, who topped the women’s field and was 14th overall in 23:06 last year, will race.

A recent UNH grad, Dirigo racer Jesseman won the Run for Cash 5K at Old Orchard Beach in 17:12 and the Sea Dogs Father’s Day 5K in 17:05 the past two weekends. So the 22-year-old defending champ will be a force.

Former winner Kristin Barry of Scarborough is entered, too, as are 2010 fourth-place finisher Richard Klauber of Connecticut (21:32) and sixth-place Silas Eastman (21:46), now 16, of Fryeburg Academy.

Cossey noted the race attracts runners from 35 to 37 states and 12 to 15 foreign countries every year. Not to mention eight guys from a Coast Guard cutter based in Norfolk, Va. Their ship arrives in Portland today.

And then there’s a Mainer who, when you read this, will already have finished the race, most honorably, in absentia. Tom McNulty, 54, of Raymond is a chief warrant officer on active duty with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, where he mapped out a 4-mile, out-and-back course from Shindand Airfield.

McNulty’s plan was to put on the T-shirt Cossey sent him and head out at 5 a.m. with a few buddies to cover the miles before the heat hit 110 degrees and the “120 Days of Wind” gusts kicked in.

ONE OF the state’s oldest and most lofty road racing records got knocked off in style last weekend.

The race was the Tour du Lac 10-miler at Bucksport; the record-smasher, Ellsworth’s Louie Luchini, who ran 50 minutes, 20 seconds to top Gerry Clapper’s mark of 50:46, which stood for 25 years.

Luchini turned 30 on May 24 and is known by many people as Maine’s House representative from District 38 (Ellsworth, Trenton, Otis).

But running types know him as the former state champ out of Ellsworth High, an All-American out of Stanford and a two-time Olympic trials competitor.

He won the Tour last year, but in 51:46. It was his debut at the event, which loops around Silver Lake and is famed for its difficulty, especially in the second half.

“I remember being surprised by those hills last year,” Luchini said Friday. “It can be hard when you don’t know what’s coming on the course. So this year, I jogged it ahead of time. Not on the morning of the race, no.”

Luchini and race co-director Chris Jones agreed that the weather, overcast and 50 degrees, was perfect for running. But Luchini was racing on his own (second-place finisher Josh Trevino of Orono came in at 51:36), and the up-and-down course is tough for anyone to manage. Luchini’s always been an excellent hill runner, but he’s also had an Achilles injury in recent years.

“My pace was 5:02, but I didn’t run a single 5:02,” he said. “My splits were 5:10, 4:55, 5:18, 4:50, bouncing around until mile 8, when I knew I had a shot at around 50. I knew the record — it’s such a historic race.”

It was the Tour’s 35th year and only the second sub-51 in race history.

Luchini now owns several road racing records in Maine, including the Sea Dogs Mother’s Day 5K (14:30), the Sugarloaf 15K (46:12) and the MDI Marathon (a fairly casual 2:31:54) and had fun running downhill to a 3:53 in a one-miler, in Ellsworth on Memorial Day.

“Maine has such an amazing running community, and I love being able to run the local races again,” he said.

That probably includes Beach to Beacon on Aug. 6 as Luchini trains to take a shot at a 1:05 half-marathon this fall, to qualify for the U.S. Olympic marathon trials in Houston in January.

Clapper, a Bucksport native and Maine Running Hall of Fame member, was pleased to hear his record had been broken and surprised it had taken this long.

“That’s his humility,” said Jones, Clapper’s brother-in-law. Clapper, who turned 50 last month, lives in Connecticut and now bikes competitively. His resume includes a 28:49 10-K.

Kristine Guaraldo of South Portland ran an excellent 1:02:29 to win the women’s division at the Tour.

The women’s record of 59:06 dates from five years ago and belongs to Cassie Hintz. That’s the only women’s sub-60 on the course.

John Rolfe of Portland is a staff writer and a road runner. He can be contacted at 791-6429 or at:

jrolfe@pressherald.com