Chewonki Campground co-owner Pam Brackett is an early riser anyway, but there were many others waking early Saturday in Wiscasset for a special reason.

The inaugural running of the Rock Lobster Relay from Bar Harbor to Portland had two stops in town, the first on Water Street, with the Sheepscot River on one side and the former federal customs house looming large and picturesque on the other side; the second was south on Route One, in the Shaw’s supermarket parking lot, with another enthusiastic crowd of volunteers meeting the teams that began arriving around sunrise.

Volunteers interviewed said they had gotten up at 4 a.m. or earlier.

It was a morning of many causes, including the Wiscasset Community Center’s Cooper-DiPerri Scholarship Fund that helps local families afford the center’s programs. Wiscasset Parks and Recreation Director Todd Souza said $500 for each of the local stops, for a total of $1,000, was going to the fund. Committee members for the fund manned the stop at Shaw’s. Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce, Wiscasset Yacht Club and the Wiscasset Waterfront Committee manned the one by the river.

“I think it’s great,” Souza said about seeing the teams arrive at the Shaw’s stop, by van or by sneaker, depending on who had that leg of the race. “These people are so excited and so happy for each other, and they’ll sleep well tomorrow.”

“I just thought it would be a good idea, as a way to support my community and the chamber,” Brackett said about why she came to help on Water Street. Sarah’s Cafe had fruit salad and bread with eggs and cheese to refuel runners between legs.

One of the Sarah’s employees on hand, Josh Pottle, said he’s been a runner for about 10 years so he figured he would like to help at the event. “People love running, plus I love living in Wiscasset,” he said.

“This is awesome,” scholarship committee member Nancy Wyman said as a runner arrived at the Shaw’s stop.

In addition to the volunteers earning money for causes at the handoff sites along the 200-mile course, several teams interviewed had also picked charities to run for. A team from the University of Maine School of Law, including Dean Danielle Conway, chose the school’s Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic. It gives the students experiential education and helps more than 650 people a year, who could not otherwise afford legal help and may have never been introduced to it before, Conway said.

Runners Saturday were describing GiddyUp Productions’ new race as well-organized and offering magnificent settings. “The nature is definitely the best part,” Yarmouth’s Angela Nasveschuk of Runners Orange said. One leg was on a cliff in Bar Harbor, she said. “You don’t get a more scenic race than this.”

Nasveschuk also praised the Penobscot Bay YMCA in Rockport for letting the runners sleep and shower there.

First-time Maine visitor Tim Hughes took several photos during his run from the American Legion in Damariscotta to Wiscasset, including capturing the sights as he crossed the Donald E. Davey Bridge from Edgecomb to Wiscasset.

“I love it,” the Your Maine Squeezes team member said of the early morning view coming into town.