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Kikkan Randall went the distance to win her latest national championship. And we aren't just talking about the 30 kilometers she skied faster than anyone else Wednesday at Fort Kent, Maine.
Skiing her fifth race in an eight-day period that included a trans- Atlantic flight Monday, the Anchorage skier collected her 15th U.S. championship by claiming the 30-K title for the first time in her storied career. Randall, a three-time Olympian, won a four-skier sprint finish that also included Anchorage's Holly Brooks, who finished third to claim the bronze medal. Lars Flora, a teammate on the Alaska Pacific University nordic ski team with Randall and Brooks, claimed third place in the men's 50-kilometer race, showing the strength he displayed in winning the Tour of Anchorage earlier this month. But the story of the day was Randall, whose marathon victory was the latest stop in a marathon season. Less than a month ago, Randall was at Whistler Olympic Park in British Columbia, turning in the best Olympic performance in history by an American woman, a four-race effort highlighted by a sixth-place finish in the classic sprint. Randall was jetting to Europe almost as soon as the Olympic flame was extinguished. She raced once in Finland in early March and then headed to Norway and Sweden for some serious trail time -- five races in eight days, including four in the final five days. During that stretch, she captured second place in a freestyle sprint race to register the third World Cup podium finish of her career. Her last race in Europe was Sunday. Early Monday morning, she was back on a plane, headed to the United States. She arrived in Maine around 11 p.m. Monday, according to the Web site fasterskier.com. Less than 36 hours later, she was racing in the 30-kilometer race at the U.S. Distance National Championships, which mark the end of the season. Randall was part of a pack of five or six skiers who took turns leading on the narrow trails at Fort Kent Nordic Center. By the time the racers hit the final two kilometers -- a steady, grinding uphill climb -- Randall was in the lead. Thanks to a night of rain and snow, the hill had just one skied-in track, making passing difficult. That, and Randall's strength, decided the outcome. Randall won in 1 hour, 23 minutes, 52.1 seconds, with three skiers finishing within the next 2.7 seconds. Rebecca Dussault of Gunnison, Colo., was second in 1:23:53.4, Brooks was third in 1:23:54.0 and Caitlin Compton of Minneapolis fourth in 1:23:54.8. Randall told fasterskier.com she knew that if she was in the lead going up the final hill, the race was hers to win. "With it being such a narrow trail, (I knew) if I could control the pace on the way up, then I'd have a good shot for the end," Randall said. Behind her, pursuers battled futilely -- but mightily -- in an attempt to pass. Or as fasterskier put it: "The remaining women did everything but drop their poles and bare-knuckle box for position." "There's really no opportunity to pass," Brooks told fasterskier. "If someone's trying to make a move, they just get off in this soft stuff on the side. "People were trying all kinds of things. That was more contact than I've had in a ski race in a long time, sprints included." In the men's race, Ivan Babikov of Canada used a strong final leg to win the 50-K in 2:00:04.9. He was 17.8 seconds ahead of Tad Elliott of Durango, Colo., and 30.5 seconds ahead of Flora. Like Randall, Babikov had a strong showing at the Olympics and then raced in the World Cup competitions in Norway and Sweden before heading to Maine, where first place is worth $1,200. He was third after 40 kilometers, five-tenths of a second behind Flora and one second behind Elliott. But he put down a time of 22:43.2 in the final 10 kilometers to create a gap. Because Babikov represents Canada, Elliott won the U.S. championship. The finish was an encouraging one for Flora, a two-time Olympian who missed making the Vancouver team this season. He had the flu during the national championships at Kincaid Park in January, failing to make the podium in any of the four races. This week's races in Maine decide national champions in the longer races, which weren't contested at Kincaid.