Until the summer before her senior year of high school, Abby Larson only dabbled in sports. Then the native of Minneapolis attended an off-season, cross-country ski camp in Duluth, Minn., and found herself so smitten she stayed the entire summer.
"I was like, 'You know, this is cool,' " Larson said. "They work part-time, they train, they're outside, they're fit. This might be for me.''
Apparently.
Larson, who walked on at Northern Michigan University and became a four-time All-American, is now a sponsored marathon skier.
Saturday, she proved she's no slouch on dirt either.
Larson, 24, won the women's division of the marathon-length Crow Pass Crossing from the Crow Pass trail head to the Eagle River Nature Center in 4 hours, 5 minutes, 34 seconds.
Larson's victory atoned for her Crow Pass debut last year, when she was the second woman to cross the finish line but was one of 39 runners disqualified for failing to carry all eight items of mandatory gear. Larson, like many others, neglected to pack wind pants.
"I cried,'' Larson said, "and I don't cry very much.''
Saturday, she had all her gear, and she put her motor in high gear. Larson was the first woman to crest Crow Pass, which comes more than three miles into the course and covers about 3,500 feet of elevation gain. Once over the top, she never looked back.
"I really wanted to get a sub-4, so I'm a little disappointed,'' Larson said. "But I was having some major stomach problems at the end. So, all things considered, I'm happy.''
She topped runner-up Julie Udchachon (4:09:59), who has rebounded sensationally from a fractured pelvis and fractured back suffered when she slipped on ice while running in January. Stefani Heaphey (4:24:04) edged Laura McDonough (4:24:31) to claim third place.
Larson became so enamored with cross-country skiing at that camp when she was 17 that she moved to Duluth to simultaneously finish high school and begin college under a special program available to honor students in Minnesota. She then walked on at Northern Michigan and later moved to Alaska to train with the Gold 2002 program at Alaska Pacific University.
Larson holds a bachelor's degree in sports science and is headed back to Northern Michigan in Marquette next month to complete her master's degree in exercise physiology. After that, she said, she will likely pursue a doctorate in applied nutrition at Colorado State University. She also skis in marathon cross-country races for the Subaru Factory Team.
"I love this kind of stuff,'' Larson said at the finish line. "At some point, I want to do adventure races and the Western States 100. For me, basically, the more epic the better.''
Udchachon, 33, had just begun a training run in January when she slipped on black ice and fell backward. The impact caused three fractures of her pelvis and a fracture in her back.
"I crawled back to the car,'' Udchachon said. "I drove back home and realized I had to get to the emergency room because it was too painful to walk.''
She was told not to run for three months and to use crutches, and she missed out on competing in the snowshoeing national championships. But she was hiking with ski poles two months after her fall and Saturday she ran the race nearly 13 minutes faster than she did last year.
"Even though I'm disappointed because I wanted to win the race, I'm thankful just to be running,'' Udchachon said.
Daily News assistant sports editor Doyle Woody can be reached at dwoody@adn.com.
