March 25, 2010
Elliott, Randall claim U.S. XC titles
by PR Wire Report/
The 2010 U.S. Cross Country Championships ended on Wednesday in Fort Kent, Maine, with the men’s 50K and women’s 30K races.
Tad Elliott (Durango, Colo.) and 2010 Olympian Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) were crowned U.S. men's and women's champs, respectively.
Wednesday’s long distance races were the last of five races in the 2010 Cross Country Championships. The four previous races were held in January in Anchorage.
The men’s race was officially won by Canada’s Ivan Babikov with a time of 2 hours, 4.90 seconds. Elliott, the top U.S. finisher, placed second and won the U.S. Championship title. Lars Flora (Bend, Ore.) rounded out the podium in third place.
In the women’s 30K, Randall, coming straight from World Cup Finals, stayed with the five-person breakaway ending the race with a clean sprint into the finish to clinch the women’s U.S. Championship title. Rebecca Dussault (Gunnison, Colo.) trailed Randall to take second, followed by Holly Brooks (Anchorage) in third.
Randall clinched her 15th U.S. Championship title with Wednesday's win and all five of the 2010 U.S. Championships titles.
With the conclusion of Wednesday’s U.S. Championships race, Elliott and Randall secured the title of U.S. Grand National Champion. The title is comprised of the scores of all five U.S. Championship races added together.
Fort Kent is scheduled to host the U.S. Super Tour Finals March 25-28.
