Wells and Mata win 2012 US Marathon MTB titles

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USA Cycling crowned 15 national champions on Saturday at Wanoga Sno Park in Bend, Oregon, at the 2012 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Marathon National Championships. An overnight rainstorm was not enough to tamp down the dust on the course.

Three-time Olympian Todd Wells (Specialized Racing) added another Stars-and Stripes jersey to his closet after winning the elite men's race ahead of Carl Decker (Giant Factory) and the 2011 national champion, Adam Craig (Rabobank-Giant). Wells, who also won this year's short track national title, completed the 54-mile course in 3:36:52, only 35 seconds faster than Decker and one minute faster than Craig.

Wells and Craig worked together in the early stages of the elite men's race, opening a large gap on the field. With about five miles remaining in the race, Wells dropped Craig and accelerated to the finish line. Decker drilled it late in the race and passed Craig into second place with about 1.5 miles remaining in the race.

Monique "Pua" Mata (Sho-Air) repeated as the elite women's national champion as she finished 9:13 ahead of the runner-up in the 2011 race Kelli Emmett (Giant Mountain Bike Team) and Sarah "Sari" Anderson (Honey Stinger-Trek). Mata earned the top step of the podium after she finished the race in 4:09:35. Emmett was 11 minutes ahead of third-place rider Anderson.

Bradford Perley (Cannondale) won the senior men's 19-29 race by just over three minutes. Perley finished the course in 4:03:36 while his closest competitor, Ryan Chandler, finished in 4:06:49. Billy Damon (Folsom Bike-Mercedes Benz) won the master men's 30-34 race with a time of 4:04:20 while Kyle Dixon (Velo Reno p/b Tamarack Junction) earned the Stars-and-Stripes jersey after winning the masters men 35-39 race. Dario Fredrick (Whole Athlete-Specialized) won the masters men's 40-44 contest after riding 54 miles in 4:08:29. Brian Taylor (Team Ascent Idaho) earned the gold medal after winning the masters men's 45-49 contest. Local cycling legend, Paul Thomasberg, won the masters men's 50-59 contest by only two minutes over Jeffery Otto. Randy Beckner (Montana Velo) won the masters men's 60-69 race by 20 minutes.

In the men's singlespeed race, Cary Smith (Team CF) took the top prize after finishing in 4:03:44. Cody Peterson rode away with the silver medal after completing the course in 4:06:53. Jamie Busch rode away with the women's singlespeed race, winning by nearly 23 minutes.

In the women's age-group championship races, Kimberly Fong (Cycles Fanatic Factory Racing) won the senior women's race by nearly an hour. Fong's time of 5:21:29 was 54:26 faster than second-place Kyla McDermott's (Bikebarnracing.com) mark of 6:15:55. Rachel Hadley won the masters women's 30-39 contest by 11 minutes. Helene Drumm (Whole Athlete-Specialized) rode away with the masters women's 40-49 race after completing her race in 4:57:48. Ellen Guthrie (Revolution Cafe Rio) posted the largest margin of the day. Guthrie won the masters women's 50-and-up race with a time of 5:37:01. Her closest competitor, Fredde Foster completed the race in 7:11:16.

Full Results