St. John Valley Times - March 9, 2005
by Andrew Birden
FORT KENT. Rhonda Ransome won the CanAm 30 on Saturday, overcoming Claude Baril and Francois Maurice in the shortest of the three races in Fort Kent.
She left the gate on Main Street at 10:04 a.m. and raced over the finish line at 12:56:21 for a run of twi hours 52 minutes and 21 seconds.
Her average speed was 10.47 mph.
The next closest time, achieved by Baril, was two hours 58 minutes and 24 seconds.
Because she was the 28th starter and the fifth one to finish, Ransome passed two dozen other mushers during her race.
Ransome (23) lives in Whitney, Ontario. She is a park warden in Algonquin Park during the spring, summer, and fall. In winter she is a dog sledding guide.
She has been racing for three years.
Rookie Jordon Richter came in a respectable 10th place.
Local favorites Jason Bennett, Dennis Cyr, Chris Pennucci, and Lynne Cyr came in 8th, 19th, 27th, and 28th, respectively.
In the 60-mile race, veteran racer Boyd Wilson beat everyone by completing the medium length race in five hours 58 minutes 58 seconds.
He traveled nearly 12 miles per hour on the first leg of the race, and slid along at nearly 10 miles per hour for the second leg.
Wilson is from McArthur's Mills, Ontario.
Second and third were taken by Bruce Langmaid and Shawn Akins.
Langmaid won the Can-Am 250 last year.
Local musher Mike Paradis, running the 60 for the first time, came in 30th.
He joins six other rookies who ran in the 60-miler for the first time this year: