LINCOLN, N.H. - Joe Gray powered up the 40-percent grade of the Upper Walking Boss ski run at Loon Mountain Resort in New Hampshire on Saturday to capture his fourth U.S. National Mountain Running Championship title.

The 32-year-old Colorado Springs resident grimaced as he leaned into the mountain and forced the final bit of energy from his legs. He hit the finish line in 49-minutes, 12 seconds. It was his 10^th overall national title, and marked the 20^th time he has qualified to run on a national team.

Pulling a red, white and blue USA singlet over his head and toeing the line with his teammates keeps him motivated to run.

“I’m a patriotic person,” he says. “For me it’s kind of cool to represent your country. I feel a lot of pride when I put that jersey on. It gives you a sense of pride. You almost have to find another gear.”

Gray’s victory was somewhat expected. And then things got weird. In fact, nobody could have predicted the finishing order in either the men’s or women’s races.

The top six men qualified for the world championship team, but other than Gray, and Andy Wacker, who finished sixth, the team is light on legitimate mountain experience. And that may not matter because it’s going to be a very fast group. Five of the top six had qualified to race in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.

Brett Hales of Layton, Utah, finished second in 50:18, followed by Matt Daniels (Evergreen, 50:37), Hayden Hawks (Cedar City, Utah, 50:50), and David Fuentes (Austin, Texas, 51:07). Wacker clocked 51:14 to secure the final team spot, his sixth berth on a U.S. team.

“It’s good to have all the cross-over guys coming into mountain running,” Wacker says. “It brings some legitimacy to it.”

The surprises continued in the women’s race where the top two runners had never competed in a mountain race before lining up on Loon’s green slopes.

Addie Bracy of Longmont, a runner who had barely missed qualifying to run the steeplechase at the U.S. Olympic Trials, charged to the victory at Loon. She said she never expected to win.

“I’ve been running track all season and fell a little short of making the Olympic trials,” Bracy said.

Her first mountain race was different, but fun, she said.

“It definitely is just as painful, if not more painful, than any of the other stuff that I’ve done, but it’s a different perspective. I didn’t know anybody in the race, I didn’t know what time was good, so I just came and ran hard and it paid off.”

Bracy, 29, finished in 57:25, followed by Bethany Sachtleben, a track runner from Manassas, Va., who clocked in at 58:17.

“I like it,” she said of racing in the mountains. “I still want to be fast on the track, but I’ll definitely come back to the mountains.”

Kim Nedeau of Leverett, Mass., and Ladia Albertson-Junkans, who have built their running careers in the mountains, will round out the U.S. Mountain Running Team which will compete at the world championships in Sapareva Banya, Bulgaria, on Sept. 11.

Nancy Hobbs, a member of the USA Track and Field Mountain/Ultra/Trail council, said it’s good to see new runners competing in mountain running.

“It’s exciting to see a bunch of new faces,” Hobbs said. “It’s an exciting time for mountain running and bodes well for the future of our sport.”

Colorado’s Kim Dobson, a four-time winner of the Mount Washington Road Race, and the Pikes Peak Ascent record holder, placed fifth. A pure climber, she nearly reeled in Albertson-Junkans on Upper Walking Boss, hailed as one of the toughest kilometers in all of racing.

“I’ve never been great on flat and downhill, so my goal was just to stay positive,” Dobson said. “I think I was in 12^th place at three miles. I made up some time (on Walking Boss). I would have liked to have been fourth. I could see that I was gaining on her. I was trying so hard, but couldn’t get her.”

Talk to the Boss: Event organizers offered $100 prize money (provided by race sponsor Salomon) for the fastest man and woman on the Walking Boss. Gray and Dobson took those titles, with Gray blasting up the slope in 7:27.  Dobson’s time of 8:34 was 13^th best on the day.