Todd Wells is no stranger to winning national championships.

In fact, entering Saturday’s USA Cycling Mountain Bike Marathon National Championships, Wells already had titles to his credit in cyclocross and in cross-country and short-track mountain biking. The Durango, Colo., resident added another championship to his resume when he pulled away late from reigning champion and Bend resident Adam Craig in the elite men’s race to pick up another stars-and-stripes jersey.

Wells covered the 54-mile course — a looping layout that started and finished at Wanoga Sno-park west of Bend and included nearly 6,000 feet of climbing — in 3 hours, 36 minutes, 52 seconds. Bend’s Carl Decker — who was second to Craig at this event in 2011 — rallied late to pass Craig on the short run of pavement leading to the finish line to post a second consecutive runner-up finish in 3:37:28, while Craig was third in 3:37:52. Yet another Bend resident, Barry Wicks, was fourth in 3:41:57.

“This is my first time racing the marathon national champs, and so it was nice to get the win,” said Wells, 36 and a three-time Olympian who placed 10th in the men’s mountain bike race earlier this summer in London.

Wells rode much of the race with or near Craig, whom he said he passed about 10 minutes out from the finish.

“I was able to get around him and put in a bit of an acceleration and was able to hold the gap to the line,” Wells said.

Craig, who had held a slight advantage during the middle stages of the race, did not have much of an answer to Wells’ late surge, as he “just ran out of gas on the last loop.”

A bit earlier in the race, Craig had accidentally dropped some of his nutrition out on course — which he said he should have stopped to pick up — and he ran out of food.

“I kind of played all my cards, and they weren’t enough,” admitted the 31-year-old Craig, himself a former Olympian.

For his part, Decker had some work to do for his second-place finish after losing some time to the leaders following a minor mechanical issue that turned out to be pretty important.

“I had a little mechanical thing that cost me 10 seconds, which is nothing in the grand scheme of things,” said Decker. “But it was at a really crucial point, so that created a separation between me and the top three guys that were able to kind of ride together.”

That and a nutrition issue — Decker said he did not notice in advance that outside support was not permitted at the third feed zone, which is where he had sent his dad to give him some supplies that Decker by rule could not accept — of his own left Decker just short of perhaps being able to challenge Wells coming into the finish.

“Todd is the strongest guy here today. He was at the Olympics a month ago and he was at the world championships last weekend, our top American finisher at the world champs, so to get beat by him is legitimate,” Decker said. “Kind of can’t feel too bad about it, but I would have liked to have seen how I would have fared at the finish with him.”

In the pro women’s race, Monique “Pua” Mata, of Yucaipa, Calif., pulled away from the rest of the field early and rolled to her second consecutive national title in the event in 4:09:35. The 2011 runner-up, Kelli Emmett, of Colorado Springs, Colo., was second once again to Mata, finishing in 4:18:48. Sarah Anderson, of Carbondale, Colo., was third in 4:30:09. Bend resident Serena Bishop Gordon took fourth place in 4:35:17.

“I felt good today, and it was nice even though the pro men started five minutes (ahead), but it was kind of like carrots, you know?” said Mata, a 32-year-old Hawaii native. “I would keep catching them (male racers) along the way, and it was motivating because you’re out there, and a lot of times you’re by yourself.”

The win comes toward the end of a successful season for Mata, who was also the overall women’s winner of this year’s USA Cycling Pro Mountain Bike Cross-Country Tour series and Pro Mountain Bike Ultra-Endurance Tour.

“When I roll to the line, it’s of course to win,” Mata said. “You don’t want anything else. And I knew coming into this (mountain bike marathon nationals) I was feeling good. Training has been good, and I’ve been in the right mindset, and so everything was kind of falling together. You can never take a race for granted, for sure, but this one, I definitely wanted to take this race.”

In addition to the men’s and women’s pro races, nonchampionship age-group and single-speed races were also staged at the event. Among Central Oregon residents, Bend’s Paul Thomasberg posted the best finish by taking first in the men’s 50-59 division. For results, see Scoreboard, D2.