FORT KENT – Rita Lensing, a 36-year-old waitress from Shroeder, Minn., became the first woman ever to finish the 250-mile Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race Monday when she crossed the finish line in seventh position.

She limped across the finish line, and was taken to the Northern Maine Medical Center at Fort Kent by ambulance. She was suffering from back problems sustained while feeding her dogs six days before the Beargrease race in Michigan last month.

She was treated with muscle-relaxers and released and was back caring for her dogs Monday.

On Monday afternoon, Karen Land of Sand Coolee, Mont., became the second woman to finish the Can-Am Crown’s 250-mile race. A third woman, Marcelle Fresineau of Matawin, Quebec, was still on the trail between Allagash and Fort Kent Monday afternoon.

Keith Aili, a 26-year-old kennel owner and bear guide from Ray, Minn., set a record in winning the MBNA 250 Sunday night when he crossed the finish line at 10:21 p.m. He slashed 21 minutes off the previous record of 24 hours, 51 minutes set in 1999 Don Hibbs of Millinocket.

Coming in second in the $20,000 race was Stan Passananti of Ely, Minn., 1:02 behind Aili. The two men were 24 minutes apart when they left the fourth checkpoint at Allagash Sunday afternoon.

Martin Massicotte, a 34-year-old contractor from St. Tite, Quebec, winner of the classic in 1998, came in third. He crossed the finish line at 2:25 a.m. Monday.

“It’s a pretty wonderful feeling being the first woman to cross this finish line,” Lensing said Monday afternoon. “I wasn’t at the finish line for very long, however, before they took me away.

“I had quite a crowd waiting for me at Allagash, because they had never seen a woman make it that far in this race before.”

The muscle problem in her lower back became chronic after she left the Big Machias Lake checkpoint Sunday morning. “The running up and down the hills didn’t help.”

“It took us a long time coming from Allagash. We were just plugging along with the dogs pulling me up the hills,” she said. “I knew that none of the guys in back of me could become the first woman to cross the finish line.”

The female musher’s background includes two years of missionary work in Africa and South America. She also has a degree in educational interpreting for the deaf. She also works at a resort in Shroeder, Minn.

Land, in her first year of long-distance sled dog racing, had an interesting ride this weekend.

Just before 8 p.m. Saturday, when she was about three miles from the Big Machias Lake checkpoint, she went into a curve a bit too fast. She lost control of the team and the team got away from her.

The team arrived at the checkpoint, minus the musher, just after 8 p.m. Land arrived at the checkpoint at 8:37 aboard Lensing’s sled, thrilled to find her team safe and uninjured.

Later in the race, between Big Machias Lake and the checkpoint at Maibec’s Lumber Camp, Land and her team came upon a moose in the trail.

“We [she and her dogs] were coming around a corner and the moose was there, and didn’t seem to want to move,” Land said. “I was scratching ice from my goggles and I just moved the dogs around, not losing a step.”

“It feels good to finish,” Land said Monday afternoon. “I’m happy to be done, and I came through with eight dogs.”

She said she is running long-distance races this year, qualifying for Alaska’s 1,100-mile Iditarod next winter. That means she won’t be running the Can-Am Crown in 2002 because the two races start on the same weekend.

“It was an enjoyable race and things went right for me,” Aili said as he cared for his dogs after crossing the finish line Sunday night. “We had a good run.

“I never saw Stan’s light after I left Allagash,” he continued. “I knew if I could get to the hills before he came onto me, I would win. He trains his dogs for speed and I train mine for climbing.”

The two friends, Aili and Passananti, have a friendly rivalry going. Passananti beat Aili in the UP 200 in Michigan last month. Aili had won the race three years in a row.

It was Aili’s third attempt for the $4,500 first-place check at Fort Kent. He got sick and could not race in 1999, and he came in second to Hibbs by 20 minutes last year. He may also have won three stage purses of $1,000 for the fastest times between checkpoints.

He was beaten by four minutes and by seven by Passananti in the first and third legs, preventing him from winning all five of the stage purses.

Other finishers Monday were Matt Weik of North Remes, Minn., at 4:47 a.m.; Robert Fredette of Plantagenet, Quebec, 7:19 a.m.; Tom Benson of Ely, Minn., 7:27 a.m.; Lensing, 7:48 a.m.; John Osmond of Shirley, 11:28 a.m.; Scott Smith of Dubois, Wyo., 11:38 a.m.; Stephane Duplessis from St. Zenon, Quebec, 1:25 p.m.; Land, 3:10 p.m.; and Yves Fredette of Plantagenet, Ontario, 3:18 p.m.

Still at Allagash or on the trail between Allagash and Fort Kent at 4 p.m. Monday were George Cook of New Hampton, N.H.; Stephen Hessert of Cumberland; Al Moorcroft of LaMable, Ontario; Stephane Villeneuve of Matane, Quebec; Robert Joy of Milford, N.H.; Marcelle Fresineau of Matawin, Quebec; John Kaleta of Fort Kent; John Hessert of Cumberland; Gratien Gendron of St. Adeline, Quebec; and Andy Chakoumakos of Lovell.

Not yet in Allagash, but spotted just a few miles out at 4 p.m. was Bill Matott of Manchester, N.H.