LES GETS, France – Adam Craig of Corinth led a team of U.S. mountain bikers to an eighth-place finish Thursday in the marathon relay that opened the 2004 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.

Each team consists of one elite-classification male and female rider plus a under-23 and junior rider during the race, in which each participant completes one lap of the 6.3-kilometer course. Craig, an elite-level rider, joined with Kelli Emmett of Colorado Springs, Colo., Sam Jurkovic of Jackson, Wyo., and Alan Obye of Mendon, Vt., to finish the race 3 minutes, 14 seconds behind the world championship team from Canada.

That performance was better than the 12th-place finish by the U.S. team in 2003.

The victory was the third in four years for the Canadian team, led by NORBA National Mountain Bike Series champion Geoff Kabush. Defending champion Poland placed second, while Switzerland finished third.

Craig resumes competition this weekend in the elite-classification individual cross country race.