The 40th Congressional Cup had run out of time and Terry Hutchinson had run out of wind when Ed Baird came from behind on the last leg to win a sudden-death championship race by 1 minute 41 seconds Saturday.

Baird, at 46 the oldest competitor in the fleet, was the only semi-finalist among Hutchinson, New Zealand’s Gavin Brady and Australia’s Peter Gilmour who hadn’t won the event’s traditional Crimson Blazer.

The Congressional Cup is the only American stop on the eight-event 2003-04 SMT. Baird, from St. Petersburg, Fla., took the weakest round-robin record into the semifinals (11-7), but eliminated Brady (12-6), a two-time winner, 2-1.

Meanwhile, Gilmour (16-2) chose Hutchinson (12-6) as his semi-final opponent after the Annapolis, Md. sailor had warned, “I wouldn’t pick us.”

Sure enough, Gilmour was stunned, 2-1, downgrading the anticipated title showdown between himself and Brady to a sail-off for third place, won by Brady by 1 minute 15 seconds.

Baird collected $6,000 of the $25,000 total purse for his first SMT victory, which put him in fifth place in the rankings behind Gilmour – still the leader with wins in two of four events, Sweden’s Magnus Holmberg, Denmark’s Jesper Radich and Brady.

Petit Final

Brady ($3,000) d. Gilmour ($2,500), 1:15

Final

Baird ($6,000) d. Hutchinson ($3,500), 1:41