Alice, Ben, and Charlie are the only contestants who ran a 30-mile rac

Given that A + B = C + 3, where A, B, and C are the times in which Alice, Ben, and Charlie completed the race.

The minimum time to complete the race is 30/6 = 5 hours. Let's consider if Charlie could have won: If he ran at the fastest rate, he would finish in 5 hours, making A + B = C + 3 = 5 + 3 = 8 hours. However, this is impossible since the sum of two times (A and B) must be at least twice the minimum time: 2*5 = 10. Therefore, Charlie couldn't have won.

There's no reason to differentiate between Alice and Ben. If one could win, so could the other. Hence, both could have won the race.

Answer: B.

To elaborate more: The least time one could complete the race is 30/6 = 5 hours, hence \(A+B≥10\). Let's see if Charlie could have won the race: The best chance for him to win would be if he ran at the fastest rate, so he would complete the race in 5 hours. In this case, the combined time needed for Alice and Ben would be A + B = C + 3 = 5 + 3 = 8 hours. However, we know that \(A+B≥10\). Therefore, even if Charlie ran at his fastest rate to win the race, the equation A + B = C + 3 cannot hold true. Hence, Charlie could not have won the race.

Hope it's clear.