What is the purpose of distance handling?

I had thought that handling one portion of a course at a bit of distance was typically done in order to be in better position to handle another portion of the course.  Thinking this way, distance is a MEANS.  The END is effective communication with the dog, so the dog can take an efficient path through the course.

Having watched some of the videoclips from NADAC nationals, it seems like all the various boxes are set so that distance becomes the end in and of itself.

I was not there.  Perhaps someone can tell me.  Let's say that two dogs ran the same course cleanly.  One dog ran the course in 40 seconds, and the handler happened to maybe stay behind a couple of the lines.  Could the other dog run the course taking more time, perhaps 44 or 48 seconds, but score better because the handler stayed behind more/all of the lines?

If so, that is rewarding distance merely for the sake of distance.  In contrast, if the distance had created better communication between the handler and the dog, then the dog's path would have been more efficient and the dog's time would have been faster.

For example, there was a jumpers course that had a very small little box in the middle of the course.

http://agilityvideoservice.com/play_x264video.php?dog=lucky&video=06-09-20-lucky-jmp.mp4

The team has a pleasant run.  The handler stays inside the box for the majority of the course.  But during the handler's time inside the box, there are at least three little miscommunications in a short, rather simple, seventeen obstacle course.

It seems like a handler could run (well actually TROT) this course at quite a distance from their dog, with the dog moving much much faster than the handler, without needing to be inside the little box for most of the run.

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Steph and Pal

Different organizations place more empahsis of different skills.  NADAC's includes distance and speed.  There's no difference in the 'purpose' between this and USDAA gamblers.  The difference lays in the fact that USDAA also tests other handler skills (like keeping your dog close in snooker), where NADAC seems to be all about distance.