Rudolphs Rampage - 16th December 2012

A small contingent of Striders travelled to the picturesque Cotswold village of Painswick to take part in the Rudolph’s Rampage, a fun but tough 4 ½ mile off-road race with festive fancy dress!

Conditions were very muddy and the course involved running up a long hill, back through the woodlands along the top of the hill, a long steep descent (interrupted be several stiles) and a nasty sting in the tail with another steep climb up to the centre of Painswick village and finally back down the hill to the finish.

Once again, the Striders ladies stole the headlines with Liza Barry (in angels wings) and Trish Woods (Santa hat with tinsel finish) finishing 1st and 2nd ladies respectively. Liza was 7th overall, and would have placed even higher had she not taken a wrong turn in the village, and Trish also battled on despite a fall. Dawn Addinall showed her customary determination to come home in 39th place over all, and 3rd in her V55 category..

For the men, Dave Smeath, having set the early pace, narrowly missed out on a ‘podium’ finish (there wasn’t really a podium!) having been overtaken going up the final hill but should still be happy with 4th place. Adam Cary (sporting a long blonde wig in an attempt to emulate his running idol, Dave Smeath) finished in 12th place with Rob Bircher returning to racing action with a creditable 18th place.

Chris Driskell, Rachel Vines and Beckie Boulton also provided welcome encouragement and post-race cake.

Results:</p>

Pos	First Name	Last Name	Time	Cat
4	David	SMEATH	34:08:00	SM
7	Liza	BARRY	36:20:00	SL
12	Adam	CARY	38:58:00	SM
15	Patricia	WOODS	40:07:00	SL
18	Robert	BIRCHER	41:28:00	MV40
39	Dawn	ADDINALL	48:26:00	LV55

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