Rupanga races to another strategic win

It was a spectacular evening of trail running at race 3 of the Cape Summer Trail Series 2012 held at Silvermine Nature Reserve West yesterday evening.

Ben Brimble was back in the action in the 11.8km Championship race, leading the way in the early kilometers.  Derrick Baard, Dion Middelkoop, Nicholas Rupanga, Ake Fagareng, Andrew Smit and Allan Benn all close behind and chasing hard.  At the 3.4km mark it was Brimble leading with Baard, Middelkoop and Rupanga behind.  

By the 6km Mark, 800m past the high point on the route at 5.2km, it was Derrick Baard leading with Nicholas Rupanga in 2nd and Dion Middelkoop in 3rd.  

Left: Ben Brimble leads at the 3.5km mark

The next 1.2km took the runners down along the spectacular 'Crassula Edge' over the most technical part of the course along rocky hiking trail. At the 7.6km Rupanga had moved into the lead, with Deon Middelkoop in 2nd and Derrick Baard in 3rd.  Baard sadly missed a crucial turn in the final 2.5km resulting in him running into the finish line ahead of the leading runners.  In a true show of sportsmanship , Baard returned to the missed junction and still managed to finish 7th overall (and 3rd Vets) despite having run an extra 1.7km to the finish and back! At the front of the race, it was Rupanga who continued to stretch his lead over a chasing Middelkoop, finishing the 11.8km with 453m of climb in 53:57 - over  1minute & 30 seconds ahead of Middelkoop.            

Right: Dion Middelkoop leads Nicholas Rupanga at the 4.4km mark 

Championship standings

With three straight wins in the Championship so far, Rupanga looks unstoppable at the top in his category.  With all things equal and without deducting a discard,  Ake Fagareng and Andrew Smit are currently tie on 9 points, with Eddie Lambert breathing down their necks a few points adrift.  

With Lambert clearly favoring the faster & more open running courses like Lebanon (while he makes a come back from injury), Tygerberg (1 Feb) could be an interesting race as he goes about trying to secure the least points possible going into the final 

race at Oak Valley (5 Feb) - another fast and non-technical route.  Another 2nd place result at Tygerberg will see Lambert slip into third place ahead of Smit, and should Fagareng secure 3rd at Tygerberg, will result in a one point difference between these two going into the final.  

Right: Rudi Visser making his way up to the highpoint at 5.1km Hout Bay behind

Race 3 results summary (Championship):

Overall:

1. Nicholas Rupanga 53:57
2. Dion Middelkoop 55:30
3. Ake Fagareng 56:37

Open Men:

1. Nicholas Rupanga 53:57
2. Ake Fagareng 56:37
3. Andrew Smit 56:44

For the full results (Championship & Challenge) click the following link: http://www.trailseries.co.za/page/results-1

For a gallery of images click the following link: http://www.trailseries.co.za/photo/albums/csts12-race-3-silvermine-...