Many of the 2, 500 runners who completed the race between Dallas and Fort Worth at the annual Texas Stampede for Children's Medical Center Dallas last November were surprised to get a cold beer at the finish line.

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Most of the rest are shunted off into special schools for the mentally disabled or else drop out of normal school before they are 15 years old, many of them defeated by bullying and homework that is hard to finish in cold and unlit homes.

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Players start the season in the oppressive heat and humidity of July in training camp and finish in the bitter cold of December and January.

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British duo Andrew Young and Andrew Musgrave did not finish their semi-final as Young had a cold and was feeling low on energy ahead of the last leg.

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