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• Jan 11, 2008 6:22 am US/Mountain
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  Colorado Renaissance Woman Is Towing Champ

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Colorado Renaissance Woman Is Towing Champ

Reporting
Brooke Wagner

Maggie Rice may just be Colorado's ultimate Renaissance woman. She has master's degrees in playwriting with an emphasis in Serbo-Croatian theater. She's won prizes as a chef and spends her weekends showing Borzoi dogs but her real claim to fame is as the seven time winner of the nation's Towing Ace Award.

And Rice won that award in a Prius. She owns Roadrunner Road Service, a company which provides light road service, that means jumpstarts, changing flats and providing gas to motorists in trouble .. and she does it all in 30 minutes or less.

Rice didn't know how to charge a battery when she bought the business, but she knew she needed a change.

"I don't do desks well, which is why cooking and theater were good," Rice explained. "I have to admit I probably didn't do justice to the city jobs because they made sit still."

There's no sitting still now, Rice is always on the move and batteries are her specialty, so much so she's earned an industry nickname. "Molly Jumper Roadrunner, queen of the jump starts," she said.

Rice said the increase in gas prices also means an increase in business. And even though she's glad for the busy winter season she's also happy to offer advice to make sure you don't have to call for her help.

"You want to develop the habit of turning everything off when you turn the car off so it's not draining the battery. When you start the car and then let it run for a least 20 minutes during those cold seasons, you won't need us as often."

But if you call for Rice's help, you can expect her or someone from her company in 30 minutes or less. "I advertise for hero work and it truly is hero work. You want someone with that gene that really wants to help."

And Rice said another philosophy also plays a role in her success. "If you're not going to be there on time, call them and tell them you're coming. It's just the

honest common courtesy we all grew up with."

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)