Cory Ramstead of Duncan and the Ceevacs Roadrunners was first across the finish line at the Frontrunners Gutbuster trail run held at Providence Farm and Mount Tzouhalem last Saturday.
Ramstead completed the 7km short course in 33 minutes and 24 seconds, nearly two and a half seconds ahead of his closest competitor, Victoria's Leland Reimer, who finished in 35:48. The top female runner was Heather Wirachowsky of Victoria, with a time of 39:23.
In third place was Damian Parlee, one of several Shawnigan Lake School runners to complete the race. Also representing the school were Chris Brown (39:11), Rex Sae Lim (43:55), Tiaan Fourie (43:55), Sydney Lloyd (45:04), Tannis Potter (45:04), Charlotte Mahoney (46:11), Cameron Urquhart (49:53), Maxwell Bramley (51:34), Nina Height (55:31), Leon Li (54:07), Brett Lin (55:12), James Kingstone (56:50), Penny Cheng (59:03), Freya Wu (1:00:02), Hilary Hardy (1:14:41), Peem Winyasopit (1:14:42), and James Ash (1:21:14).
Other local finishers included Duncan's Hans Damman (41:11), Gilbert Martin-Damman (46:00), Jen Roberts (48:24), Cecilie Simonsen (55:33), Shannon Horsburgh (1:10:13) and Cowichan Bay's Bernadette Bechtel (1:38:04).
The winner of the 13km long course was Shane Ruljancich of Victoria in 56:37, followed by Jason Wright, also of Victoria, in 58:57, and Cobble Hill's Jason Aitken in 1:01:49. The top female runner was Lindsey Chamberland of Victoria in 1:07:35. Other local finishers included Ryan Miller of Duncan (1:07:11), Brent Scott of Cobble Hill (1:07:47), Larry Nylen of Shawnigan Lake (1:17:38), Mandy Parker of Shawnigan Lake (1:34:18), Anders Balsvik of Duncan (1:35:32), Cam Campbell of
Duncan (1:36:19), Naomi Irving of Duncan (1:42:19), Christie Diamond of Duncan (1:42:26), Pam Stephen of Duncan (1:53:21), Jamie Covey of Duncan (1:53:21), Karen Jarvis of Duncan (2:00:30) and Brenda Niziol of Shawnigan Lake (2:10:31).
The Mount Tzouhalem race was the second in the Gutbuster series, and will be followed by a stop in Ladysmith in July.