Ramsey Tour touts plenty of post-secondary flavour

Eric Leishman does not mind leading by example.

The head coach of the Cambrian College cross-country team and recent graduate of the same program captured the 5km leg of the Sudbury Masters Ramsey Tour on Sunday morning at Laurentian, covering the distance in 16:44, 24 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Ewan Craig.

As usual, the Voyageurs women's cross-country team dominated the top rankings in the female grouping, with local product Emily Marcolini looking quite strong as she begins her second year at LU, leading the ladies with a time of 18:46.

While both Leishman and Marcolini are familiar names to anyone who has followed the local cross-country circuit for years, the fact is the Ramsey Tour event has plenty of post-secondary flavour, especially at the five-kilometre distance.

For Craig, a Deep River native who is returning as a member of the Laurentian Voyageurs men's nordic ski program, the race dovetails nicely from the cross-training that he has done this summer, with some alterations needed once the snow hits the ground.

"I find that the two sports cross over pretty well," noted the 21-year-old athlete. "I always notice that after skiing season, when I first go to running, it always felt a little bit 'off' for a few weeks, and same goes from running to skiing."

In terms of the LU cross-country team, fourth-year Concurrent Education major Michelle Kennedy was hot on the heels of Marcolini, earning a second-place finish in 19:02, quite a good time considering she has not yet cracked the 19-minute barrier.

"I was planning on trying to run with Emily," said the native of London. "She's got huge, long legs, so I just keep my eyes focused on those. My hope was to stay with her and let her lead me through a sub-19. I was close."

One of several returnees with the university program headed up by coaches Dick Moss and Darren Jermyn, Kennedy is especially looking forward to her annual homecoming, competing at the Western Invitational on Sept. 20.

"My fans are my family, they all stand on different places on the course," said Kennedy. "I can always tell where my mom is, because she's got this really distinctive voice."

After finishing fourth in the half-marathon in 2013, Brent Walker chopped a minute off his time and took top spot on Sunday, comfortably ahead of second-place finisher Ryan Marsaw.

Alison Cummings also made a move up, bumping from a silver-medal performance in 2013 to gold this time around, winning the ladies half-marathon in 1:42:24.

Following is a breakdown of some of the top finishers in both the 5km race as well as the half-marathon:

Men - 5 kms
1st - Eric Leishman – 16:44
2nd - Ewan Craig – 17:08
3rd - Jacob Dupuis-Latour – 17:35
4th - Brendan Costello – 18:01
5th - Caleb Beland – 18:02
6th - Trevor Gilchrist – 18:23
7th - Mika Muinonen – 18:31
8th - Marek Bialkowski – 18:35
9th - Jordan Courchesne – 18:38
10th - James Larmer – 18:42

Women - 5 kms
1st - Emily Marcolini – 18:46
2nd - Michelle Kennedy – 19:02
3rd - Maddy Bak – 19:24
4th - Marissa Lobert – 19:31
5th - Emily Driedger – 19:37

Men – Half-Marathon
1st - Brent Walker – 1:29:26
2nd - Ryan Marsaw – 1:31:15
3rd - Scott St Jean – 1:33:17
4th - Pierre Dumont – 1:34:25
5th - Peter Yawney – 1:34:41
6th - Jordan Nurmi – 1:37:18
7th - Ben Smith – 1:38:49
8th - Charles Dumas – 1:40:34
9th - John Bolan – 1:42:11
10th - Rob Marcolini – 1:42:56

Women – Half-Marathon
1st - Alison Cummings – 1:42:24
2nd - Sophie Pereira – 1:44:20
3rd - Chrystal Prosperi – 1:46:57
4th - Sue Favaro – 1:48:20
5th - Kimberly Davies – 1:57:17