The Red Island Road Hogs had lofty goals for the Cabot Trail Relay last weekend in Cape Breton and the 16-member running team didn't disappoint.
The Road Hogs finished third overall in the 17-leg, 276-kilometre event with a time of 18 hours 10 minutes and six seconds.
Seventy teams and 1,100 runners entered the annual event in Baddeck, N.S., and the Road Hogs became the highest placing Island squad in its 22-year history.
Of the other Island entries, Team P.E.I. placed 36th and Terminal Velocity finished 49th with times of 24:20:21 and 25:10:49, respectively.
The top Road Hog runner was Summerside native Connor McGuire, who won Leg 12 in a time of 54:29.
Team P.E.I.'s Dustin Gavin finished sixth in Leg 12 with a time of 1:05:25 while teammate Gary Simmons finished seventh in Leg 6 (1:14:32).
Terminal Velocity's Jeff Boswell placed eighth in Leg 6 (1:14:41).
Dennis Fairall's Grey Hair Runners of Windsor, Ont,, repeated as champions with a new course record of 16:16:45 while Maine's Mainiacs finished second in a time of 16:47:01.
"The competition was amazing this year and our team of Island runners was competitive on all legs," said Rob MacKenzie, Road Hogs' co-captain. "All of the runners finished in the top 10 of their legs, with eight legs having a top-three finish and an outright win by McGuire.
"In fact, Connor just missed the course record and ran his leg so fast that they weren't quite ready for him at the finish line."
Legs are 12 to 20 kilometres long and vary in difficulty, from steep mountains in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park to the rolling Margaree Valley.
Other top-10 leg finishers on the Road Hogs were Kris Taylor (Leg 1, third, 1:02:44), Paul Baglole (Leg 2, seventh, 1:11:53), Chris Matters (Leg 3, sixth, 54:34), Mike MacKinnon (Leg 4, second, 1:14:49), Scott Clark (Leg 5, second, 1:05:32), David Gallant (Leg 6, fourth, 1:10:34), Mike MacKinnon (Leg 7, third, 49:36), Sandy Stewart (Leg 8, third, 49:14), Keaghan Rilliny (Leg 9, 10th, 1:17:15), Billy MacDonald (Leg 10, third, 1:03:42), David MacMillan (Leg 11, fifth, 54:45), Tyler Sellar (Leg 13, third, 1:03:09), Shawn McCardle (Leg 14, seventh, 1:22:06), Tony Landry (Leg 15, fifth, 1:01:21), John Bil (Leg 16, ninth, 1:02:12) and Steven Baglole (Leg 17, fifth, 1:12:11).
www.cabottrailrelay.com
