Stewart Ellington of Charlotte and Kim Certain of Chapel Hill were winners in the 17th annual Winter Flight 8K Road Race.

Ellington, a 25-year-old California native who moved to Charlotte from Knoxville, Tenn., recently, led men with a time of 24 minutes, 31 seconds over the course of approximately 5 miles. His time is the fastest on the hilly course since 1993.

Certain, a 31-year-old native of Long Island, N. Y., took the women’s title in 28:44, the best time for a female runner in four years.

Ellington was a four-time All-American at the University of Tennessee — once in cross country, once in indoor track and twice in outdoor track. His best times were 13:55 for 5K and 29:04 for 10K.

“I had some good guys out there to work out with. We were always ranked in the top three in the country,” he said.

Ellington graduated from UT in 1996, then continued to run in Knoxville for three years while being sponsored by adidas. He moved to Charlotte last July and is in the nurse anesthesia program and UNC Charlotte.

“I thought I’d quit when I came out here.” He pointed to girlfriend Tammy Nix. “Between her and everything else, I picked it back up after six months break. She says I get moody when I don’t run, so I’m running now.”

He’s also ready to move up to the marathon (26.2 miles) distance for the first time.

“I’m getting ready for a marathon in two weeks in Austin,Texas, so I figured I would come out and do this instead of a workout. ... Even though it’s my first one, I’m going to try to qualify for the Olympic Trials. I need to run 2:22. My training’s been going well. I’m pretty confident I can do that. I just need to be conservative and relaxed out there,” said Ellington.

The second-place finisher yesterday was 37-year-old John Hinton of Chapel Hill with a time of 25:04. He was the winner a year ago in 25:14. No. 3 was Jamey Yon, 33, of Charlotte, Elllington’s running partner who will also run the marathon in Texas.

Certain ran here for the second straight year. She was second with a time of 29:50 last year, so improved by more than a minute.

“This year I ran faster. I felt better running today. This is pretty much the longest race I do. I generally stay around 5K,” she pointed out.

Certain starred for Villanova, a perennial track power, before graduating in 1991.

“I ran like the half mile and the mile. I concentrated on the 800 meters (half mile). I was part of a 4 by 8 NCAA championship. In the 1500 (metric mile) I placed third at nationals out in Utah my sophomore year,” she said.

“I definitely didn’t expect to win. I just wanted to get a good race in. It’s my best time at this distance,” she added.

She said of the strong showings by herself and Hinton in Salisbury the last two years, “We kind of switched places. Last year he won, and I came in second. This year he came in second, and I won. I figure we’ll flip flop next year.”

The Salisbury course and its organization by the Salisbury Rowan runners drew praises from Certain.

“I like it a lot. You know where the water’s going to be. The mile markers are real clear. You can hear them giving the splits. That’s really nice to have in the race,” she exclaimed.

Second behind Certain was 37-year-old Georgia native Edie Smith of China Grove with a time of 30:26. Third place went to 38-year-old Deidre Carnahan of Harrisburg in 31:08.

Masters (40&over) division winners were Spencer’s 41-year-old Trudy Gale in 36:14 and Greensboro’s 43-year-old Mick Gallant in 28:35.

The highest-finishing local male runner was Salisbury’s 27-year-old Robert Miller, who took ninth in 28:14. Former Salisbury High School track star John Patterson, a 38-year-old Charlottean, was 13th in 28:51.

Catawba College cross country runners Jesse Howes and Justin Garzone finished 15th and 24th, respectively, in 28:56 and 30:25.

After Smith and Gale, the next highest-finishing local female runner was 22-year-old Anna Julian of Chapel Hill, who took 14th in 38:19 while running in her first race. She played basketball and tennis in high school at East Rowan.

Mary Bertram, a 12-year-old from Salisbury, was one of the youngest runners in the race and she placed 17th in 38:52.

Local age-group winners included Bertram (14&under females), Julian (20-24 females), Tommy Wilson (14&under males), Howes (15-19 males) and Miller (25-29 males).

There were 429 registered runners, including a few walkers, in the 8K and 1-mile fun run.