How to win the pike proving ground?

Even though I upgraded my Brusher's Pike to level 5, I still can't seem to get the 1st prize in Camp Dauncy, the Pike's proving ground. My best is 10 seconds later than the threshold.

I know that I don't have to kill all the pincushions and that I can throw the pike to clear multiple pincushions in a row, but I still can't make it. Are there any other tips on how to win it, or perhaps even a precise guide?

First, this is the set-up you should use:

Tonics:

• Werewhiskey
• Hearty Punch

Spear Upgrades:

• Hunting Grip
• Hollowed Staff

The reasoning for the Hollowed Staff is the increased reload speed will help cut a few seconds off the clock, and the Hunting Grip will result in +50% critical hit damage since you'll have Werewhiskey activate.

Do not pick up the spear yet. Go to the area to your left, and position yourself around the center and kill yourself. The hearty punch will result in most of the the enemies in this area being destroyed, which will save you a fair amount of time. Now you want to jump off the side until were whiskey activates, giving you 100% critical hit chance.

Pick up the spear. Go to the area to the left and activate the switch there. From here, you have a little more choice. I follow the path taken in the video, in which he first goes for the center switch, right most switch, left most switch, the switch near the exit, and then the top switch. However I've seen others go for the top switch first, and save the switch near the exit for last.

Finally, here is a video walk through of it, in case you prefer visual guides. As you will see in the video, it is possible to beat this without using the hearty punch, but it does it make easier:

I know I'm pretty late to the party, but I only recently started playing anyway. I managed to get 1st place in this challenge with only the first tier upgrade for the pike (crit chance, which is useless in this case since I didn't use werewhiskey), and a hearty potion. So basically, just the basic pike and a hearty potion.

It took me probably around 20 tries to perfect my route, but I ended up using the following route:

Bottom left -> center -> bottom right -> top right -> top -> top left

By running through a few attacks, and lining up the right throws, it's possible, but just barely. After figuring out my final plan, out of 3 attempts, I got 1:00, 1:00, and 0:57 where I finally got 1st place. If anyone is interested in seeing a video guide for my route, just ask, and I'll get on it.