Meaford's Hannah Woodhouse turned heads in Vancouver with a surprising victory at the junior girls division of the Canadian Cross Country Championships. She managed to break away from the pack and win the race, finishing 21 seconds ahead of the next runner.
A member of the Meaford Coyotes Track Club, Woodhouse came in under the radar. The meet was her first ever race at the national stage.
"On the computer(online stream of the race) they didn't even know who I was and I guess I just came out of nowhere." She said, adding that the underdog tag may have helped her in her preparation. "Its good in the sense where there was no pressure on me to do well in this meet."
The victory gives the Georgian Bay Secondary School student the chance to compete at an even bigger stage. The top six finishers in Vancouver earned a spot on the Canadian Junior Team.
Woodhouse and Canada head to Columbia for the NACAC championships. A competition between North, Central America and the Caribbean in March. After that, the destination is Guiyang, China for the World Cross Country Championships on March 28.
