from the Georgian Bay Coyotes
Hannah Woodhouse, a Coyote graduate and a 4th year University of Guelph student, represented Team Canada at the 2020 PanAM Cross Country Nations Cup Championships on Saturday, February 29th at the Bear Mountain Resort in Victoria, BC.
Team Canada was selected at the 2019 Canadian Cross Country Championships that were held in Abbotsford, BC in November.
Woodhouse placed 8th in the Senior Women's event and was the 1st alternate for the Team.
One of the top-7 women could not compete at the PanAm event so Hannah was then elevated onto the competitive entry as the 7th member.
On race day for the Nations Cup, it was a bright, sunny and relatively warm day as the athletes ventured onto an extremely hilly and challenging course. Hannah described the course as “hardest race of my life. The hills were a killer.” She said she was really happy with her performance.
With teams competing from Canada, USA, South America, Central America and the Caribbean, 26 women lined up for the 10km challenge doing 5 loops of the 2km course, with spectacular views.
Team Canada's Senior Women's won the gold medal,
The women's team was led by two Canadian Olympians, Genevieve Lalonde, who placed 1st overall, and Natasha Wodak, who placed 4th.
Hannah captured 16th spot overall and was the 5th counter on Team Canada in a time of 39:54, which was just over 2 minutes behind the leader.
Hannah's winter season comes to an end on March 7th and 8th as she leaves Victoria and heads to Edmonton for the Canadian University Indoor Track and Field Championships [USport].
She will be competing in the 1500m and 3000m events.