Its been one heck of a year for runner Claire Smith, and it ended with a bang on Saturday as the grade 11 student at Glebe Collegiate finished fourth at the Canadian Junior Cross Country Championship in Vancouver, BC. Crossing the line in 18:15.86, Smith finished 2.73 seconds out of bronze, but can take solace in the fact her performance has qualified her to represent Canada at the NACAC Cross Country Championships next February in Mt. Irvine, Trinidad and Tobago. Coach, Kirk Dillabaugh says Smith ran a very smart race, even leading through the first kilometre, but relinquished the lead to eventual champion Heather Petrick shortly thereafter. ” Claire went with the chase pack and they left everyone else pretty quickly. She looked really good. Claire moved up into third in the final 400m, but [Jamie] Phelan had a better kick down the final stretch,” explained Dillabaugh.
