Martha Benjamin

Canadian indigenous cross country skier

Martha Benjamin (born 1935) from Old Crow, Yukon (Vuntut Gwitch'in First Nation)[1] is a Canadian Indigenous cross country skier. With the guidance of Jean-Marie Mouchet (Oblate Priest), she took up the sport of cross-country skiing.[1] Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, Benjamin was a national level skier competing throughout Canada, the United States and Europe.[2]

Personal life

A lifelong resident of Old Crow, Yukon, Benjamin married before the age of 25[3][1] and had five children and thirteen grandchildren.[4]

Major sport achievements and rewards

  • US Nationals in New Hampshire - twenty-sixth place finish in a group of sixty-nine men[1]
  • 1963 - The 10 km (43.29 minutes) women's Canadian women's Nordic Champion Cross Country Skiing in Midland, Ontario[1][3][5]
  • Trained with Team Canada, however family obligations,[5] as well as funding and support from the Canadian Olympic Committee stopped her for competing at the 1964 Winter Olympics (Innsbruck, Austria).[1]
  • 1983 - Inducted into the Yukon Sports Hall of Fame.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Hall, M.A. (2013). "Towards a History of Aboriginal Women in Canadian Sport". In Forsyth, J.; Giles, A.R. (eds.). Aboriginal People and Sport in Canada. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press.
  2. ^ "1989, Martha Benjamin (Cross Country Skiing)". Sport Yukon. 2013-02-24. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  3. ^ a b c "Whitehorse Daily Star: Martha Benjamin: Canadian Champion". Whitehorse Daily Star. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  4. ^ Hall, M.A. (2004). "Martha Benjamin". In C.R. King (ed.). Native Americans in Sport. Armonk, N.Y.: Sharpe Reference.
  5. ^ a b "Cross Country Ski de Fond Canada".


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