Martha Benjamin

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]