Beatty receives Monique Waterreus Award

Cross-country skier Dahria Beatty was stellar last season.

Cross-country skier Dahria Beatty was stellar last season.

And for her efforts, the 16-year-old was given the prestigious Monique Waterreus Award at the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club (WCCSC) Annual General Meeting at the end of September.

“It was very nice to be recognized like that; I was very thankful,” Beatty said. “I was away when it was announced so it was a nice surprise when I found out.”

The award is given annually to a junior skier in the WCCSC who has excelled at national or international competition.

Beatty certainly fits the bill.

At 15-years-old, she represented Canada at the World Junior Championships in Hinterzarten, Germany last January, holding her own against the best junior skiers from around the world – despite being the youngest of 82 skiers in the junior women division.

In March, she won the junior women’s aggregate title at the 2010 Haywood Ski Nationals, where she rose above the field of the best in the country.

In between, there was a host of stellar performances at both local and national races.

Topping off her season, she was named to the Canadian National Junior Ski Team, joining two of her fellow Whitehorse teammates, Knute Johnsgaard and Janelle Greer, on the 14-person roster.

Most recently, Beatty was one of six Yukon Cross Country Ski Team members, along with team coach Alain Masson, to spend two weeks training on the Dachstein Glacier in Austria. 

The Yukon contingent went with the Centre National D’entrainement Pierre-Harvey from Quebec City in preparation for the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax, N.S.

“There were athletes from all over the world training there, so it was a completely different atmosphere from training here, because you got to see people from different countries, and everyone was there for the same reason,” Beatty said.

She will train in Whitehorse for the Nor-Am Cup in British Columbia in December, local races in Whitehorse the same month, and Junior World trials the following month in Thunder Bay, Ont.

WCCSC executive director Claude Chabot said Beatty was an easy selection for this year’s Monique Waterreus Award.

“Dahria had such a phenomenal season last year,” he said. “Nationally, she’s almost dominating in her age group – and she’s the youngest in her age group.

She’s a real talented kid and it’s good to see her getting recognition.”

Chabot added that Beatty is just one of the talented skiers coming out of Whitehorse.

“We consistently have some very talented skiers in Whitehorse, whether it’s the water or the amount of snow we get or what, or just a combination of everything, but we’re consistently producing really good skiers at the national and international level even.”