Legendary Yukon coach Alain Masson has been inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame and Museum.

Masson, originally from Montreal, moved to the Yukon in 1993.

He worked for the national team from 1992 to 1995. While with them, he was based in Whitehorse but travelled around with the national team.

He was in charge of the Yukon cross country ski program since 1995.

The Star reached Masson in Norway Friday.

Masson said he was honoured and very thankful to the people and organization that endorsed the nomination.

Members of the board and some of the coaches of Cross Country Yukon nominated Masson for the honour.

“It was a great honour. I think it’s also a good honour on the Whitehorse area and the ski club and ski community as a whole.”

Masson said he received a letter regarding the induction in late summer.

“They need to know if you’re going to be able to attend. There’s quite a bit of organization to coordinate. There’s a few recipients so they nominate people way ahead of time. And also to build a bio and story and video.”

The induction was Nov. 17.

“I missed it because I was here in Scandinavia. I had to work for the national ski team early in November,” related Masson.

Masson was working at World Cup races in Sweden.

“But I accepted the award by video.”

When asked what he attributed the award to, Masson replied, “Long-term commitment to development of skiing.

“I think in my situation it was the number of years for which I’ve been coaching here in the Yukon and the quality of the programs that are existing here, as well as the number of skiers who came out of the Yukon at a national and international level during that period.”

Masson pointed out that the Yukon has a long history of excellence in cross country skiing, starting in the 60’s and 70’s and continuing to this day.

Masson was asked if he misses working with Yukon athletes at all.

“It’s been way too busy for weekends of World Cup racing with all the travel involved between the different venues,” he responded.

“But I did miss the training camps in the summer time. I retired in May, so the training camps are definitely one of the highlights for the athletes and coaches.

“I always loved training camps. That’s where athletes make large gains in terms of training, technique for the coming seasons.

“I don’t really miss the racing because it’s very similar here. For sure, the level is higher and it’s international athletes instead of national athletes but it’s very much the same. Except my role is very specific.”

Masson’s role now is to support the athletes as a wax technician, testing skis, wax and structure from an equipment perspective.

“I used to do that at the national level with the Yukon team but my role included coaching, coordinating other coaches, coordinating the travel planning and all these other things.

Masson isn’t quite done with the Yukon cross country team yet.

“I will get to see some of the best Yukon athletes. I’ll be helping the team in January when they have trials for world championships, world junior and U23 championships.”

The trials will take place in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec Jan. 4-7.

Masson spoke of what he would remember most about his lengthy career.

“Many of the camps I organized, special camps we did, always based on adventure. When we biked the Dempster Highway 20-odd years ago and then another year we biked the Canol Road from the north to the south.”

(According to Wikipedia, the Canol Road was part of the Canol Project and was built to construct a pipeline from Norman Wells, N.W.T. to Whitehorse during World War II. The 449 kilometres long Yukon portion of the road is maintained by the Yukon Government during the summer months.)

“All the adventure in the mountains that we did in the summertime, hiking anywhere and everywhere,” continued Masson. “As well as some of the trips. Canada Games, Arctic Winter Games, many national championships.

“Some of my best memories are not necessarily the best athletes performing. It’s sometimes unusual performances from some of the more average skiers who totally over-performed much better than they ever expected. Those were really special moments.”

Masson said that included kids at the national level joining relay teams and being able to win a medal at a national or at a Canada Games or Arctic Winter Games.

When asked if he has any regrets, Masson said, “28 years, I’ve done pretty much done everything I wanted to and I’m glad we found an excellent coach to continue the legacy … a great head coach and a great assistant coach.”

That coach is, of course, Yukon skiing legend Graham Nishikawa. His assistant is Jen MacKeigan.

“I’m very happy. That was one of the worries when I decided to stop: whether we were going to be able to find somebody to take over and continue the program in the same direction. Now I feel very confident.”

Having said that, Masson still keeps an eye on the program.

“I’m actually following the races every week and looking at the names. Just always happy to see Yukon athletes performing well.”

Masson is coming back this week to the Yukon for 10 days. Both of his sons, Sasha and Felix, will be back as well.

“That’ll be really fun. Really looking forward to that – spending Christmas as a family.”

A biography and video on Masson can be found on the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame website at https://skimuseum.ca/honoured-members/alain-masson/