Yukon legend Dahria Beatty retired from cross-country skiing, recently, after racing for the national team in World Cup and Olympic races for the past 11 years
Asked what kind of a legacy she would like to leave behind, Beatty said hers would be a love for sport and competition through cross-country racing. She added, however, that love can translate to any sport. “I hope that the kids who have watched me race and have watched me pursue my dream, beyond high school, feel like they find something that they’re that passionate about, whatever that looks like.
“The legacy of cross-country skiing in the Yukon was really strong, long before I ever came along, and continues to be extremely strong. We had two athletes at Youth Olympics. This year, we had two world champions crowned at the Under-23 World Championships.”
Cheyenne Tirschmann and Minty Bradford achieved strong results at the 2023 Youth Olympics in South Korea. Sonjaa Schmidt won Gold in an individual race, and Derek Deuling struck Gold in a relay race at the U23 World Championships in Slovenia, recently.
Beatty said, “It’s just really cool being part of a community where being an Olympian is exciting—but it’s not that rare. And in a small place like this, that’s pretty awesome. And I feel lucky to be a part of a community like that.”
Beatty has had key people who were instrumental in her development as an Olympic athlete. “Alain (Masson) was my coach growing up; and his wife, Lucy Steele-Masson, who’s a born-and-raised Yukoner and an Olympian, was definitely a huge influence on my career. She was always so supportive and grounding for me in sport.
“I was quite successful at a young age, as an athlete. I was tall; I grew early. I was fast from a young age.” Beatty plateaued in her development when she was 16, after she competed in World Championships at 15. At 16, she didn’t make the team.
“I didn’t really know how to handle the pressure I put on myself as an athlete and I really looked up to Lucy. She was always so positive and talked about [how] one point in your career doesn’t define your career. Those sorts of things help you learn and build, and that was always really cool coming from someone who you knew had been so successful and had achieved the dreams you’re shooting for.”
Another influence on her career was former Olympian Emily Nishikawa, who is five years Beatty’s senior. Former junior national team skier Janelle Greer also contributed to Beatty’s development. “I had these women just ahead of me in this pipeline, showing me Oh, yeah, they did it. So I’ll just do that, too.
“When there’s no one to show you the way, it seems so daunting, but because there’s such a strong legacy in the Yukon, it’s just I’m just gonna go join them, and it made those big jumps in sport seem seem smaller and more attainable and more welcoming because they were there waiting for you once you got to that step.”
Beatty, in turn, has been an influence on Schmidt’s and Deuling’s careers.
“I hope that I’ve been part of helping them in blazing that trail. Sonjaa is on the Alberta World Cup Academy, which is the team I trained with out of Canmore, and so I’ve trained alongside her, even in the last few years, and Derek has also come and joined us for many camps.”
Beatty said that when you see people from your hometown achieve the goals that you’re hoping to achieve, it is always helpful and makes it more a case of when and not if.
“That can come across as cocky in some people’s minds, but you have to believe in yourself … If it never happens, you deal with that. You have to believe in yourself because you’re your own harshest critic. But you’re also your own biggest supporter. And so you need to have that almost-delusional faith in yourself, until it comes true.”
Beatty has done her best to impart her knowledge to others.
“I’ve always tried hard to come back to Whitehorse and share my knowledge and share my resources with the next generation so that some of the mistakes and learning things I had to go through—maybe they don’t have to make those mistakes themselves, and they’ll make their own. But the more you can share and help them, the fewer obstacles there are.”
When asked what she’s going to miss about competing, Beatty said, “There’s lots of things I’m gonna miss. There’s something to be said about the feeling when you finish racing and you’re absolutely exhausted and can’t really function, but you know you’ve pushed your body to the absolute max and there’s something truly on the line that you were shooting for.
“You can push your body just as hard in other things. But when you are on that international stage, you know you’re shooting for your life goals and dreams and the ability you have to kind of dig deep and push. It’s hard to find that level of determination to push your body that hard in other aspects, because there’s less on the line. And so, as painful as that sounds, that is definitely also something I will miss because it’s such a unique thing and I feel lucky to have had something worth pushing myself that hard for.”
Beatty said she’ll also definitely miss travelling, although the extensive travel was one of the reasons she stopped racing.
“What I will also miss is that closeness and camaraderie of the team, and even the other teams. It’s a very special thing being part of the World Cup circuit and developing those friendships, because you’re all travelling to the same races, all winter long, and so you do create very strong connections.”
As for what’s next, Beatty said she’s going to continue to put on technique workshops. She’s also helping out with the Yukon cross-country ski team. In fact, she was planning on going to nationals to wax skis and help coach the team.
Beatty said she’s also finishing up her undergrad in business management through Athabasca University. “I was actually down in Calgary, in the fall, doing an in-person semester. After this semester, I’ll have three courses left and I will be finishing those online. And so, getting quite close to graduating. I started that degree while I was racing.”
Beatty has also been doing some online coaching. “I’m planning to stay in the Yukon, settle in, so as I finish my degree here I’ll be looking to what exactly that next step will look like in terms of career. Still trying to figure that out, but [will] start applying for jobs—looking for opportunities that seem like a good fit that could be exciting.”
As for what she’s going to apply that degree to, Beatty said, “I do really like community economic development. Development [and] urban planning have all been things I have been really interested in and could maybe see myself pursuing a master’s in, in the future.”
