Claudia Kerckhoff-Van Wijk, 1989, by Barbara Woodley

Before kayaking became a recreational pastime and an Olympic sport, Claudia Kerckhoff-Van Wijk pushed back barriers, both physical and mental, and helped to define excellence in sport, attitudes to nature and roles for women. Confronting the challenge of being female in a risky, relatively unknown, male-dominated activity, she was Canadian women’s whitewater kayaking champion from 1975 to 1985.

Ms. Kerckhoff-Van Wijk also brought her combination of talent and courage, desire and dedication to cross-country skiing. She was the first woman and the youngest competitor to complete the gruelling ten sections of the Coureurs des bois gold category in the Canadian Ski Marathon.

Along with her husband, she now owns and operates Madawaska Kanu Centre, North America’s first kayak and canoe school, where she draws upon her own career as an athlete to help others confront the challenges and overcome the uncertainties that life and rivers can hold.

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