Ivy Granstrom
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Ivy Granstrom (September 28, 1911 – April 14, 2004) was a blind Canadian Masters athlete. She is the current world record holder for the W85 3000 metres and 10000 metres. The accommodation to allow her to be guided through her open competitions set the rules for such competitions where she ran tethered to a guide, Paul Hoeberigs, but it was clear she was exerting the effort (as opposed to a dog being pulled by their leash). With failing eyesight since childhood, she hid her failing eyesight and trained as a nursing aid with the
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during
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until her condition was discovered. She had worked since age 12 cooking for miners in
Fernie, British Columbia Fernie is a city in the Elk Valley area of the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia, Canada, located on BC Highway 3 on the western approaches to the Crowsnest Pass through the Rocky Mountains. Founded in 1898 and incorpor ...
. At age 60 she experienced a serious back injury in a car accident. He doctors told her to expect to be in a wheelchair the rest of her life, to which she muttered an expletive. She took up walking,
jogging Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running but more than walking, or to maintain a steady speed for longer periods ...
and advanced to competition for the blind. She started masters competition at age 68. But she had always been athletic. She participated in the English Bay
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for 76 years and was known as "Queen of the Polar Bear Swims." She won numerous medals at the Masters Athletics World Championships and
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. In addition to her world records, many other records continue as Canadian masters records. She was the
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athlete of the year in 1982. She was a 2001 inductee into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame a 1988 appointee to the
Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...
, is a member of the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Masters Athletics Hall of Fame.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Granstrom, Ivy 1911 births 2004 deaths Canadian blind people Canadian disabled sportspeople Canadian masters athletes Members of the Order of Canada Visually impaired long-distance runners World record holders in masters athletics Canadian Disability Hall of Fame