Martha Rockwell (born April 26, 1944) is a retired American

cross-country skier Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

and coach, who competed at the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

and

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

. She has been cited in the U.S. as a "pioneer" and a "legend" in women's cross-country skiing, having been the U.S. women's cross-country ski champion 18 times between 1969 and 1975 as part of the first U.S. national cross-country ski team for women.

Personal life

Rockwell was born on April 26, 1944, in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

to Barbara (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Webb) and Henry Benson "Ben" Rockwell. She graduated from

The Putney School The Putney School is an independent high school in Putney, Vermont. The school was founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton on the principles of the Progressive Education movement and the teachings of its principal exponent, John Dewey. It is a co-edu ...

, where her father was headmaster, and

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

. Rockwell raced in

Alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

events in high school at Putney and in cross-country races where she raced on the boys' team under coach, John Caldwell. Upon graduation from college, she briefly pursued a

graphic art A category of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional, i.e. produced on a flat surface.

s career in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

prior to starting her career in cross-country ski racing. Her October 2000

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

civil union A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

and other aspects of her life leading up to it were the subject of coverage in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. At that time, Rockwell was raising dairy goats in partnership with her sister in

Cabot, Vermont Cabot is a New England town located in the northeast corner of Washington County, Vermont, Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,443 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It contains the unincorporated villages of ...

Athletic career

In her entry with the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame, Rockwell is cited as a "pioneer in the United States in women's cross country skiing". Soon after the organization of the (then) United States Ski Association women's cross-country ski team in 1969, Rockwell was the first women's national cross-country ski champion. Rockwell and other promising skiers, including Bill Koch, received the attention of coach Marty Hall, who was instrumental in her further development as a skier and her exposure to the international racing circuit. Hall said of Rockwell, "She took our program from zero to Mach 1 in just a couple of years." She was a member of the USA women's Olympic Nordic ski team in 1972—the first year U.S. women competed in cross-country skiing in the Olympic Winter Games. She raced in the 5K, 10K and Nordic relay events at the 1972 Winter Olympics in

Sapporo, Japan ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

. The effectiveness of Rockwell's training regime was evident in a 1974 World Championship race, when she was in sixth place and closing on the leaders within reach of a podium finish and a medal; unfortunately a course worker's ski pole caught Rockwell's, causing a fall and a tenth-place finish—still a strong finish for an American at the time. She also competed at the 1976 Winter Olympics. She won 18 U.S. championships in the period, 1969 through 1975. Rockwell's

FIS FIS or fis may refer to: Science and technology * '' Fis'', an ''E. Coli'' gene * Fis phenomenon, a phenomenon in linguistics * F♯ (musical note) * Flight information service, an air traffic control service * Frame Information Structure, a Se ...

international racing career included a 1973 win in a 7.5K event at Castelrotto, Italy, followed by five wins in six European races in 1975, making her 10th overall in the

FIS Cross-Country World Cup The FIS Cross-Country World Cup is an annual cross-country skiing competition, arranged by the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1981. The competition was arranged unofficially between 1973 and 1981, although it received provisional recogn ...

standings. Rockwell retired from ski racing after her 1976 season. In 1979, Rockwell set the women's record for running the

Mount Washington Road Race The Mount Washington Road Race is a road running event that follows the auto road going from the base of Mount Washington in New Hampshire nearly to the mountain's summit (located at above sea level). The race was first held in 1936, and has be ...

at 1:19:14, a record which stood until 1985. Rockwell coached the women's cross-country ski team of

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

from 1979 to 1987.

Honors

Rockwell was designated "U.S. Nordic Skier of the Year" for 1975 and 1976 by ''Ski Magazine''; in its 1995 ''Skiing for Women'' issue the same magazine cited Rockwell as a skiing "legend", along with

Andrea Mead Lawrence Andrea Mead Lawrence (April 19, 1932 – March 30, 2009) was an American alpine ski racer and environmentalist. She competed in three Winter Olympics and one additional World Championship (Olympic competitions also counted as the Worlds during t ...

and

Maria Bogner Maria Bogner (née ''Lux'', 1914 – 17 November 2002) was a German fashion designer credited with developing practical stretch pants, thereby profoundly affecting the direction of the ski fashion industry. She created colorful, sexy, and function ...

. She was inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame in 1986 and into the Vermont Ski Museum Hall of Fame in 2005. She was inducted into the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame in 2017, along with former coach and cross-country skier, John Caldwell. ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' included Rockwell in a glamor photo shoot of six noted skiers in 1970. Dartmouth College established a "Martha Rockwell Award", given annually to a female cross-country skier “who, in the estimation of the coaches, has performed the best throughout the season”.

Cross-country skiing race finishes

Olympic Games

References

External links

*
''Sports Illustrated'' images of Rockwell and other U.S. skiers in 1970

U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame tribute to Rockwell

Rockwell narrative for Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockwell, Martha 1944 births Living people American female cross-country skiers Olympic cross-country skiers for the United States Cross-country skiers at the 1972 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1976 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Providence, Rhode Island The Putney School alumni Bennington College alumni 21st-century American women