April 21, 2015, Charlottetown – Speed Skate PEI announced today that it has named its top female athlete award in honour of Prince Edward Island Sports Hall of Famer Nancy White. The award is presented annually and will be presented in White’s name for the first time later this week, at Speed Skate PEI’s annual awards banquet.
Speed Skate PEI President Rob Binns said that the organization is excited to be recognizing White’s accomplishments. “Nancy is a legendary figure on the Island sports scene and we’re thrilled that she has agreed to lend her name to this annual award. We know that as young Island speed skaters learn more about what she achieved, they will be inspired to reach even higher with their own goals.”
A Montague native, White competed from 1984 to 1996 on golf’s LPGA Tour. Prior to that, she was a star speed skater and standout in many sports. In 1979, White won five medals for P.E.I. at the Canada Winter Games speed skating competition in Brandon, Manitoba. Along with four silver, White won the first ever gold medal for PEI at the Canada Winter Games. She was also a multiple medalist at the North American Speed Skating Championships that season.
White commented on the re-christened Speed Skate PEI award, saying, “It is truly an honour to be recognized in this way. I have many great memories of my time practicing and competing in speed skating. All of the support I’ve always received from P.E.I. has been very special and this reminds me again of those wonderful times.”
White competed in her first Canada Winter Games in 1975, where she finished third overall in speed skating, earning herself a berth on the Canadian Junior team that competed in China that season. The Island sports star was named P.E.I.’s Junior Female Athlete of the Year for 1975 and won the Senior Female Athlete of the Year award in both 1978 and 1979.
Also talented in track and field, White won several provincial championships in track and field sprint events and represented the Island at the 1973 Canada Summer Games and at the 1974 Junior Olympics. In 1980, at the age of 21, White became the youngest ever inductee to the Prince Edward Island Sports Hall of Fame.
White now resides in Virginia where she owns a golf centre and works as a golf teaching pro.
For more information on Nancy White’s achievements, visit http://www.peisportshalloffame.ca/inductees/nancy-white/. For more information on Speed Skate PEI and its award winners, visit www.speedskatepei.ca.
