The skiing careers of the sisters Marie and Kathy Robinson ran parallel to the point where we saw fit enter them in the Sports Hall of Fame together as near twins. They are not twins; Marie is one year older than Kathy.
The Robinson girls started skiing as members of the fledgling Collingwood Ski Club back in the early 1940’s at the ages of nine and ten. They started on home made skiis made by the late Alf Morrill and his son, Lawrence. Marie won the Ontario Junior title in 1945 at Owen Sound while Kathy picked up the 3rd prize. From then on, it was the Robinson sisters finishing one and two in the most of the important meets throughout Ontario.
In the 1934 Ontario High School meet in Owen Sound, Marie won the downhill and slalom and finished 2nd in the cross country, her first try in this event. She repeated in 1946 with Kathy picking up a pair of seconds. In the 1947 Junior high school championships, it was the Robinson sisters all the way. Marie won the slalom and placed second in the downhill while Kathy scored third places in both events. In 1948, Marie won the downhill and Kathy took the slalom. In the same year, Marie won the Senior Girls’ title and Kathy took top honours in the Junior championships. The two sisters scored aw total of fourteen points as the Collingwood Girls’ Ski team won the Senior High School championships for the 4th year in a row. Perhaps the highlight so Marie’s career came on February 27, 1949, in the Ontario Junior Provincial Championships. It turned out to a nip and tuck battle between Anne Heggtveit, the first Canadian to win a gold medal in the Olympics, and Marie Robinson of the Collingwood Ski Club. Anne, who was then racing under the colours of the Ottawa Ski Club, beat Marie by winning the downhill by an eyelash in the Slalom race but Marie turned the tables on Anne by winning the downhill. In the combined events, Heggtveit edged Marie by a fraction of a point – 77.06 to 76.28.
There is not telling just how far the Robinson girls would have gone in the world of skiing had they chose to make full career of the sport. Both sisters gave up competitive skiing at the end of the 1949 season at the peak of form. Incidentally, Marie is the mother of Doug Risebrough, former star forward of the N.H.L. Montreal Canadiens & Calgary Flames.

Kathy Weider, like her twin sister, Anna, started skiing at the age of four. She had the marks of a champion before she reached the age of ten and it came as no surprise when she captured the Southern Ontario Junior Alpine Combined title in 1959 and followed up this success with a second place in Canadian Alpine Combined, second in the Downhill and third in the Slalom at the Osler Bluffs the same year.

It was a banner year for Kathy in 1960 as this record attests: First in the Junior Ontario Alpine Combined and a first in the Slalom and second in the Downhill.Just two weeks later she picked up a bushel of silver trophies in the All- Ontario Junior Championships: First in the Alpine Combined, First in the three-way combined (Alpine and Cross Country); First in the Downhill and second in the Slalom. Then came the Canadian Junior championships: First in the Alpine and Cross Country, third in the Alpine Combined, third in the Slalom and she was a member of winning Ontario Ladies Team. That year the Canadian Championships were held in Thetford Mines, Quebec.

In 1961, Kathy added to her laurels with wins in the Southern Ontario Alpine Combined and Slalom and a second place finish in the Downhill.
In 1962 she made the Canadian National “B” team and won the Quebec Senior Downhill title.
In 1963 Kathy competed in the Middlebury College Bowl in Connecticut and placed third in the Alpine Combined and the Slalom.
1964 was a season of victories: Three first place finishes in the senior Alpine Combined and Slalom and Downhill in the Quebec Senior meet. Three more wins in the Quebec Senior Zone “A” Divisional (Alpine, Slalom and Downhill). It must be pointed out that in the years 1962-63-64 Kathy competed under the colours of the University of McGill in Quebec.
She finished off the 1964 season with sensational slalom victories at Mount Plante and Val Dord.
The following year (1965) her major win came in the feature Slalom in the French Zone Championships at Chambousse, France. At that time, she was competing under the colours of the University of Grenoble.
In 1966, Kathy won the Southern Ontario Senior Ladies’ Alpine Combined. She was invited to represent the Canadian-American Circuit.

The induction of Anna Weider Marik into Collingwood’s Sports Hall of Fame will probably complete a record we may never see equaled.Four members of one family in a Sports Hall of Fame-Helen Weider McGillivray, Kathy Weider Canning, Anna Weider Marik and their illustrious father, the pioneer of skiing in Collingwood , the late Jozo Weider.

Like her twin sister, Anna also donned skis just about the same time she learned to walk. Her first success came in 1959 in the Southern Ontario Junior Alpine Combined. 1960 was probably her most successful season: First in the All-Ontario Junior Slalom and second place finishes in the Alpine Combined and the Downhill. In the same year, four medals in the Canadian Junior Championships- a first in the Downhill, Silver medals in the Combined Alpine & Slalom and a member of the championship – Ontario Ladies Team. She topped off this highly successful season with a pair of firsts in the three-day combined and the Slalom and two silvers in the Downhill and Alpine Combined at the Canadian at the Canadian Junior Championships held at Jasper, Alberta.

In 1961 Anna completed in the Southern Ontario Junior championships and won a first in the Downhill and two second place finishes in the Slalom and Combined Alpine.

In 1962, her last season in major competition, Anna was named to the Canadian National Ski team.

Many Collingwood skiers will follow in the footsteps of this little girl but Helen was the first local skier to win national honours. She was the first competitive skier to enter the Hall of Fame. Helen learned to ski about the same time she learned to walk. She was competing in recognized ski meets at the age of ten and was runner-up in the Ontario Junior Girls’ meet in Huntsville. Helen raised the eyes of the experts in 1952 when she won the Southern Ontario Zone Junior Championship and the little girl from the brow of the blue hills was on her way.

In 1953, Helen, aged 14, finished fourth in the Junior Canadian championships at Fort William. In 1954 she won the Junior title at Port Arthur and repeated the performance again in 1955 by making a clean sweep of the slalom, downhill and alpine events.

Her educational ambitions took precedence over skiing for almost two years but she returned to major ski competition in 1957 to win the Gabey Pleau Trophy, emblematic of combined skiing, Helen had given freely of her and talents in the promotion and development of young up and coming skiers.