The Jehu AC Youth Athletics Club was founded in 1921 at Beaver Lake, which is now part of Greater Sudbury, Ontario. Beaver Lake’s history began with the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway through the area in the 1880s. With the discovery of nickel deposits bringing jobs and settlers to the Sudbury area, Finnish immigrants in particular settled in the Beaver Lake area, south of the CPR line between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie. The club’s dominance in cross country skiing was quickly established; the Finnish settlers had brought their love of the sport to Canada and it was popularized by Finnish athletics clubs.
Jehu AC held its first ski meet on 4th March, 1923, at Beaver Lake. The distance was one kilometre and it was for under-18 boys. The race took place on the lake and across a field, over ice and level ground.
Beaver Lake skiers dominated cross country competition for many years, right in to the 1960s. Men, women, boys and girls were all regular competitors, and as well as ski racing there were also jumping competitions. In March 1928 Karl Lehto’s Menswear donated a trophy to Jehu AC and it was awarded for the first time on 6th January, 1929 to the winners of a relay race described as “10 x 10 x 5 x 3 x 2 kilometres”.
By the 1930s men could race distances of up to 20 kilometres; boys aged between 18 and 21 could race a maximum of 15 kilometres, and those aged between 15 and 17 could race up to 10 kilometres. For younger boys and for all women, distances remained much shorter, at one, two or three kilometres only.
Prizes awarded at an inter-club event on 18th March, 1928 were a little different from the usual: the first prize was three cups of coffee, second prize was two cups of coffee and third prize was one cup of coffee!!
Jehu AC hosted and sent club members to many competitions over the next forty years, and its members maintained a high standard of excellence. The club’s last ski meet was held in February 1967.