Doris Strachan
{{short description|New Zealander athlete}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Doris Aikenhead
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| image = Doris Strachan 1937.jpg
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| birth_name = Doris Louisa Strachan
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1917|01|13|df=y}}
| birth_place = Timaru, New Zealand
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1974|11|12|1917|01|13|df=y}}
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| spouse = Andrew Aikenhead
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| country = New Zealand
| sport = Athletics
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Doris Louisa Aikenhead (née Strachan, 13 January 1917 – 12 November 1974) was a New Zealand track and field athlete who represented her country at the 1938 British Empire Games.
Early life and family
Born Doris Louisa Strachan in Timaru on 13 January 1917, Aikenhead was the daughter of Julia McInnes Strachan (née Crisp) and James Dunn Strachan.{{cite web |url=https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Search/Search?Path=%2FqueryEntry.m%3Ftype%3Dbirths |title=Birth search: registration number 1917/1896 |date= |website=Births, deaths & marriages online |publisher=Department of Internal Affairs }} She went on to marry Andrew Aikenhead.
Athletics
At an athletics meeting at Temuka on 30 November 1935, Strachan broke the New Zealand national women's long jump record, recording a distance of {{convert|17|ft|1+1/2|in|m|2|abbr=on}}.{{cite news | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19351202.2.173 | title=Long jump record | date=2 December 1935 | work=Evening Post | accessdate=1 July 2017 | page=19}}
At the trials held in Wellington in December 1937 for the New Zealand team to travel to the 1938 British Empire Games, Strachan's winning distance in the long jump was {{convert|17|ft|7+1/4|in|m|2|abbr=on}},{{cite news | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19371213.2.172.1 | title=Empire Games: trials in Wellington | date=13 December 1937 | work=New Zealand Herald | accessdate=1 July 2017 | page=15}} and she was duly selected for the team. At the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney, she was eliminated in the heats of the women's 100 yards and 220 yards sprints, and finished sixth in the women's long jump with a best leap of {{convert|17|ft|3/4|in|m|2|abbr=on}}.{{cite web |url=https://olympic.org.nz/athletes/doris-strachan |title=Doris Strachan |year=2016 |website= |publisher=New Zealand Olympic Committee |access-date=1 July 2017}}{{cite news | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19380215.2.189.3 | title=Sensational race | date=15 February 1938 | work=New Zealand Herald | accessdate=1 July 2017 | page=17}} She was also a member of the New Zealand trio that finished fourth in the women's 440 yards relay.{{cite news | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19380208.2.136.2 | title=Track events | date=8 February 1938 | work=New Zealand Herald | accessdate=1 July 2017 | page=11}}
Death
Aikenhead died on 12 November 1974,{{cite web |url=https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/search/search?path=%2FqueryEntry.m%3Ftype%3Ddeaths |title=Death search: registration number 1974/44818 |date= |website=Births, deaths & marriages online |publisher=Department of Internal Affairs |accessdate=1 July 2017}} and she was buried at Oamaru Lawn Cemetery.{{cite web |url=http://www.waitaki.govt.nz/our-services/do-it-online/cemetery-search/Pages/default.aspx?surname=aikenhead&forename=doris+louisa |title=Cemetery search |date= |website= |publisher=Waitaki District Council |accessdate=1 July 2017}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{1938 New Zealand British Empire Games team}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Strachan, Doris}}
Category:Sportspeople from Timaru
Category:Athletes from the Canterbury Region
Category:New Zealand female long jumpers
Category:Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1938 British Empire Games
Category:New Zealand female sprinters
Category:20th-century New Zealand sportswomen
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