The GDHL Super G was longer than the Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbuehel and wasn't decided until the last racer down the hill. But first, what's up for the next super weekend?
- Friday training is SL at 9:30 and 1:00. Contact Laurel to sign up.
- Nine week program gate training is SL at 9:30 on each of Saturday and Sunday.
- Nine week tech training is also at 9:30 on Saturday and Sunday. Meet Al at the National chair.
- The first session of "gateless training" with Jacques will take place on Saturday at 1:00. Again, contact Laurel to sign up.
- The second interclub race of the season is GS at the Peaks on Saturday at 1:00. Contact Taylor Simms-Brown if you're interested.
Race Recap
Fog resulted in the Hahnenkamm being shortened and a winning time of 58.16. The winning time for our own Super G was 64.14. Results are here. That time belonged to Alec Libert, who finished the first run in third place, almost a second back of Chris Barber. Chris predicted that he could squeeze about four-tenths of a second off his first time. He actually managed almost five-tenths, which proved to be less than average for the second run, as a quickening track and lessons learned from the first run enabled most racers to make a meaningful improvement. Last down the track came Alec Libert, who knocked 1.56 seconds off his first run time to beat Chris by 0.11. That ties them with two wins each on the season, so the season's title seems likely to come down to who can count four bullets at the end. Remember we have two slaloms left and only one GS, and Chris won the first SL, so Alec will have his work cut out for him.
Alistair, Brian and Andrew Athey
Scott McLorie, Doug Macmillan and Phil Ruffolo rounded out the top five. Those making big jumps against their rankings to finish in the top 20 included Tom Caswell, Alistair Athey, Jerry Patten, Peter Ardill, Glenn Kilmer (GDHL best 16th), Kevin Gust and Jonathan Price. Jayne Clarke, Leslie Morgan and Brittany Stainer led the women's results. Among the noteworthy successes further down the page were John Barber (father of), Brad McMullen, Ray Murakami, Paul Wodehouse, Dean Beallor, Gordon Smith, Gino Gentile (in his inaugural outing in Lycra) and Mansell Nelson.
Erin, Katie and Elizabeth Worndl are another family trio in the GDHL
Thanks to the hard work of the Coyotes and the relative absence of crash-induced delays, we managed two runs. Among the biggest beneficiaries of a second look were James Callow (almost 15 seconds faster, after a first run tumble), Morley Forsyth (5.5 seconds), Steve Power (almost 5 seconds) and Gordon Smith, Dave Baran and Elizabeth Worndl (all in the 3 second range).
There's a break from GDHL racing this weekend, before we head to the home stretch (already?), so we can focus on interclub. If the long wait makes you anxious for results in the following weekend's SL, remember to check out the live timing that will hopefully be available for all GDHL races. There is now a link to the site in the dropdown "results" tab in the menu bar at gdhl.org. Although there was a technical problem with the connection from the finish hut during the Super G, the plan is that results will be available with just a few seconds delay during races, and unofficial results will remain on the site afterwards. Our official database gets updated, usually by Colin Ardill, after we get the results from the Coyotes, which normally happens Sunday evening.
And by the way, since we now have four races completed, the database is making end of season adjustments for those who have missed races. The rule is that you get average points from the races you finish, minus 10 points per race, for the races you're short (best four count). Chris Barber holds a two point lead over Alec Libert in the overall standings, with Jesse Shepherd a further 13 points back, mostly because of a 10 point penalty for one missed race. Jayne Clarke leads the women's standings by 12 points over Brittany Stainer, despite one DNS, and Kate Veer is third. Team Pen has a 180 point lead over Birches, but 50 of those points are due to having only two DNS's on the team. Meanwhile, Millennium is in third despite 110 points in penalties. So things may change around considerably once the DNS's start getting replaced by finishes.
Brittany Stainer, Carrie Grinter-Lenauskas and Daina Dunlop. From the North Lodge, Carrie could easily be identified while coaching at the top of Birches.
Other Things to Think About
- We've told you about the cookbook that our friends the Coyotes are offering in support of the Alpine Ontario Para-ski Team. As part of this weekend's Para Fest at the Club, cookbook copies will be available in the brown bag room of the Base Lodge on Sunday from 8 until 9, 11 until 12:30 and 2:30 until 3:30.
- We've also told you about the Track 3 Friends & Family Race Day on Friday, 13 February. Among other things, there will be gate training and racing opportunities on Big John. See the full details here.
Diversions
Debbie Gust (nee Callow) has taken some great pix of the Super G and a Big John GS. Many of them are now loaded on the GDHL site photo gallery here.
And Morgan Rubes has contributed more video, this time of last weekend's inspection. See below.
And then see you on the hill!
James Mathers