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C'est Fini

Well, that seals it, the GDHL season is officially over! Last weekend we had our end of season banquet with racers, families and lots of special guests. Now you can look forward to a fun filled week at the Club for March Break.

Last Saturday’s banquet has been eloquently captured below by our dedicated Chairman, Brook Dyson, and before you enjoy his recap there are a couple housekeeping items.

  • New GDHL Gear

    • There will be communication to you in the coming weeks with ideas on a GDHL jacket/vest/item, for next year. Watch out for this.

  • Sponsors

    • We have the best sponsors in the world. A big Thank You to them! They are named below in Brook’s text.

    • If you would like to become a sponsor, please let us know. We have a lot of great initiatives that we would be happy to involve you in!

  • Committee Members

    • Our committee is always looking for people to join our cause. If you are interested in joining us for the 2023 season, please reach out to gdhl@gdhl.org

That is all. This will be the last recap email of our season, which is a bit sad, but mostly happy. We are so proud of our Club, our racers, our race crew, our volunteers and our family members, for enabling this season to happen! Truly, one of the most remarkable GDHL seasons in recent history. Our GDHL committee is ready to build on this great season, to put together an even better one for all of you to enjoy next winter.

Here is the full recap of last Saturday night from Chairman Brook.

What a great night!

The 2022 GDHL Banquet came roaring back from it's COVID-induced hiatus. Thanks to the hard work of our volunteer GDHL committee, we were able to gather and celebrate a race season that included:

  • Over 110 racers

  • Night Slalom

  • Dual Slalom

  • Full schedule of 7 races

  • Large number of rookies

Thanks to our generous sponsors for the year for allowing us to race, and hold great events like the banquet:

Squire Johns

Patty Mac Construction

Budget Propane

Sutherland Insurance

Dynastar

Lange

Pratte Ski Camps

The evening's Master of Ceremonies was local Craigleith celebrity Paul Peterson (IG: @paultheskiracer). Paul was gracious enough to take time out of his hectic dryland training schedule to lead our racers through a celebration of the season. We were treated to tales of the "$h!t Group", a tribute to Al Lachance, recognition of our rookies, and a celebration of the accomplishments of all of our racers. The night was a look back on our racers, teams, and improved skills.

Prior to the start of dinner, the crowd enjoyed Lost Craft beers at the bar area while telling tales of ski racing glory - some truth and some lies.

After a delicious dinner, the evening moved onto the individual and team awards, and recognition for skiers that had achieved various honours throughout the season.

Due to a slight scoring update from the season-ending Dual Slalom, the winners of the season were announced as Team Manitou with 2611 points.

Team Manitou

  • Tony Baldanza

  • Gordon Bruce

  • Nico Hart

  • Greg Kilburn

  • Al LaChance

  • Noah Levine

  • Andrew Ottaway

  • Jerry Patten

  • Riley Webb

Second place this year, and 4 points behind, is Team Vortex, with 2607 points.

Team Vortex

  • John Kendell

  • Chris Knight

  • Steve MacDonald

  • James Mathers

  • Meg Peterson

  • Harrison Simms Brown

  • Taylor Simms Brown

  • Andrew Turnbull

  • Richard Usher-Jones

Rounding out the top three is Team Cruiser with 2581 points

Team Cruiser

  • Graeme Blair

  • Greg Cavers

  • Peter Dyson

  • Brian Holland

  • Duff Isberg

  • Brad McMullen

  • Paul Peterson

  • Kate Veer

  • Cynthia Waite

Each of these teams received a medal and $34.44 placed onto their club tab. (Bar veterans will recognize this as the cost of one pitcher of beer!)

Our top three skiers in each of the Masters and Open Categories were:

Under 55

  • 1.      Meg Peterson

  • 2.      Kate Farrow

  • 3.      Mackenzie Irwin

 

  • 1.      Ben Williams

  • 2.      Taylor Simms Brown

  • 3.      Spencer McCool

 

Masters

  • 1.      Leslie Sims

  • 2.      Anne Mathers

  • 3.      Cynthia Waite

 

  • 1.      Al LaChance

  • 2.      Dave Raymond

  • 3.      Jeff Sutherland

Our three most improved skiers this year were:

  • Phil Ottaway - moved up 29 place

  • Craig Shibley - moved up 19 places

  • Andrew Athey - moved up 15 places

Those that didn't receive their medals can get them from Brook Dyson. Email him at gdhl@gdhl.org.

This year saw over a dozen families race on the circuit together. The Fastest Family award went to the team of Harrison Simms Brown and Taylor Simms Brown, with the Sutherlands and Dysons rounding out the top three.

Phil and other trophy winners could be found drinking from their hardware at the end of the night!

Throughout the evening, special awards were handed out for excellence in the following categories:

  • Largest New Equipment Budget:

    • Riley Keast

  • Reluctant Racer That Keeps Coming Back:

    • Brad Sproule

  • Most DNFs:

    • Riley Webb

  • Skied Your Rank

    • Paul Peterson

    • Leslie Sims

Our Challenge Cup was updated this year to recognize the next generation of grudge match in the GDHL: the rivalry between Steve MacDonald and Paul Peterson. This year it was narrowly won by Paul, although Steve was victorious in the Club Champs!

Each of our racers received a GDHL Yeti Mug. Feel free to use it for coffee/beer/PEDs. If you missed the banquet and did not receive yours, you can pick it up from the front desk.

Next year the GDHL will come back bigger and better than ever! Thank you to the volunteers, the sponsors, and to the club staff that help make this possible.

Next year we plan on bringing you:

  • Night Race

  • Dual Slalom

  • Apres Ski following our Saturday races

  • New GDHL gear

  • The return of the Calcutta

  • Much, much more!

If you know anyone that is interested in participating as a racer or sponsor next year, ask them to email gdhl@gdhl.org or check out our IG @craigleithgdhl to get put on our 2023 Season reminder list.

Keep an eye out for an announcement on GDHL gear for the 2023 season. We will be asking our racers to pre-order their specific size for next year's gear.

Thanks - and see you in 2023!

Your 2022 GDHL Committee

  • Brook Dyson

  • Douglas Jarvis

  • Carrie Lenauskus

  • Jamie Coulter

  • Richard Usher-Jones

  • Chris Knight

  • Peter Dyson

  • Steve MacDonald

  • Mike Deangelis

Cheers to a great season! If you are pining for more writing from Doug Jarvis this off season, take a look at his wine blog here: www.vintagesbiweekly.com. for bi-weekly newsletters straight to your inbox.

-Doug