The first race of the season is complete! The nerves are gone and the rust has (mostly) been shaken off! The rookies now have a race under their belts, and the veterans are left wondering how they can get better.
In this newsletter:
Race Recap
Teams
Results Page
Next Races
Calcutta Recap
Craigleith Cares
World Masters Games
Message from Glenn, Adult Racing Head Coach
Race #1 - Big John - Giant Slalom
The first race of the year saw some a collection of great runs, amazing wipeouts, spectacular crashes, puzzlement at the delay gate, chatter at the top, nerves of steel, and tight jeans. Congratulations to all of our first-time racers: you are now a Ski Racer!
Race #1 Recap:
Saturday’s GS race on Big John was memorable and historic for a variety of reasons. Coming off a record setting Calcutta the night before, we had 140 racers come down the course which was easily the biggest filed in the long history of Adult racing on the escarpment. When you combine excellent snow conditions, great visibility, big crowds and Joey Hill’s extra tight, suede, equestrian pants, you know you are going to have a great race.
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES:
Gorgeous Gordie Bruce , often compared to a young Tom Cruise, skied incredibly well and narrowly snuck by Benny “big bulge" Williams for the top step on the podium. Gordie had quite the weekend as he won a $500 gift card the night before at the Calcutta, and luckily his main squeeze Tenyka was there to claim it on his behalf.
Alec Libert took a break from hanging drywall in his own house, came out of retirement, and looked great with an impressive 3rd place finish.
Scott Mclorie, like a fine wine, getting better each year, finished 6th overall, crossing the line as his wife Andrea, and fellow GDHL speed demon; yelled “That’s my man!”
Shoutout to newcomers; Griffin Copp, (4th place) Austin Gust (7th place) and Noah Levine (9th place) all placed in the top 10 which is impressive considering the pressure to perform the first time out in this prestigious league.
In the ladies category, Meg Ryley took top spot but Katie Farrow, freshly engaged and looking to impress her fiancee, was only a few hundredths behind which could make for an interesting rivalry the rest of the season. Speaking of fiancees, Mack Irwin finished 3rd for the ladies which was about 2 and a half minutes faster than her fiancee Gareth Imrie who was spotted learning how to ski on the magic carpet just hours before the race. Gareth deserves an award for his efforts and surely Dave Robinson will be buying Gareth beer all season as Gareth now takes over Dave’s spot as the “safest” skier in the race league.
FAMILY TIES:
Newcomer Matt Staples snuck by his sister Madison which should move him to the top of parents David and Catherine's speed dial, and most likely ensure him a bigger share of his parents enormous will down the road.
The El Presidente of the GDHL Brook Dyson finished one spot ahead of brother Pete, and it’s hardly worth mentioning anymore but Andrew Ottoway easily finished ahead of his brother Phil.
The most interesting of all could be the new rivalry between Kate Veer and her son Jack. Kate is an incredible racer so I shouldn’t be surprised but Jack only beat her by 3/100ths in race #1. I can only imagine how tough it is for Paul Peterson to finish 10+ seconds behind his wife every week but to lose to your Mother of all people, that would be something else!
COMEBACK SEASON:
Jen Price, Sarunas Lenauskas, Alec Libert, Cheryl Mcconachie and Trevor Jackson are just a handful of the former GDHL legends who are returning to action this year after some time away. Jen Price looked smooth as ever but finished right behind Libby Barnicke and that will be a matchup to watch going forward.
WEIRD AND WACKY
Matthew Brenzel lost a ski coming out of the start gate and somehow still managed to ski down the entire course on one ski without missing a gate… He came across the line and shockingly still managed to finish one spot ahead of Paul Peterson who apparently used dog poo for wax on Saturday as he was terribly slow.
Speaking of Paul Peterson, he must have been feeling over confident as he was wearing a triple digit bib for the first time. Hanging out, stretching and talking about the course setup with all the top racers who come down last. He was even thinking with Mike Welton not in attendance this could be his chance to podium for the first time. With his confidence soaring, he came flying down the start ramp, taking a great line to the first gate yet he somehow tripped over his own pole and did a front somersault landing on his head and losing a ski. With all the top skiers cheering and laughing , Paul put his ski back on and skied over the pitch looking smooth as ever to the crowd down below who couldn't figure out why it took him 25 seconds to get to the pitch. Luckily for Paul his arch rival Brayden Irwin was not in attendance to see the disaster.
Good luck to all racers this weekend!
Calcutta Recap
The Calcutta was a great success!!! Maybe it was the fancy new depot, or the inflation soaked prices of food and beer, but buyers were in the spending mood as we witnessed numerous records broken, with both the individual cost of teams and the overall winnings up for grabs.
Thanks to our sponsors Sidelaunch and Spy Cider for providing refreshments, and to Dynastar/Lange and Squire John’s for providing some great prizes and auction items. Lysander, Ramond James, Sutherland, and Erinwood all provide funds to assist with putting on these great events. THANK YOU!
Paul Peterson once again hosted the evening and led us through our first GDHL event of 2024. Rip Riopelle returned as our auctioneer, and made sure each of our ten teams went for amounts that have not been seen before. A GDHL-record prize pot was assembled Saturday, to be distributed amongst the owners and racer-buy-backs of the top 3 teams at the end of the season, with a portion going towards GDHL operations and events through the year.
For those that now have a financial interest in a team, race-by-race results will be posted along with past seasons at https://gdhl.org/results-database.
If you were a successful buyer of a team, we will be in touch to confirm your consortium before we proceed with billing. If you chose to buy back 4% of your team (which most did), we will bill your member account in the January cycle. If you missed the Calcutta OR were undecided on the team buy back, you have until this Friday (Jan 12th) to opt in. Please reach out to Chris Knight (cmknightrider@hotmail.com) to confirm your interest OR if you have any questions on the Calcutta. Team details are above for your reference and Chris can share more details directly on buy in costs.
From the Craigleith Cares Foundation:
The Craigleith Cares Foundation is grateful to the GDHL Committee for providing us a place at the Calcutta last weekend. So much energy in the room - it was fun to be a part of! We appreciated the warm welcome and the people stopping by to chat and learn more about the Foundation, including the Founding Members initiative. For those of you we didn't meet and who might have questions regarding the Foundation, feel free to drop us a line at info@craigleithcares.org, visit our website at http://www.craigleithcares.org or click on the link that will soon appear on the Club website. Best wishes for a wonderful GDHL season!
Next Races
Our next race is this Saturday at 1pm on Big John. Please note the location change from Comet due to snow conditions. It’s a Giant Slalom race once again, so remember your hard-ear helmets and No Downhill Suits. (A reminder: when we refer to Downhill Suits, we mean anything that is tight tight tight against your body. This includes cycling suits, speed skating suits, painted on underwear, and really anything that is athletically designed to reduce drag.)
We will do our best to get in two runs, but may be limited to just one. You will be notified in the start/finish area if we are able to get in a second run for all racers.
Don’t forget to stop by the Base Lodge after your run for some drinks and conversation with your fellow racers!
Following this weekend’s race, our first Night Slalom will be on Friday January 19th at 6pm. This will be followed by a GS on Comet on Saturday January 20th at 1pm. Lots of racing to come!
GDHL'ers are going International!
Tiana Boyman and Jeff Sutherland are competing in the 4th edition of the Winter World Masters Games in Lombardy, Italy, January 15-19th. There will be masters athletes competing in various winter sports from around the world. They will join a group of around 30 Canadians competing at Ponte di Legno and Aprica in Lombardy, Italy.
This will be Tiana's 3rd time competing at the Winter World Master Games and Jeff's 1st.
You can follow all the action at the link below but we will make sure to update you on their results and share some pictures.
GO TIANA & JEFF!
Message from Glenn Blaylock, Head Coach, Adult Race Programs
Friday morning and afternoon training camps start this week. Details about this Friday are below followed by the training schedule for the 2024 season.
Explore the Race Technique module in the Alpine Race Method for Adults to learn how adults can adopt techniques used by elite skiers and racers.
Here’s the link: https://medium.com/alpine-race-method-for-adults/biomechanics-b44ab70ac264
Friday Training
Date: January 12, 9:30 to 11:30 am / 1:00 to 3 pm
Slalom: Slalom skis and protective equipment including helmet and guards for face, hands and shins.
Hill: TBD. Check the message board at the bottom of National Chair for the training hill.
Coaches: Glenn Blaylock and Greg Roe
Register On-Line by Thursday noon
Thank you for slipping the hill after your last run through the course.
2024 Friday Adult Race Training Schedule
Friday morning and afternoon training sessions for 2024 are below. The sessions align with the GDHL race schedule.
January 12th – Slalom
January 19th – Slalom
January 26th – Giant Slalom
February 2nd – Fast Giant Slalom to prepare for Super G on Sunday
February 9th – Slalom
February 16th – Panelled Slalom
February 23rd – Giant Slalom
March 1st - TBD
THAT’S IT! See you on the hill!
…Brook, Paul, Chris, Carrie, and the rest of the GDHL Committee