The much-anticipated end of season banquet is here on Saturday! Get ready for awards, recognition, stories, and good times!

In this newsletter:

Dual Slalom Recap

Dual Slalom Results

Final Results???

Banquet Details

Sponsors

Bib Drop Off

Adult Race Training

Club Championships Details

Race #7 Recap- Big Dual on Little John

Remember that time Canadian Olympic skier Phil Brown showed up to the GDHL dual slalom, jumped into the race last second, mashed every gate and left the crowd speechless? Yeah, that was pretty rad. It’s just how we roll in the GDHL, you gotta show up because you never know what’s gonna happen, any given Sunday baby! And big props to Meg Ryley who took on the Olympian and skied superbly herself.

There was lots on the line at the final GDHL race of the season (I know, say it ain’t so). Skiers were fired up! None more than Jeff Sutherland who has a pre-race routine like no other. Talk about beast mode, in Jeff’s mind, he’s going to win the damn race or go down hard trying. He lays it out there every race, an inspiration for the rest of us!

Big questions would be answered this week, Would Griffin Copp remain on top? Could Jack Veer, Eric Sultmanis or Tom Murdison ski the lights out and disrupt the top 10? Would team Vortex keep the top spot? Could Team Comet find some of their missing skiers? Actually, there were several teams prepared to put up ‘missing persons’ posters around the club to help find their racers, just saying.

Ok, here’s how it went down (and how some of you went down). Mike Welton put on another Mike Welton-like performance, making it look easy for another GDHL victory, this guy is just plain f#@&;ing fast! Ben Williams crushed both of his runs for a solid 2nd place finish. He also notably crushed beers at Saturday’s Apres (now that’s how it’s done buddy!). And how about Jack Veer with a super impressive 3rd place result, inching out Austin Gust and Gordon Bruce who rounded out the top 5. Well done you fast people!

The Dual wasn’t without a few good falls and thankfully no ambulances (this week at least). Joey Hill had a ‘whaaa happened’ expression on his face after he did a spin, straddle and roll move (all very gracefully actually), but he bounced back nicely on his second run. And him along with Mark Shillum, Brent Robbins, Gordon Levitt, Meghan Robinson, Lauren Hitchman, Jerry Patten, Robert Bruce, Peter Copp, Richard Lavery, Jamie Bruce, Andrew Ottaway, Trevor Jackson, Justin Burul, Riley Keast, Jon Price, Alex Addison, Douglas Mac Con, Susie Raymond and Pete Dyson (Jeez that’s a long list!) all had something in common- they took advantage of the Pete Dyson rule (which Pete made when the forerunners were skiing). What’s the Pete Dyson rule you ask? Simple, if you bail on one of your runs, you take the run you complete, double it, divide by your age, multiply by your opponent’s second run, add a second, have a cup of coffee, divide that by how many sips you took and voila, there is your time. Just trust us people.

Other notables, Sarunas Lenauskas skied like a Rockstar, his two runs were almost identical (off by only .01 of a second!). Perhaps he had some of the protein/electrolyte-packed special Elixir at the top of the hill and he wouldn’t be the only racer who enjoyed a few mouthfuls of that fiery punch to give themselves an extra boost. How about Warren Pearce, another picture of consistency, he has found his racing groove this year with a nice finish to the season. Jake Sheehan deserves a shout out, two smoking runs, ask him how long he’s been racing? Never mind, it will only depress you, he’s only been on skis a short while (one of them athlete types). And Roger Chiu had his mojo working with two fine looking runs, nice job (was it the Elixir, Roger?).

Some of the ladies really showed off their skills in the dual! Samantha Callow and Susie Raymond both felt the need for speed, woohoo well done. Elizabeth Hind, Andrea McLorie, Aisling Lanigan all posting sweet looking times. And it seems every race there is that moment when people say, ‘who is that person with the early bib number totally crushing it? Oh yeah, it’s Kate Veer’. Always a pleasure to watch. And Carrie Lenauskas layed down two very impressive runs, wow apparently she’s not just the bartender people! Then there is Cheryl Mcconachie, has she ever had a bad race? She blazes!

Well, that’s a wrap on the season. But not quite, because we got the banquet folks! Let’s be honest, half the reason most of us are in the GDHL is for the beers, the chats, meeting new people, it’s pretty awesome. It gives us some purpose at the club (besides dragging kids or grandkids to their lessons). The point being, get your ass to the banquet! And be prepared for the big reveal! (it’s more anticipated than the Bachelor finale). Did you notice how this update didn’t reveal the overall winners? You’re catching on. See everyone Saturday.

Mike D

Dual Slalom Results

Click here to see your times.

First column is red course, second column is blue course. If you had a DNF or DQ, that run was scored as your other run with a one second penalty.

Final results in finish order for the Dual Slalom will be available on Saturday night when final results are published.

Final Results

Final results for the season will be updated after the awards ceremony on Saturday night!

Banquet Details

Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, Sumo, The Team Ski, and even Calcutta.

Awards season is here! We’ll be handing out a few of these, along with Individual Winners, Most Improved (The Greg Lee “Sumo” Award), Fun Awards, Team Awards, Fastest Family Awards, Calcutta Results, and more!

Keep your Ladies Day streak rolling and/or celebrate your big Club Champs finish!

When: Saturday, March 2nd 7pm - until all the fun has been had

Where: The Depot

Why: Celebrate the season and give out all the awards - serious and fun!

Who: GDHL'ers, Family, Fans, Coyotes & Coaches

Bring Your Own Wine and GDHL will pick up the corkage tab! Be like Barnicke last year and bring a cooler full for the team!

Transportation after the event will be available. No drinking and driving please.

Bib Drop Off

If you have not yet returned your bib, please do so at the Race Office. You will need a whole different bib for club championships.

Message from Glenn Blaylock, Head Coach, Adult Race Programs

To prepare for Club Championships we will be training Giant Slalom this Friday, morning, and Slalom in the afternoon. Check the white board at National Chair for the training hill. The morning session starts at 9:30. The afternoon session starts at 1 pm.

Coach’s Tip: Skis properly waxed will improve your race results. Many adult racers enjoy the process of tuning their skis, becoming 'one with the ski'. Excellent videos demonstrating how to tune and wax your skis can be viewed through this module. https://medium.com/@lockgc/ski-tuning-ba91553cf61c

Thank you for slipping the course and helping the coaches remove the race gates at the end of the training session.

Ski with Purpose

Glenn

Craigleith Club Championships Information

Saturday March 2nd

*GDHL participants are automatically registered* DO NOT CLICK the link if you are a current racer. (YES - this newsletter goes far and wide, beyond just GDHL racers!)

Click Here if you are not a GDHL racer and wish to register. Registration will close Thursday February 29th at noon.

ALL GDHL RACERS NEED TO PICK UP A BIB. This is different from your GDHL bib.

** NEW BIB PICK UP LOCATION ** starting at 8:00 am in the Depot lower lobby area.

GS Race Hill: Big John