Registration Updates

Keen observers of all things Craigleith will have noted the announcement that the Saturday session of gate training is now fully subscribed. Places in the Sunday session are also filling quickly, so don't delay in signing up. (Sign-up is through the Club website. See here for step by step instructions.) For those who have been tardy and are distressed about missing out on Saturday, I will reiterate the policy on switching from your scheduled training session, as follows:

Racers must sign up for the nine-week season in one of the programs (i.e. Saturday gates, which is now full, or Sunday gates) and, subject to limits on numbers in each individual session, may participate a total of nine times during the season in whichever individual sessions they wish. Each of the gate training sessions will be limited to 30 racers. Although overcrowding is not normally a problem (and some gate training racers do not stay for the entire session), priority will be given to those who are enrolled for the season in the program in question rather than the other one. If there is a Sunday morning GDHL race, the Sunday gate training session will normally be switched to Saturday afternoon, rather than Sunday afternoon.

While you're at it, be sure to sign up for Christmas gate training camp and GDHL. If you've already signed up for GDHL, please check out the list of registrants on gdhl.org to make sure that your details have been processed correctly. You will see some familiar names appearing on the list for the first time (at least in a while) - John Banfield returns and Lisa Warll makes her debut! Check on who's not there yet as well. Don't let the guys you can beat avoid another year of suffering your hubris and don't let your nemesis quit while she's ahead! Recruit, recruit, recruit!

By the way, new e-mail addresses from the GDHL registrants have been added to the newsletter distribution list. I suspect some people are getting this at more than one address. To change that, just click on "unsubscribe" at the bottom of the one you don't want. If you note "duplicate" as an explanation, we will be comforted that we haven't offended or bored you!

Website Updates

Our results guru, Colin Ardill, has now added the 2011 GDHL results to the database. Those of you preparing to bid on teams at the Calcutta will now have easy access to more info for handicapping.

Reminders of What Talent and Training Will Get You

Here are a couple of classics from early last season. First is Lindsay Vonn in the second Lake Louise DH, pulling ahead mid-run, then almost falling so that she was over a half second behind, only to gain over a second in the last 30 seconds of the course to win comfortably. The second is Ted Ligety skiing through fog in Soelden to win by 2.75 seconds.

Sponsor Update

We are delighted that Royal LePage Locations North (Club member Desmond von Teichman) has renewed its sponsorship of GDHL this year.

Royal LePage Locations North has been part of the real estate landscape in ski country for decades. Their commitment to delivering personal, professional and progressive real estate services has made them the most productive brokerage in their trading area in MLS® sales. With offices in Collingwood, Thornbury and Meaford, they have ski country covered.

Their commitment to Craigleith is long standing. A number of their team members are also members of the Club and, in addition to their sponsorships, they have been holding their annual ski day to raise money for a local hospice at the Club for years.

They look forward to their ongoing relationship with the Club through their GDHL sponsorship and urge you to reach out to them for any of your present or future real estate needs.

Others Have New Chairs Too

As I was anxiously awaiting news of our new high speed Comet chair (no reason to be anxious it seems), the video below arrived to remind me that some installations are a bit more complex.

Racer Profile - Doreen Davenport

Going forward, I'll try to introduce you to some of our racers. I thought there was no better place to start than with bib no. 1, Doreen Davenport, for whom a late start to racing hasn't been an obstacle to a noteworthy palmares (what cyclists call your record of success) that is only part of an even better story.

Doreen started skiing in her 20's. After a hiatus that included some cross-country skiing, she was reintroduced to the sport while attending her son's hockey tournament in Collingwood. Later, when considering a season's pass at Blue in the late 1990's, a friend proposed an annual membership at Craigleith as an alternative, and suggested the GDHL as a great way for a new member to meet people. Doreen's anxious chairlift ride to her first race start soon gave way to enthusiastic participation and before long she came to the attention of the Interclub team organizers.

In the days of the old Interclub scoring system, the first question wasn't "how fast", but "how old." As a "golden girl," Doreen's contribution was particularly valuable, and she remains a part of the Craigleith team that is now twice defending champion. After early retirement, Doreen discovered that, while Craigleith members might eschew Blue on weekends, it has an active mid-week group of masters racers. This led to her earning places on the Ontario and Canadian Masters ski teams through regular participation in Masters races across Canada. She won three gold medals at the first World Winter Masters Games in Slovenia in 2010 and this past summer won three silver medals at the South American Masters championships in Chile.

But skiing is only part of Doreen's active life. Dragon boat racing, with her team of fellow breast cancer survivors and other teams, has allowed her more travel opportunities, taking her to Cape Town, Shanghai, Singapore, Israel (where she participated in that country's first dragon boat festival, on the Sea of Galilee) and Turkey. Next up for dragon boating is Puerto Rico in February.

Somewhere amongst all this activity, Doreen has hiked the entire length of the Bruce Trail, but her immediate focus is on a camp with other Canadian Masters team members in Sun Peaks in December. (You may not be invited to that camp, but you can join other Craigleith racers at the Michel Pratte camp in Sun Peaks.)

The next installment of our newsletter will likely come to you from Sun Peaks, so expect exaggerated tales of speed, strength or sandbagging, as well as news from the GDHL committee's upcoming meeting. In the meantime, register if you haven't, recruit if you have, and keep up the dryland!

Cheers,

James Mathers