That could be a bow, as you accept congratulations for your season's accomplishments, or a big red bow to wrap up the season. Read on for a belated recap of the end of last season and a look to the future!
Club Championships Results
Complete results are here. Column F on the spreadsheet has the SL times, column G has the GS times and column H has combined times. The Club Championships always bring out a different group of competitors and a few results that differ from the rest of the season. Al Lachance ended a season on the sidelines but achieved his customary results with two age group victories. Elspeth Gaukrodger had SL and combined wins in her group, Chris Fregren two silvers, Steve Jarvis a SL bronze in one of the few age groups where there were more competitors off the podium than on it, Randy Dalton rebounded from relinquishing the rivalry trophy by winning his SL group (although Trent took the GS and combined) and Dave Jackson proved that not all coaches just stand around shooting video, with smoking runs in both GS and SL. Other double gold medalists included Jack and Cathy Weingust, Bob Callow, George Hayhurst, Scott McLorie and Leslie Morgan. The day's events were enlivened by the inclusion of the 16 to 19 year olds on the same course. (The GDHL ranking committee will remember this for future reference.) At the end of the day, the fastest overall GS times belonged to Duff Isberg (32.81), Paul Atkinson and Alec Libert in the men's category, and Mackenzie Irwin (34.80), Jackie Atkins and Alex Kappele in the women's category (the latter two being too young to vote against Rob Ford in the upcoming municipal elections). The SL winner was Alec Libert, by a hundie over Paul Atkinson in 43.95, with Carter Armstrong third in the men's category, while Jackie Atkins led the women in 47.07, followed by Cheryl McConachie and Mackenzie Irwin. Paul Atkinson and Jackie Atkins were the combined winners overall, while Jeff Sutherland and Tiana Boyman were GS, SL and combined winners in the over 50 category.
GDHL Wrap Up
Saturday evening brought the closing GDHL dinner (splendidly organized by Marlene Jackson and company). The slideshow full of good info is here. The big podium placers are depicted below.
Women's overall podium, Leslie Morgan (2nd), Brittany Stainer (1st) and Lisa Warll (3rd)
Men's overall podium, Scott McLorie (3rd), Alec Libert (1st) and Ian Malcolm (2nd)
Women's over 50 podium, Daina Dunlop (2nd), Tiana Boyman (1st) and Margaret Isberg (3rd)
Men's over 50 podium, Trent Winstone (2nd), Jeff Sutherland (1st) and Craig Shibley (3rd). Craig was also the third Stooge.
Interesting to note that four of the six overall winners were more or less newcomers to the GDHL this year, although one of them may have been in the GDHL about the time others of them were born. Other noteworthy accomplishments from the season included the following:
Best husband and wife total score:
Doug Macmillan and Lisa Warll – 767
Ted and Leslie Morgan – 666
Byron Darlison and Daina Dunlop – 576
Glenn Kilmer and Tory McKillop – 493
Best parent and child total score:
Doug and Steve Jarvis – 723
Ian and Sarah Latimer – 699
Chris and Stephanie Clark – 570
Kevin Gust and Bob Callow (in-laws) – 490
The Greg Lee awards for most improved skiers were calculated based on the lowest fraction resulting from dividing a skier's final overall finishing place by his or her ranking. Surprisingly few people scored below their rankings. Ian Malcolm had a fraction of about 0.05, which is why the awards are only open to those whose rankings are based on previous GDHL results. The top three are Jamie Coulter (ranked 82, finished 40, 0.488 fraction, last year finished 80), Will Andrew (rank 69, finish 39, 0.565, last year 64) and Brook Dyson (rank 33, finish 20, 0.606, last year 30). Leslie Morgan was the top female (rank 60, finish 45, 0.75, last year 53), Daina Dunlop was next (rank 93, finish 77, 0.828, last year 88) and Elspeth Gaukrodger was third (rank 100, finish 95, 0.95, last year 95). One of the winners told me that his improvement had come from gaining confidence that his technical skills justified him skiing more aggressively, while another said that an investment in two pairs of race skis to replace one pair of all mountain skis, plus some tuning equipment had helped. Leslie Morgan is in some respects an unlikely candidate for most-improved, having already reached great heights in the world of the CSIA, but she's shed the shackles of consistent speed and turn shape, for the thrill of hurtling downhill in Lycra, all to great effect.
You will have noted from the picture above that Lisa Warll's successful season ended prematurely during the last GS on Big John. Apart from the results recorded above, Lisa unwittingly contributed to one of the Three Stooges awards, when our esteemed chairman was unable to resist the lure of fashion during the chilly delay occasioned while Lisa was being assisted from the scene of her accident. We are pleased to report that Lisa seems well on the way to a full recovery.
JF releases his inner tiger!
Apparently some members of the consortium that owned the winning Calcutta team (which paid them $2925 on their investment of $475 after team buybacks) eschew publicity and were distressed that their winnings were not paid out in unmarked bills, so I will leave it to you to explore the details of the team standings independently. I will note only that our men's and women's most-improved winners and a mis-ranked newcomer led Landslide to victory. Special thanks are due to Randy Dalton, who (with his eponymous commercial enterprise) sponsored all of the evening's awards.
Interclub Finals
The future of the interclub league seemed in doubt at Christmas, but great things don't die easily and some last minute heroics laid the groundwork for a successful season. It culminated with the finals hosted by Devil's Glen. The conflict with the date of Skinanigans (and other seasonal events) left our defending champions a bit short of qualified starters. Things threatened to turn out badly after five first run DNF's on a bulletproof course left the team three scores or sixty-some points short of the mark, as Alpine had turned out in big numbers. Happily, everyone came through, finished off by Jesse Shepherd recording the fastest run of the day as last man down the hill (edging out Paul Atkinson), and Craigleith made it three championships in a row. The margin of victory was 21 points and, as we would have been short at least 21 points without the finishes of each of the four women who started for the team (Anne Mathers, Leslie Morgan, Kate Veer and Kat Zoricic), each can claim to have made the winning difference. Full results are here. The men's 55 to 59 age group was the largest of the day and was dominated by Jeff Sutherland, Bebe Zoricic, Chris Fregren and Glenn Blaylock, who finished 1, 2, 4 and 5 respectively. Trent Winstone, Craig Shibley, Paul Woodhouse, Doug Deeks and Greg Cavers were other high scorers.
Other Notable Accomplishments
Apart from Club Championships and Interclub Finals, March brought the annual CSIA Level IV examinations. These essentially consist of a dozen or so current members of the Level IV club standing at the bottom of the hill watching the aspirants and deciding whether to let them join. Steve Young has recounted a rather long drive home from the exams in Quebec one year, when he was an examiner and one of his brothers passed but the other didn't (a hurdle subsequently overcome). In any event, Craigleith had a spectacular showing this year, with our head adult coach, Jacques Reid, our GDHL webmaster, Rob Mathers, and Rob Campbell (not yet part of our adult racing community) all earning their Level IV pins, while Jamie Eriksen joined adult coach Justin Fogarty as having passed the teaching portion of the exams. Lest it be thought that the Craigleith numbers indicate that the exams are not notable for their rigor, remember that there are normally only about a dozen Level IV pins awarded in Canada each year, so it's a pretty exclusive club. As the proud father of one of the new members I am, however, conscious of the line about the difference between a ski instructor and a large pizza, and which one can be counted on to feed a family.
In racing outside the Club, Maddy Irwin wrapped up a notable season, winning the overall Nor-Am title (thereby entitling herself to a World Cup start in every discipline next year) and the Canadian national Super G championship race. Those of you who beat Maddy's time as a forerunner in the GDHL Super G last January can strut accordingly!
Maddy Irwin, Nor-Am Overall and Canadian Super G champion, and GDHL forerunner
Plan Your Off-season On Snow!
You will remember that GDHL sponsor Michel Pratte has great pre-season camps available. It's not too late to sign up for the Zermatt glacier camp from 20 to 30 September. I have been to this camp several times, and it may offer the best racing conditions you will get all year. Unlike the soft summer snow in Whistler, the Zermatt glacier in September offers midwinter natural snow conditions, often with fresh snow overnight, longer courses than we ski at Craigleith and usually bright sunny conditions, rather than January gloom. The coaching is top-notch, Zermatt is a really cool place to hang out and the other people skiing tend to be World Cup racers or mogul skiers, or members of the Swiss Interski demo team (instructors who apparently do quite nicely on the pay scale).
Michel also offers three week-long camps at Copper Mountain, Colorado from 25 October through 15 November and two week-long camps at Sun Peaks from 22 November to 6 December. I haven't been to Copper, but was at Sun Peaks with a big group from Craigleith last year. It lacks the glamour of Zermatt, but is an excellent training site and a more convenient way to get the same great coaching. Click through on Michel's logo on this page to reach his website for details.
A Few Words From the Chair
(i.e. the guy wearing Lisa's tiger print jacket in the picture above)
Dear GDHL racers,
I hope you are enjoying a tremendous summer. It took a while but we have finally enjoyed some great summer weather to get out and play. I do not wish to sound any alarms of an early impending winter but wanted to reach out to you on behalf of your GDHL committee to offer a bridge between the close of the past season and what promises to be a sensational upcoming season with some details on activities to potentially build up pre-season speed. I hope that you are keeping fit so that you can enter the new season with confidence about your performance and your safety in the race course.
Looking back on last winter’s GDHL racing season, I have so many fond memories of great training, happy faces, friendly competition, strong friendships and racing prowess. Indeed we had a great season with massive participation from hardened veterans and the welcome addition of young blood alike. Our training sessions were filled to the max but the level of coaching was better than ever, through an increased number of coaches affording us a more intense personal touch as well as through the quality of instruction. The GDHL keeps getting stronger as evidenced by the performance of so many racers who, year after year, are reaping the rewards of their training, but we should also be proud that we always remain a highly inclusive league that welcomes racers of all levels. Personally, I am proud to see we can strike a healthy balance between keeping the Randy Dalton-Trent Winstone rivalry at its sporting best, challenged by the blistering times of our young, fast newcomers and, on the other hand the engaged and competitive participation of racing veterans and hopeful racing novices alike. We are always seeking to make the GDHL experience as positive as it can be for as many of our participants as possible in light of this delicate balance but I feel it is safe to say that Craigleith offers the best in-club masters racing program I know and we should be proud that this adds to the great fabric of our club. The conversations I keep having with people during my travels to race training camps keep proving to me that the GDHL offers a rare experience in quality and breadth of experience that is the envy of many others. We should always aim to maintain and improve upon that.
Speaking of adding to the fabric of the club, we had a tremendous season from the perspective of our contribution to Craigleith. As you know GDHL’ers are connected not only to masters racing but to the kids’ racing programs as well. We not only sacrifice peace and sanity to breed the young new racers of tomorrow (I know… it is a rewarding duty), but we are strong financial sponsors of their activities either directly or through the fundraising efforts at the club. This year the GDHL added to that by contributing an impressive surplus of more than $20,000 to Craigleith’s racing infrastructure, funding the purchase of racing gates, computer and timing equipment, race huts, etc. These contributions not only serve to improve the GDHL experience but benefit racers of all ages and skills across the club’s various programs. The GDHL Committee and the entire GDHL community has a lot to be proud of in this regard. (Please see Craigleith Head Coach, Dave Campbell’s note below). I do want to extend a special and heartfelt word of gratitude to our friends Byron Darlison and James Mathers, whose respective contributions have helped enhance our financial position and solidify our vision of how the GDHL can bring meaningful impact. I also wish to thank the entire Committee for their investments in passion and time to make the GDHL experience what it has become. It doesn’t take that much to organize a racing league but it sure takes a lot to give it the GDHL feel. And to all GDHL racers, thank you for your exemplary sportsmanship and sportswomanship! What a great group of people!
I know that the GDHL Committee will look to the upcoming year with great ambition to offer even more and we certainly look forward to another great season to bring us all back together in great numbers.
J-F Courville
A letter from Dave Campbell, Head Coach, Craigleith Ski Club:
Hello GDHL Participants, I just wanted to send a quick thank you note to you all regarding a few things. First of all, to the members involved with the new GDHL committee! There were some big shoes to fill with Mark Reidl handing over the reins last season. Mark was responsible for truly building this league up to where it is today (still staying involved mind you). JF and Byron along with several others did a fantastic job keeping the momentum of the GDHL moving forward and the addition of the new website and E-newsletters thanks to the Mathers father son tandem was fantastic!
The other large thank you is on behalf of the entire racing program – the GDHL has generously donated any surplus funds raised from this year towards the Club's Program Development Fund. These Funds will be used for some of our summer projects including a New Start Hut, Finish Hut and a new display board housing on Millennium and the addition of two walls on the Big John Start Hut to help block the wind on those cold winter days while you are waiting for your race run! This will help us come that much closer to completing our Racing Infrastructure upgrades across the Club.
Thanks again and have a great summer!
Dave Campbell
The GDHL committee has being taking a well-earned break from its hectic in-season schedule, but will be back in action before long. If you would like to be part of the committee next year (or have suggestions or requests), send us an email.
Diversions
If you go to Zermatt, you might see something like the helicopter that one of Didier Cuche's sponsors provided to drop him off on the glacier for downhill training, so that he wouldn't have to ride the cable cars with the rest of the herd. Very cool, but I'm pretty sure that when I saw Maddy Irwin on the glacier she had come by cable car. Life for ski racers who are not crystal globe winners and the biggest sporting heroes in their country is quite different. If you have sponsorship money, keep it in Canada, but still check out what one US racer is up to as part of his fundraising efforts.
Enjoy the rest of the summer, train safely, and we'll see each other at the Club before you know it!
Cheers,
James Mathers