Newcomers continued to impress in GDHL, although last season's battle for male supremacy continued with the almost narrowest of margins separating the main protagonists. But first:

What's Coming At You This Weekend And Beyond

Friday training will be SL at 9:30 and 1:00. As always, contact Laurel to register. Many of your competitors are finding that this is the best training opportunity of the weekend and no long-term commitment is required!
All of the weekend training is on the usual schedule. Gate training will be SL at 9:30 Saturday and Sunday. Fast & Female is Saturday at 9:30 and Adult Tech is both days at 9:30. Watch for Natalie's email to members and signage for hill space. (Signs are now being posted in the new display cases around the lodges as well as at the National chair.
GDHL is SL on Comet on Sunday. Inspection from 12:15 to 12:45 and start at 1:00 pm. Kate Ryley will apparently be back this weekend, giving the men another chance to step up their games. Bibs 10 and 20 are held by Mansell Nelson and James Mathers for this race. These bibs may be transferred by the holders, but no racer may use either of these bibs in more than one race each season.
And looking a bit further ahead, remember the Track 3 ski day at the Club on Friday 12 February - training, racing, good sluicing and browsing - a great day, a great cause and a good bargain. See here to register and get more details.
Finally, save the morning of Saturday 5 March for the combination of Club Championships and the final GDHL race of the season, then save that evening for the annual GDHL closing dinner. Celebrate your successes with your friends and rivals. More details will follow, but we anticipate repeating the reduced rates for younger racers and their respective guests and hope that our caterer will agree to repeat the bring your own wine arrangements (paying only a modest corkage fee) that have been offered in recent years.

GDHL Race 3

The weather forecast on Saturday had J-F fretting about cancellation of Sunday's race, but we dodged the bullet. It was warm, but fortunately the rain held off until the lifts closed. The GS set from Sandy Nattress on Millennium was universally recognized as fast during inspection, but the reduced offset and great course maintenance from the Coyotes resulted in many racers being faster on their second runs. And it was not only fast but close. Alec Libert led the way on the first run over Chris Barber. Both improved on the second run, but Chris slightly more so, as he won overall by just two hundredths in 27.47. Jesse Shepherd was third, followed by Ian Malcolm in his season's debut and Trevor Jackson, with Jeff Sutherland finishing first parent and first over 50. (Order is restored after Jeff twice failed to heed his own advice about the tricky finishing gate in last week's SL.) On the women's side, Cheryl McConachie made her GDHL debut a short one, finishing in 30.00 on her second run and 19th overall, followed by Meghan Barber in 25th overall and Jayne Clarke in 40th. Trent Winstone (14th) and Craig Shibley (15th) were second and third men over 50, while Leslie Morgan and Elspeth Gaukrodger were the leaders in the women's over 50. The tight results weren't just at the top, as there were 19 racers between Cheryl and Ian Latimer (37th at 30.92) and another 13 between 31.03 and 32.05.

As usual, some racers distinguished themselves in comparison to their rankings. Those reaching the lodge monitor podium this week are repeaters Doug MacCon and Dougie Craig, tying for third with 33 place improvements, Bob Waite with plus 39 (didn't see whether he borrowed Cyndy's race suit in her absence) and Warren McDougald (again) with plus 42. Ed Barnicke, Jamie Deeks and Sarunas Lenauskas were close behind.

Full results can be found at http://gdhl.org/results-database/ (i.e. in the database that you get to from the results dropdown on the home page), or just click here. Remember they're available on live timing (click "live timing" on the same dropdown) and on the finish line monitor (although without the benefit of a touch screen to scroll through).

So Who Are Those Guys?

*Cheryl McConachie and Meghan Barber, two of the new fast girls*

*Warren McDougald - expect to turn that 66 upside down next year!*

Interclub

The second Interclub race of the year was contested at the Peaks on Saturday afternoon. There was a big field, although Craigleith now appears to be the only team populated entirely from one club. Unfortunately, the population was short one woman needed to meet the minimum requirement, so we scored one fewer racer than the other teams. Full results are here. Our average score per racer was the best, but in the end it wasn't enough and we lost to Peaks plus by a bit less than the woman would likely have scored. Captain TSB will be working feverishly to get people into enough races to qualify for the big finale.

As it was, Craigleith finished 1, 3, 4, 6 in the largest age group of the day, led by Jeff Sutherland scoring 31 points, followed by Trent Winstone, Craig Shibley and Jeff Craig. Greg Cavers, Glenn Blaylock and Paul Atkinson also scored at least 25 points, while Anne Mathers, George Hayhurst, Kate Veer, Scott McLorie and Justin Kowal all won their respective age groups. Meghan Barber made her Interclub debut as the second fastest woman on the day, while Paul was the third fastest male overall.

Race Etiquette

Here are a few things to remember as we aim to get races completed quickly and smoothly. We're working on having a better shot at two runs for the Super G next year, and these will make a big difference then.

We want to close inspection 15 minutes before start time, so do your best to get to the course in plenty of time. (We know there are kids to be dropped off and hopefully everything will fit in.) Do your inspection efficiently and get back to the start.
Although we have had some fine displays of backwards and one-legged skiing, if you lose a ski, please clear the course as fast as you can, and don't try to resume your run. If you miss a gate, please don't ski through the finish line or if you can't avoid doing so, be sure to declare yourself to the finish hut. We have officials watching for DSQ's, not just your competitors, but everything is smoother if we don't have to rely on them.
Although we all enjoy watching the fastest guys with the final bibs, the price of having an early start is that you need to leave the finish area early to prepare for your second run, if you want one. We have asked the Coyotes not to allow people to start in random order as that appears to have incited unseemly jostling on Sunday. If you think about it, if you're a MAMIL, wouldn't you rather wait a moment in your assigned place while reflecting on life's innocent pleasures, instead of having all the young ladies behind you speculating on whether Spyder and Karbon include a bursting volume test in their product quality protocols?

Diversions

Here's another in Morgan Rubes's series of goggle-cam videos, from our 2016 Super G.

As no one has sent me any good jokes recently, I thought I would revive some that received popular acclaim in their first appearances.

Things that are difficult to say when you're drunk: cinnamon, indubitably, innovative, preliminary, proliferation

Things that are VERY difficult to say when you're drunk: British constitution, loquacious trans-substantiate, passive-aggressive disorder, speciality

Things that are downright IMPOSSIBLE to say when you're drunk: "Thanks, but I don't want to have sex." "Nope, no more alcohol for me." "Oh, I just couldn't! No one wants to hear me sing." "You are quite right, I can't jump over that table."

*Some places have lots of natural snow right now!*

And finally, a song for TSB in his Interclub recruiting role

See you in the starting gate!

James Mathers