What a glorious weekend! Brilliant sunshine, three races on Saturday, a fabulous dinner Saturday evening and lots of fun in the dual start ramps on Sunday. The combination of extra races, different bib numbers and non-GDHL racers starting seemed to overload our data management processes. We got some issues sorted, but left some suspense for the post-season.
So, what do we know now?
On Saturday evening, the team standings looked like this:
However, we discovered that one racer in each of the two GS races was inadvertently scored as DNS. Chris Fregren in fact finished 30th in the first race, and Rob Bruce, a member of Comet, has now been properly credited with a fine 23rd in the second. This not only increased Rob's season total by 12 points, it pushed down the scores of other racers. So now the database looks like this:
But wait, that's not all! These results don't take into account any adjustment arising from the first race of the season having a few instances of what sailors used to call "Yacht Materially Prejudiced." Join us on or near the Base Lodge patio at 3:00 on Saturday afternoon for the awarding of the team medals. Randy Dalton will have individual medals available as well, if you didn't get yours on Saturday night.
What else happened?
Kate Ryley won the Club Championships wearing animal onesies, and beat all the men in SL
Bob Callow had good results too, returning from a double knee replacement in September
Full Club Championship results are posted on the GDHL website here. They're quite intriguing. Kate Ryley beat all the men in SL, as did Katie Farrow, and Cheryl McConachie was 5th overall. On the men's side, Taylor Simms-Brown was 1st (3rd overall), followed by Phil Ruffolo at a hundie back. DNFs were the theme of the day among the men, as Libert, Charron, Farnand, both Bruce brothers, Cavers and Winstone were among the high profile abandoners. TSB took full advantage and claimed the overall men's Club Championship, although Phil's unofficial second run time would have left them tied had it counted. Leslie Sims won decisively in the vintage women's category, while Allan LaChance combined a smoking SL run with some DNFs and a case of "what happens in Vegas keeps hurting even when you come home" to win the men's vintage category again, in his 16th year of eligibility.
On the GDHL side, Joel Charron narrowly won both GS races to claim the season's championship by one point over Alec Libert, with Scott McLorie in third leading a group of five racers separated by only four points. One of those was Cheryl McConachie, who handily claimed the women's title, followed by Samantha Higgins and Brianna Machej. Jeff Sutherland and Dave Raymond tied for the men's over 50 title, with Allan LaChance just a point behind, while Leslie Sims had a wider margin over Tiana Boyman and Mary Riopelle in the women's category. Greg Lee awards were given to Stu McFarlane, Dave Henderson, Mark Shillum, Samantha, Cheryl and Leslie.
All smiles for the women's podium
Family award winners, the Bruce Bros, sons of Rob, brothers of Rob but not related to D. Rob.
Something in the water seemed to make the crowd a bit giddy.
A gallery of dinner pictures courtesy of Lou Montana can be found here. Many more pictures from Saturday's first race can be found here. Remember that GDHL racers are entitled to one free digital image from Lou. Do some clicking on his site and you'll find ways to contact him to get yours.
Other things to remember
Erin Latimer begins her Paralympic races imminently.
9:30 a.m. in Korea is 7:30 p.m. the day before in Toronto
If you haven't returned your GDHL bib, please drop it off in the race office pronto.
If you didn't get your etched glass GDHL beer mug at the dinner Saturday, contact Julie Hughes to claim it.
Extra gate and gateless training is offered this weekend and next. Contact Laurel by noon Friday to book.
We have tried various timing systems in training several times, with limited success. A new chip timing system is drawing some interest. If you'd be keen to buy a timing chip so that you could get a time for your training runs, let David Henderson know. If there are enough enthusiasts, we'll look at getting the rest of the infrastructure in place.
See you on the weekend!
James Mathers