This past weekend GDHL racers braved some of the coldest race-day conditions ever, on Saturday, and then went on to race a full slalom down Comet on Sunday. Usually, we have the super combined weekend about halfway through the season, giving everyone some time to get their race legs and slalom lungs back. It was not the case this year!
We are now three races into our GDHL season, and you deserve a break. There have been some schedule changes – which you can check out here – that now enables you to get some training in over the next few weekends. Our head coach of Adult Racing has more details on training this weekend below.
To help you get your GDHL fix, here is a long newsletter full of everything you want to read about. Covered below you will find:
Weekend Race Recaps
Schedule updates
Silent Auction news
Interclub Information
Training Schedule
We are fortunate to have a great racing community around Craigleith, which contributes to making our GDHL league the best. Financially, we have exceptional support from our sponsors. All of which are listed on the banner on the right, and now on our banners in the race corral. Thank you to our sponsors for supporting our race league!
Race Recap
Saturday morning the mercury read somewhere in the negatives 20s, however with the sun rising, and the wind dying there was an air of optimism in the GDHL committee. The decision to have only one run for the Modified GS race was made, out of an abundance of caution and was the right call. But it still meant that the GDHL racers needed to be prepared to race down Landslide at speeds around 90 km/h while the rest of Ontario hunkered down beside their fireplaces.
Weather be damned, the GDHLers came out in full force, and in full downhill suits. Sure, some zippers were stretched, and a couple gents had some trouble fitting 4 layers underneath their skin-tight suits, yet everyone enjoyed themselves. Overall, 64 racers competed on Saturday, for a pretty good turnout considering the conditions. The snow was cold and slow, which resulted in a and fun course including a blue gate on the pitch of Landslide that looked like it belonged on the Hahnenkamm. Following the race, the GDHLers and friends, did a great job rolling the auxiliary B Netting that had been set to keep us safe, making the Coyotes, and your GDHL committee very happy!
Racers on Sunday enjoyed warmer temps in the sunshine
On Sunday morning the weather broke a bit, with temperatures in the mild zone of just -10 Celsius and the sun back out, we had a beautiful race day. The slalom course down Comet was set around some ominous rollers, that in the end made no difference. With the temperatures slowly warming to negative single digits, the moods in the start and finish areas were all smiles. With 65 racers competing it was another decent turnout, including a lot of racers who had skied the previous day and were enjoying the balmy weather, and the added layers of a jacket.
In an interesting twist, some of the top skiers did not ski both races. Neither Megan Peterson nor Katie Farrow skied the Super G, and both skied exceptionally well in the Slalom on Sunday. Might this be a new approach to load management? Who knows, but it was a bold strategy, that certainly paid off.
Along with Megan and Katie, there were some great performances this weekend! On Saturday Madison Staples took home her first race win of the season (1st/ 49.58) in just her second GDHL race, she was followed closely by Brianna Machej (2nd, 50.80) who is making a good habit of standing on the podium, and in third Leslie Sims (3rd/54.35) got her first podium of the season.
On the Men’s side Ben Williams (1st/45.61) came down with a small advantage over Taylor Simms Brown (2nd/45.70), and Duff Isberg (3rd/45.96) rounded out the podium. With his second win of the Season already, Ben is edging close to claiming the overall title.
On Sunday, the Women’s side was full of outstanding performances. Megan Peterson (1st/32.95) took home her second win of the season, while Katie Farrow was in hot pursuit with (2nd/33.73), and Brianna Machej stepped on the podium again (3rd/38.02) for the third time in three races. As mentioned before, the Women’s overall title race will be fun to watch!
For the men, Ben Williams won his third race (1st/Place) of the year and all but claiming the title for the year. Taylor Simms Brown (2nd/ 32.75) was on his tips, and ahead of Greg Cavers (3rd/34.35) who got himself on the podium for the first time this year.
Of course, in a super combined the individual races are awarded like above, but so two is the combined aspect. The Combined Winners were Ben Williams (I guess this is not surprising since he won both races), and Brianna Machej! There are no extra points in the data base awarded for this accolade, but there are certainly bragging rights!
There were some great results all around, but one finish of specific note is that both Brook and Peter Dyson skied their best slalom run on Sunday within a time of 39.10. Two racers tying to the hundredth is not that uncommon, but for those two skiers to share a last name is pretty remarkable! Congratulations to both on a great race!
Schedule Update:
We knew it was coming, there was going to be a schedule change one way or another, however this change is to benefit all of us. We will not be hosting our night race on January 22nd, we will instead have two bye weekends in a row. This means you can spend some time training, and skiing with your loved ones, hopefully that is a good thing for you!
Also, this postponement of the night race means we can host it when there are hopefully fewer restrictions, and we can host an actual EVENT. The GDHL committee is working hard to bring you a night race to remember, that you can bring your family to, with food, drink, and lots of entertainment (GDHL racers).
The full schedule is here: https://gdhl.org/schedule
It is subject to change, but any change will come with some correspondence from this newsletter, so just stay tuned.
Silent Auction Update
The silent auction was fun. Thank you for your support! We are still collecting the items from the contributors and should have things ready for distribution soon. If you won an item, you will be contacted to schedule time for pick up. If you have any questions about the silent auction, please just respond to this email or email gdhl@gdhl.org
Inter Club:
A message from Taylor Simms-Brown, our Interclub Leader:
Are you interested in taking this show on the road? Interclub racing is ON and our first event is at Georgian Peaks this Saturday.
If you haven't received an interclub update this season, contact Taylor Simms-Brown tsimmsbrown@jascor-intl.com directly to be added to the team contact list, OR register at www.interclubskiorg.com. If you can race GDHL...you can race interclub. Don't miss out!
Training
Lastly, and most importantly, a message from our Head Coach of Adult Racing, Glenn Blaylock
We will be training slalom this Friday and the weekend. (Important coaching tips and videos below).
Date: Friday, January 21
Location: TBD
Time: 9:30 to 11:30 am
Event: Slalom
Equipment: slalom skis, protective equipment for face, shins and hands
Coaching Tip and Video of the Week:
To carve a turn we put 100 % pressure on the outside ski. We achieve this by flexing the outside ankle forward onto the big toe. This action will tip the ski on edge enough for the front of the ski to start carving. It will also ensure the outside leg is in a powerful position by keeping the bones aligned or stacked as demonstrated by the following video.
The angle of the inside ski determines the angle of the outside ski. The more the inside edge is rolled over the more the outside ski will be on edge. We achieve this by rolling the inside ankle towards the fall line during the transition between turns. It’s important to have no pressure on the inside ankle when it starts this rolling action. Please watch this video for a demonstration.
I look forward to another amazing weekend on the snow.
Wow, what a fun weekend, that is all from GDHL HQ…. Now time to ski on all that great snow we got on Monday!
-Doug