Your GDHL Committee are very excited to bring you a great 2022 race season! There is a lot to cover in this newsletter to kick off our very busy race season. For those of you who are prone to deleting this email after reading the first paragraph, please be patient and at least review the important topics, listed here:
There is no Calcutta, neither virtual nor in person
Bib pick up is this Saturday (January 8th) from Noon to 3 PM at the Big John Finish Hut, drop in when you can
First Race is this Sunday (January 9th) starting at 1 PM, NO DOWNHLL SUITS
Below you will find details on each of those topics, with specific headers. This is all an effort of saving you time while reading, if only we could help you save time on course on Sunday afternoon.
CALCUTTA
This year may be challenging, and it may be different, but it will not break the GDHL Committee, and it will not break our Racers! We so badly wanted to have an après ski event that brought everyone together after a long off season, but with the current regulations it just is not meant to be. The idea of running one virtually seemed exhausting, and we are all completely disinterested in yet another virtual meet up where you cannot hear any exchanges from other participants. Instead of the Calcutta, we have simplified everything, including Bib Pick up and the Auction.
BIB PICK UP
On Saturday, between noon and 3 PM all racers can come by the Finish Hut at the bottom of Big John to pick up their bibs. There are rumours of other pick-up items as well, but you will need to be there to find out what those items are. If you cannot make this time, bibs will be moved to the Race Office Sunday morning, and available for up.
FIRST RACE – Sunday, January 9th 1 PM Start on Big John GS
Our first race is this weekend! We expect all racers will be shaking with anticipation to get back in the gates. This is how we start every GDHL season, providing us some normality. As we did two years ago, we will be racing without Downhill Suits, which is a pretty big blessing seeing as there is no where inside for us to hang out and re-dress after our races. Feel free to don a retro sweater to wear beneath your bib, or a fun outfit to keep the mood light in the start area.
RULES
We are all working through challenging times. With this in mind, the GDHL committee requests you adhere to all Club rules, protocols and courtesies this race season. Please be respectful of Coyotes at all times, remember, they are working, and their safety (that means feeling safe too), is paramount. If you choose not to wear a mask while skiing, please keep your distance from others.
The rest of the rules are pretty normal:
Please inspect every race – inspection usually opens 1 hr before race start
Please remember this is a fun race league, if you want to be a hero, go race InterClub
Whatever the Coyotes say goes, no exception.
TEAMS
The teams list for this year are on a PDF sheet shared here:
Click through to find your team/bib number and find out who else is starting around you.
SILENT AUCTION – OPEN TO ALL
Wow, do we have some great swag for our Silent Auction! Every year we receive amazing contributions from Squire John’s, Lange, Dynastar, and Pratte Ski Camps for us to auction off and raise funds for our league. We usually do this in the live auction, so sensibly we moved it all to a silent auction which is accessible here. Jump on and scroll through the items before 6 PM on Saturday, when it closes!
LINK: https://www.32auctions.com/gdhlcalcutta
FANTASY GDHL – OPEN TO ALL
Lastly… WE ARE BACK! Fantasy GDHL was such a hit last time around, we had to bring it back! The full rules are below, but keep in mind, you may enter as many teams as you like. The only requirement is that you submit a unique Fantasy Team name for each team you enter. Click here to sign your team up asap! We will close this off on Sunday morning at 9 am:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8FRPR7H
Entrance is $20 and the pool will be split between the winners and two runners up.
Here are the rules:
Pick 7 Skiers for your team
Pick 1 skier from each of the tables below by checking the box beside their name
Each skier is scored on the following criteria:
Starts: each run start is worth 1 point
Finishes: each run finished is worth 2 points
Categorical Podiums: Men’s/Women’s Overall and Men’s/Women’s Masters
20 points for 1st
10 points for 2nd
5 points for 3rd
Finish to rank differential: scored per race completed with minimum score being 0
Standings will be updated weekly in the GDHL Weekly Newsletter and on the GDHL Website
Thank you for sticking through all that! We have a great season of ski racing ahead of us and are excited you are part of it!
See you on the slopes!
-Doug