Week two is in the books. Two more races this weekend!

In this newsletter:

Race #3 - Night Slalom - presented by Squire John’s
Race #4 - GS on Comet
Race Recap
Results
Mid-Season Apres
Mugs
Message from Glenn Blaylock

Race #3 - Night Slalom - Presented by Squire John’s

Looking ahead, this weekend sees two races in less than 18 hours. The highly anticipated Squire John’s Night Slalom on ‘Lil Jon takes place at 6pm on Friday January 17th. Inspection is from 5:10pm to 5:40pm. Lifts start their evening shift at 5:00pm.

Time to dust off those shin guards, pole guards, and mouth guards; our first slalom race (not a dual slalom!) of the year will take place down ‘Lil Jon under the lights and in front of our fans. ‘Lil Jon chair will be operating for our race and for any others that are looking to do some night skiing. The the base lodge will also be open.

*The GDHL organizing committee has sent emails, letters, smoke signals, messenger pigeons, couriers, and subpoenas requesting there be enough bar staff before/after/during our race. Hopefully someone has listened!

***Friendly reminder that dark lenses mean less vision at night…

Race #4 - GS on Comet, The Sequel

Comet GS part 2! Same as last week, we will be racing on Comet for our third GS of the year. Tired of that hill yet? Race starts at 1pm, with inspection from 12:10pm to 12:40pm. (stay tuned to the WhatsApp group in case of start time changes…)

Race Recap - Comet GS, Part 1 of 2

Our second GS race of the season came hot on the heels of the Adult Interclub race on Saturday that saw Craigleith cruise towards their first victory of the season. Nice job team!

Some familiar names were in the top 3 of the women’s GDHL race, with Meg Ryley edging out Cheryl McConachie and Madison Staples. The men’s race saw a repeat of last year’s final standings, with Griffin Copp and Mike Welton tying for first place. (For those of you new to ski racing, this never really happens…) Ben Williams rounded out the top 3 for the men.

Rust-covered super-rookie Mike Bascom finished just a tenth of a second behind Bindings Brent Addison, and 0.17 seconds ahead of fellow super-rookie Reid MacGregor. Watch out for these three as the season progresses. Alex Addison (another son of Craigleith legend Clark Addison) narrowly defeated Brayden Irwin and Alex Carter, two elite athletes that may finally be figuring out this whole ski racing thing.

Speaking of car dealerships, Dave Raymond continues to lose ground to his better half Susie, who is slowly moving up the GDHL standings. Dave was seen looking for a chiropractor following Saturday’s race…

The Battle for Brenzel Bestness was heating up this weekend, with all four members laying down some great runs. Also of note in the Fastest Family category (yes, there is hardware for this) Megan Robinson edged out sister Lauren Liberty and husband Dave Robinson, while Andrew Ottaway absolutely destroyed brother Phil (allegedly a slalom specialist).

The Callow family showed up this weekend, with Sam beating out sister Debbie Gust, while Zachary Enticknap narrowly beat out uncle Kevin Gust by 1/100 of a second. All were overshadowed by the fastest Callow, Austin Gust, who finished just outside of the top 10. Even though Callow family boss Bob did not lay any money down this year, he’s been closely watching the family results from his HQ in Florida.

Fresh after reading his own press clippings from last week’s newsletter, Gareth Imrie changed up his training regime and moved up the standings a few spots this week, edging out newcomer Laird MacDonald. Don’t expect Imire to get too comfortable in his role of GDHL veteran, as a whole wave of rookies is hot on his heels.

And finally, in the battle for Ex-President supremacy: James Mathers edged out fellow Chief Executive Chris Fregren by a mere 0.28 seconds. Rumor has it the winner of this grudge-match gets naming rights to the member’s lounge in the proposed BLE.

Results

The results page can be found here. Updates are in progress and may not appear until Friday.

Mid Season Apres

GDHL Midseason Apres – January 25th @ The North Lodge!

Thought you would have a GDHL free weekend and were starting to get blue? Fear not! We've got our next part-ay planned! Get ready for the GDHL Midseason Apres! On January 25th, we’re taking over the North Lodge for an apres full of cold drinks, great company and maybe a little table dancing. You won’t want to miss this one.

What’s in store?

Beer - this is a beer league, so we've got you covered.
Wine courtesy of Nicholas Pearce Wines – because who doesn’t love a glass (or two) of the really good stuff?
Light bites by Ryan aka The Nomad Chef
Kid-friendly activities – We’ve got the little ones covered, so bring the whole crew! They’ll have their own fun (and food!).

Who doesn’t love wine?

Details:

Date: January 25th
Location: North Lodge
Time: 3:30pm - till we make you go home

Mark your calendars, bring the family (or not), and come ready to have a blast. Let’s celebrate the midway point of the season in true GDHL style!

Not part of the GDHL but don't want to miss the fun? - you can still come out and join! The Nomad Chef will have beer and wine for purchase.

Mugs

If you have net yet received your mug, shoot us an email at gdhl@gdhl.org. We are working to get through all requests. If you haven’t heard back from us yet, sit tight!

Adult Race Training

Message from Glenn Blaylock, Head Coach, Adult Race Programs

We will be training Slalom this Friday, January 17.

Date: Friday, January 17
Time: 9:30 to 11:30 am / 12:30 to 2:30 pm
Hill: Check the White Board at the National Chair
Discipline: Slalom
Equipment: Slalom Skis, Slalom Safety Gear
Coaches: Glenn Blaylock, Al LaChance, Eugene Jacta

Coach’s Tips:

Learn how to ski slalom including keeping your ‘core inside the corridor’ of the racecourse and how to clear gates. Here’s the link: https://alpineracemethod.com/slalom-1
Gates Hurt! Learn which safety gear will protect you while skiing slalom. Here’s the link: https://alpineracemethod.com/safety-gear

Thank you for slipping the course and helping the coaches remove the race gates at the end of the training session.

Ski with Purpose

Glenn