Halfway through the season!

In this newsletter:

Sponsors
Super G - Sutherland Cup
Slalom Race Recap
Schedule Update
Team Owners
Adult Training
Interclub
Winterlude

Race #5 - Sutherland Cup - Super G - presented by Sutherland Insurance

The annual Super G race is back on National - aka Hollywood Boulevard. Get those Super G skis tuned up, your downhill poles all bent up, and remove any mothballs from those downhill suits.

Some details about the Super G race:

Sunday February 1st
12:30pm Start - top of National
MANDATORY INSPECTION from 10:30am to 11:30am.
(If you do not inspect, you do not race. This is for safety, and is a non-negotiable rule. Your names will be checked off at the top of the course.)
One run race. (re-runs will be granted, see the finish referee)

Other details for race day are as follows:

Downhill suits are allowed, pole guards are not allowed, helmet cams are not allowed, and hard eared helmets are mandatory.
Because of the speed, there are extra safety rules around this race that need to be followed.
A Yellow Flag waving while you are on the course means that there is an obstruction or fallen racer ahead of you. Please try to safely stop and see the closest member of the race crew. You will be granted a rerun.
The Yellow Flag will be placed on the course during inspection. Please take note of where they are located.
If you see an athlete experience a fall, please do not attempt to enter the race course and approach them. While we totally understand and can relate to your urgency to help, Speed race emergency plan protocols will already have been activated to protect the safety of athletes, officials, and course workers on course.
Only accredited personnel are allowed inside the fences (athletes, course officials, coaches, ski patrol, and course workers)
Once inspection is closed, you must leave the course.

Our race crew - The Coyotes - are there to ensure a safe and fun racing experience on this exciting Super G course. Many members of our Coyotes crew are veterans of World Cup races throughout Canada, and bring that safety know-how to our GDHL races. Thank you Coyotes!

In the event an athlete requires medical assistance the course crew will ensure the course is clear before allowing the Ski Patrol to move to the athlete. This may require the "Yellow Flagging" of an athlete that is currently on course. As a spectator, this may seem like the course crew is not aware, however, they are ensuring that no one else gets injured while they are responding.

All GDHL racers are asked to assist with tear down after the race. It takes many hands to remove the safety netting. Please meet at the top of the course just prior to the last racer. One of the course crew will advise you of where they can use your expertise. (Don’t want to help? That’s OK, we need to make tough decisions regarding registration for next year anyways…)

The GDHL organizers, Club staff, and the Craigleith Coyotes race crew appreciate your assistance with the course clean up! Many thanks in advance from all of us.

Please send us an email or connect through IG or WhatsApp if you have ANY questions around the Super G. This is another first for a lot of you, so please don't hesitate to ask.

Race #4 Recap - Slalom

What a points bonanza this weekend! If you were to plan out the perfect conditions to inject chaos into the standings, Saturday was the day; a longer slalom than last week, cold weather, terrible drive from the city, three rollers, and a little Bebe magic. A lot of the young guns and wily (young-ish) vets couldn't hang in there under Saturday's challenging conditions, leaving the door wide open for some personal best days (and personal best Apres performance a few short hours later).

If you didn’t know, Saturday's course setter was none other than Bebe Zorcic, who unashamedly set a hard course for the day. Bebe was reportedly using the set as an opportunity to recruit for private coaching: "obviously they need it."

Lots of double DNFs on the day! Those that made it down had some great points to add to their team totals. If you don't yet know what DNF or DQ mean, are you really skiing hard enough?!?

Austin Gust with his first win of the year. Matthew Brenzel comes in 2nd, and Scott McLorie in 3rd.

The current overall standings are posted at gdhl.org/results. Scott McLorie – with a 3rd place finish, now sits in first place by a wide margin. Matthew Brenzel is in 2nd, and Cameron Bertouche is 3rd place. Something tells us these standings won't stay this way for long, but that's where we are today!

On the women's side, we saw the top three come in at Cheryl McConachie (4th in the race), Kate Veer (13th on the day), and Mackenzie Irwin (18th on Saturday). Cheryl actually started her first race of the year, strolling back into the season and promptly securing a 4th place finish. Nice job!

Phil Ottaway, owner of some big tax receipts from Craigleith Cares, used his low bib number to power through to a 7th place finish. Not to be left off the leaderboard, GDHL legend Al Lachance took 10th place.

Patrick Pedlar turned back the clock with a 22nd place finish, Craig Sievenpiper pulled in a 30th place finish, with Milan Popodich in 28th. Are we witnessing the return of vintage Pedlar, Popadich and Sievenpiper? Speaking of vintage, GDHL rookie Chris Pepper may be revealing his slalom specialist skills by pulling his best race of the season to date.

While on the subject of rookies that aren't rookies, David Robinson (not to be confused with David P Robinson), moved up another 40 places this week, after improving 40 places from the first race. Team Porcupine may have a ringer here! David P also improved his standing for the fourth week in a row, putting up his first 100+ point total of his career. Australian Olympian (and moving up the Squire John's loyalty points leaderboard) Jamie Britt squeaked in two spots ahead of rival David P Robinson.

To the shock of everyone within earshot of the race announcers on Saturday, bib 49 took their first run of the season. Rob "Nikita Kucherov" Emery made his debut and did his best Kevin Nash impersonation this weekend, jumping right out of his wheelchair and straight into the start gate. That cheap Team National investment could look like a shrewd investment for Paul Peterson's "deep value" strategy at the Calcutta. Others that are sidelined with knee injuries from previous races – there's hope for you this season!

Aaron Jeske seems to be getting better every race, putting up some big points for Team Porcupine the past few weeks. Excellent job! Geoff Matthews narrowly edged out David Singh in this race, putting him ahead in their head-to-head matchup this season. Former rival Alex Carter put up another great race, coming in at 52nd.

Scott Mulligan did his best to help out Team Comet this week, putting up a triple digit score. With some improved attendance at the remaining races, Team Comet could definitely be a contender.

Keep an eye out for some new team shwag being sported around apres. Lauren Michell (who improved over 30 spots this week) and Kate Veer (2nd place female) were spotted all geared up with sponsor logos at the North Lodge Apres. Word is they are looking for more…

Team Bowie is also rocking some team uniforms this year, and can be seen hovering around the base lodge bar frequently.

Top teams after four races:

Chute 7076
Bowie 7054
Venture 6994

And shortly behind the top 3 are:

Birches 6956
Comet 6582
Funnel 6517

It's a tight race on the leaderboard! With four more races to go (Super G, Slalom, Dual Slalom, Ski Cross), there's plenty of opportunity for any team to make it into the top 3.

Schedule Update

Please note that the Dual Slalom is on Saturday February 21st, not February 22nd as previously published.

Full schedule is here.

2026 Team Owners

For those that have been asking, below is a list of the main owners of our teams. This list does not include any consortium members or athlete buy-backs. These are the main auction-winning owners of the teams below.

Big John - Dave MacDonald
Birches - Jennifer Bellamy
Bowie - Bob Callow
Chute - Kristen Peerenboom
Comet - Phil Ottaway
Funnel - Katie Fasken
National - Paul Peterson
Porcupine - Tony Ciccocioppo
Venture - Phil Ottaway
Vortex - Paul Peterson
Landslide - Cathy Iskra
Millenium - Tony Ciccocioppo

Adult Race Training update - from Rick G

Hello everyone; hope your week is going well. Please find the Adult Training schedule for this week. All sessions will focus on GS, and the plan is to have larger radius turns in preparation for Sundays Super G race. Please meet the coaches at the top of the training course at 9:30 each day plus at 12:30 on Friday for a side slip inspection.

Please remember that it's very important to make your last run in the course a side slip so that the group following doesn't have to contend with the ruts we created during training.

Thank you!

Friday January 30th

9:30-11:30 GS on Comet skiers left

12:30-2:30 GS on Comet skiers left

Help with gate teardown as well as side slip would be appreciated.

Saturday January 31st

9:30 - 11:30 - GS on Vortex skiers left

Side slip only. We can leave the gates up for the group following.

Sunday February 1st

9:30-11:30 - GS on Vortex skiers left

Side slip only. We can leave the gates up for the group following.

Have a great weekend and good luck if your racing on Sunday...Rick

Interclub

Interclub Championships

Craigleith will be selecting up to 24 racers to compete AND defend our 15th consecutive title, at the Interclub Championship Race on February 28th at Alpine. Each racer will compete within their respective 5 year age bracket, male and female. If you are interested in learning more, or believe you can compete, please reach out to Taylor tsimmsbrown@jascor-intl.com for details and to relay your availability.

Winterlude

Some people claim Winterlude (athletic fundraiser meets euro apres) was last year's best event...but those people clearly weren't at the GDHL year-end party. Join us on Sat Feb 7th from 3-6pm for Winterlude 2026, the club's (second) best party.

And if you hate booze and a DJ (that's a lot of you as evidenced by no fun had at last weekend's North Lodge apres), still come out to the silent auction and bid on a parking spot so you don't have to park in the Orchard. Buy your tickets on the Craigleith event page and then get on Facebook marketplace to buy a hat like Rich's (only if your grandmother failed to store her fur properly).

And, if you missed last weekend's apres or somehow weren't coerced by Julie and her servants, I mean sales team, buy a raffle ticket here. Fundraiser proceeds pay for things we like, such as new lights for the dead spot on Little John. https://forms.gle/y7CMatbGrPhryUMK7