GDHL Party, Ladies Day, Club Champs…

In This Newsletter:

Sponsors
End Of Season Awards Party
Bibs
Club Championships
Interclub

End Of Season Awards Party

If you missed the deadline to purchase tickets for the GDHL end-of-season awards party, you're not the only one. However, registration is OPEN (again) on the website. Please purchase your tickets ASAP as last minute registrations make it challenging to figure out how much food we need.

We’ll be handing out a few awards including Individual Winners, Most Improved (The Greg Lee “Sumo” Award), Fun Awards, Team Awards, Fastest Family Awards, Calcutta Results, and more!

Party FAQ

1) Where and when?

Saturday, March 7th at 7pm in the Base Lodge

2) What is this party?

A celebration of the season where we'll announce the winning teams, eat, dance and enjoy an open bar.

2) Do I need a ticket?

Yes! Please purchase on the Craigleith events calendar. If you emailed us earlier this week, you're on the list.

3) Are there physical tickets?

No, we'll have a list at the door.

4) What is the dress code?

Wear your retro-ski best. Now would be a good time to look in your closet and failing that, search Facebook marketplace.

Questions can be directed to gdhl@gdhl.org

Bibs

Please remember to return your GDHL bibs. We need them for next year!

Drop them at the race office or bring them to the party. Don’t leave them in your locker all summer!

Those that do not return their bibs will have a hefty fine added to their already hefty bar bill…

Club Championships

Adult club championships are on Saturday this weekend, with awards on Sunday.

Information can be found here, or in an email from the club sent on Wednesday afternoon.

All GDHL racers are automatically entered.

You must wear a Club Champs bib, to be picked up on the upper floor of the Depot Lodge on Saturday from 8am to 10am.

Downhill suits allowed. SKIN TO WIN.

Giant Slalom - adults, u16

Location: Big John (separate courses)

Inspection: 8:40 - 9:10 AM

Start: 9:30 AM

Adults first, followed by U16+

Slalom - Adults

Location: Little John

Inspection: 12:10 - 12:40 PM

Start: 1:00 PM

Adult Awards

Sunday, March 8th

All Adult Categories - 12:30 PM

U10 through U19 - 1:30 PM

Interclub

A brief recap by James Mathers

Plummeting overnight temperatures gave way to brilliant sunshine on the morning of the much-anticipated race at which our Club's representatives would seek a 14th consecutive victory at the interclub masters league final race of the season. This has been an era of such dominance that its length exceeds the sum of the previously heralded winning streaks by Osler and the Peaks, both of whom have succumbed to internal strife and angst familiar to those in Leafs Nation and declined to field teams this year. Nonetheless, the challenge from Alpine (supplemented by a couple of ringers from lower elevation clubs to the south) was all too real, fuelled by their heart-breaking losses of 433 to 427 points in 2024 and 434 to 432 in 2025. To be clear, this dominance began well before a prominent Craigleith member was engaged to automate the entry and scoring system for the league.
Craigleith developed a team selection plan that was compared to the strategies of the ancient Chinese warrior Sun Tzu. (This is thought not to be merely an aspersion on the age of the current strategist.) The strategy was only somewhat undermined by last minute injuries and other exigencies that prevented all of those selected from being available to start, a circumstance only tangentially connected to Men's Day, if at all.
The race began from the upper start hut on Challenge, a venue reached by a metal staircase surpassed in length only by the approach to the North Lodge, and supported by pilings driven deeper than in even the most fervent musings of other newsletter contributors. The icy surface led racers to reaching tucking speed on the long upper flat almost immediately. Some probably concluded that the start of the Kitzbuehel downhill isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Then came the off-camber pitch that, unlike many other runs in the neighbourhood, had not received supplementary grooming. Many hastily revised their thoughts of glory on the Streif.
Craigleith was on the board early, when Anne Mathers won her age group unopposed, followed by Allan LaChance winning his over a strong but slim field. Then came the men's 65-69 group, the largest and consequently highest-scoring group of the day. It has historically been the foundation of the Club's success and the strategy leaned heavily into that, with seven starters. Alpine scored a surprising individual victory in the group and a second Alpine racer, who fell victim to Milan Popadich's second run heroics last year, redeemed a first run DNF with a third place finish in the group. But all was not lost for your heroes. Jeff Sutherland salvaged the highest score of the day for the team, followed immediately by Ian Latimer (repeating his shining first run of a couple of years ago and skipping his second to savour the moment), Bebe Zoricic and Dave Staples, who all beat the third Alpine racer and scored big points with the support of the other Craigleith starters.
Alpine's second ringer smoked the field in the men's 60-64, but Peter Rockandel scored big points with his second place finish. Peter's first GS race start in 13 years should inspire Lindsey Vonn to another comeback!
Greg Cavers then led Dave Raymond, Richard Usher-Jones and Jerry Patten to a 1, 2, 4, 5 finish in the next men's group, handily outscoring the lone Alpine starter. Then, in what was likely the biggest heartbreak for Alpine, Scott McLorie beat a stacked group of Alpine racers in his age group by 0.16, 0.30 and 0.47 seconds in the closest race that flipped two ultimately critical points. In doing so, Scott justified his hasty pre-race return home after discovering that he had brought his telemark boot liners instead of those for his race boots. This kind of incident probably explains why we have such trouble fielding a full team for races at Caledon and Jozo Weider.
At that stage, Scott was just 0.10 off first overall, and gearing up for a quicker second run, when dreams of podium glory were dashed by Megan Ryley finishing nearly 1.5 seconds faster. She was ultimately the fastest woman by far and third overall, confirming her status as Meg The Real Ski Racer. More importantly, the strategy played out as planned (but for those nagging exigencies) as Meg was somewhat closely followed by Cheryl McConachie and Laura Peever, who posted important points.
Alpine then racked up moderate scores in small categories where they were unopposed by your representatives, leading to another battleground in the men's 30-34. Magic Mike Welton stood alone against a list of five Alpine racers. In a move that armchair analysts will debate for decades, Alpine chose to start four, rather than seeking the potential tactical advantage of starting three or five. Mike prevailed by almost three seconds in the first run, a margin that was only moderately reduced by a more successful second run from Alpine's main hope. In the process, he put behind him a series of less magical results in previous interclub finals, claiming his first overall individual victory and justifying the efforts of those who pressed him to get his old yellow national team race suit out of the cupboard. (Perhaps Meghan B will be inspired to acquire a more aero, if less stylish, outfit for the next occasion.)
And thus the polls closed, as on a too-close-to-call election. Who would be Mark and who would be Pierre? (Would anyone want to be either of them?) In the end, despite Alpine having a remarkable 14 of the 17 fastest individual times of the day, and the highest point scorer of the day in 20th, Craigleith's team (which also included starters Glenn Blaylock, James Mathers, Susie Raymond, Milan Popadich, Jeff Craig, Chris Fregren and Meghan Barber, and multiple others in supporting roles) lived to fight for number 15, prevailing by 423 to 422.
The strategy will need refreshing for next year. The band is never exactly the same. If you think you can beat our guys, or the other guys, in your age group, put your hand up. But perhaps don't bother Taylor Simms-Brown too much - he's stepping back from his heroic role as team captain, league commissioner and sometimes fastest racer throughout this epic story. Many thanks to him and to everyone else on the teams over the years!