GDHL News

For the latest Race Results, Tech Tips, Events and GDHL what's what, be sure to sign up for the News (black button to the right). See you on the hill.

Hopefully You Did Not Forget About Us

Good Morning GDHL’ers and happy back to school week! Summer is pretty well over, and that means many things, most important of which is planning your skiing for the upcoming winter. With luck, the GDHL, just like Craigleith will be back to full capacity this season. In an effort to get you thinking about snowy hills and carving tight turns, you will find some great distractions below, as well as our call for volunteers. Beyond this newsletter, there will be  communications from the GDHL before Christmas, as we launch registration, and keep you focused on your off season training.

Call for Committee Members:

The GDHL Committee is looking for new committee members! Yes, our dynamic, charismatic leader Marlene Jackson, has stepped down as the Chair. We thank her for her exceptional, dedicated service over many years! With this change, there will be some shuffling of roles this season, and there will be some other roles available. If you want to make a difference in our ski league, please send an email to gdhl@gdhl.org . Don’t make us come looking for you!

Distractions:

The GDHL newsletter would be disappointing if there were not a few distractions to keep you from working too hard at your day job. Here are a couple items worth your attention:

The World Pro Ski Tour (WPST) was re-ignited in 2017 with the goal to create fun, engaging, large scale carnival style races. With some of the best FIS skiers joining the WPST, the races (which are all dual slalom) are fun to watch. Here is a video documenting what the WPST is all about with some great coverage that includes Craigleith’s Phil Brown.

And here is a video documenting the entire race weekend, with interviews and more.

Are you getting bored with your offseason workout? Well, let Ragnhild Mowinckel introduce some new training tactics for you. Click through to the Ski Racing Media story on the Norwegian World Cup Skier’s newest routines:

That is all for now. The Committee is excited to have you all back in gates this year and we look forward to seeing you at the Club.

-Doug Jarvis

Unauthorized Blog Post

Since current management doesn’t seem to have changed the locks on the GDHL website, I have succumbed to old habits and offer this summary of the inaugural Craigleith Cup Race for adults in 2021. As the COVID protocols that were graciously explained onsite by Steve Milgram precluded loitering, assembling, congregating or otherwise remaining stationary in the vicinity of the finish line, I have nothing to work with but the results and my imagination.

Sunday found an impeccably firm and smooth surface on the Big John GS course. The skies were not cloudy all afternoon. Sadly our race was at 0930, but at least it was calm, not precipitating and a pleasant temperature. One fears that we won’t see a similar surface for a while, given the weather forecast predicts moving from double-digits below freezing on Sunday night to double-digits above within a couple of days.

About 30 adults took to the start, including some whose tardiness in registering was identified only by their out of order virtual bib numbers in the results, actual bibs being a victim of COVID protocol. As competitors were given arrival time slots for the start, only the early starters caught a glimpse of Bebe Zoricic preparing to forerun in a vintage national team skin suit. As starts were assigned by age group, older competitors got closer to the front than they normally are in GDHL, and perhaps were encouraged to think of prolonging their racing careers by the pristine course conditions. It’s likely to be some time before Jeff Sutherland gets bib 7 in GDHL!

Jeff comfortably led the over-60 age group at 39.48 (fourth overall, ignoring the callow youth who started after their elders), followed by Rob Bruce, Chris Fregren and James Mathers, who were closely grouped in the vicinity of 43.7. A similar pattern appeared in the over-50 group, as Patrick Pedlar, Richard Usher-Jones and Jerry Patten were all not far from 41.9 but were comfortably beaten by Greg Cavers at 36.6. Greg seems to have been training, as his time stood first overall, bettering Taylor Simms Brown’s 37.55, in what might be viewed as a mild upset based on past years’ Interclub results. Greg may have taken equal pleasure in fending off the march of time for the moment at least, as his son Dax finished in 37.75 as part of the U19 field that followed.

The women’s field was not deep and punters would not have secured favourable odds backing Megan Ryley. Megan didn’t disappoint, finishing third overall in 38.74. Stats geeks may wish to compare the time difference between Megan and her husband with the time Donovan Bailey used to need to run 100 metres :)

We can hope that this marks a return to successful racing for Megan, which has long been anticipated, as witness this excerpt from the GDHL news of 7 December 2013:

Mere Rumor-Mongering

Those who have studied the GDHL information page on our website may remember the "questionnaire" that included choices like "I raced with Steve Podborski or Kate Ryley at Craigleith. I was faster, but then ..." and "I am Steve Podborski or Kate Ryley." Seems that we might have someone to (almost) answer "yes" to these questions. When I restored my connections after my flight back from Sun Peaks, I found an email from Megan Ryley asking about GDHL. Her answers would be "I am Kate Ryley's older sister" and (maybe) "I was faster then and I still am." To turn back the annals of FIS history, on 27 February 2003, there were men's and women's downhill races held at Mont Ste. Anne. I don't know whether they used the same course, but from comparing the winners' times they might well have. Greg Cavers, our defending GDHL individual champion, had a FIS licence that year. His time in the men's race was 1:16.01. Since then, he has fathered three children, helped teach them to ski and managed to reclaim the GDHL title that I suspect he won that year. He is also, let's say, not looking forward to age 40. Megan's time in the women's race was 1:14.78. Since then, she has had podium finishes in Nor-Am races, been an NCAA All-American and represented Canada at the FIS World Championships. She is also still in good with those who don't trust anyone over 30. Meg wasn't very specific about her interest in GDHL, but she would be a bit of a challenge for the rankings committee don't you think?

So Paul doesn’t feel singled out, it would be fair to mention that Megan had a halting GDHL debut in 2016, the first race of which inexplicably resulted in her finishing behind her sister Kate by a Usain Bolt 100 metre time. I feel certain the ranking committee will place greater emphasis on recent results!

Full results for the race are found on the Club’s website, the “Archive” section of “Results” at gdhl.org or by clicking here. In the COVID haze, I’ve forgotten when the next race is. I believe it’s SL in the next weekend or two, but goodness knows it may change.

Stay well and keep others well!

James Mathers

Urgent Season Update – GDHL & Adult Racing 2021

We have some great news to share with you; there will be adult ski racing this season at Craigleith! We hope you are excited about the opportunity to get into gates and experience the rush of skiing down a racecourse!

The GDHL committee is stepping aside to run the racing league this year. The Adult Race League will be run by the race office, and you will need to reach out directly to sign up. More details on the race league below.

*IMPORTANT* Even though many of you have already signed up with the GDHL, you will need to sign up with the race office.

Here comes the urgent part, sign up deadline is TODAY! Saturday, February 20, is cut off, so take a minute and do what needs to be done to get your name on the race list. The details on the race league are below, so read along if you want more details.

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One last item before getting into the 2021 race league details. The GDHL committee is committed to bringing excellent on hill experiences to all participants, and we are excited to do so in the 2022 season. We are humbled by our opportunity to participate in the Craigleith community and offer fun and excitement to all of you. We will miss hosting you this season, but we are so excited to have you back with us next season!

We will continue to use this channel to distribute news and race recaps of the adult race league that is hosted by the club, so stay tuned! Good luck in the gates this year!

Race League Details:

Adult Craigleith Cup Spring Series

New for this season due to the shortened nature we are not running a GDHL series however we are excited to offer a few race start options for our keen adult racers. Our plan is to run Giant Slalom and Slalom race starting in a couple weeks that would give everyone a couple race starts this spring. There will be more details on dates and how to sign up for these events next week! The Friday training and Saturday gate training options will help you prepare and get some extra mileage for this series.

ADULT GATE TRAINING - February 27 - April 4

  • Saturday  9:30 – 11:30 **NEW TIME**

  • $295.00 + HST

This Program is designed for adult racers of all levels, who wish to gain some mileage in the gates and prepare themselves for our Adult Race Series. The focus of the training will be both technical and tactical with an emphasis on tactics for the more experienced racers. Giant Slalom and Slalom environments will be set. Protective equipment is recommended for Slalom. A closed ear helmet is mandatory for both events. Multiple environments within training sessions will be set in order to allow proper individual skill development.

Please Note: for safety & quality reasons, we have restricted the number of participants to 25 for this season.

 Friday Training

Friday’s beginning February 26, 2021. The program will run a morning session beginning at 10 a.m. and an afternoon session at 1 p.m.  You may  purchase a full day or a 2 hour half day session. Focus will be on gate training and technical skill development through training and drill courses. Training will be conducted by top level Coaches. Helmets are mandatory when training gates.  ATTENDANCE MUST BE CONFIRMED BY WEDNESDAY PRIOR - NO DAY OF REGISTRATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

  • Full Day Cost (4 hour session):

  • $95.00 + HST

  • 2 Hours Session:

  • $75.00 + HST

Enjoy the snow!

-Doug Jarvis

A Quiet New Year's Eve for the GDHL

Happy New Year GDHL’ers and fellow readers! With New Year’s Eve upon us, we may look forward to better days ahead, days of health, prosperity, and family gatherings. With this positive outlook we all hope to be skiing too.

Right now however, with the lock down implemented, and with the number of COVID cases rising, it seems a sure bet that we will not be skiing until at least the last weekend in January. Your GDHL committee is hopeful we can operate some races this year, but everyone must be realistic and recognize that we may still be months away from getting back on the hill.

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With that in mind we have some information we would like to share with you:

Ongoing Communications

Your GDHL committee has been working hard, including lots of communication with the Club. The second we have news to share, we will. As always, you can rely on this newsletter to be the main source of communications regarding all GDHL matters.

Billing

We will not be billing any accounts at this time. The plan was to do billing once we got on the hill, and that may still happen. Optimistically if was can run some races in the back half of the season, you can expect billing.  It will to be directly representative of how many (or how few) races we can host. Also, you can be sure there will be no surprises when it comes to the billing. We will communicate all details far ahead of time to ensure everyone is informed.

2021 Racing Season

It has been mentioned above a couple times already, but it bears repeating; we hope to race this year! We are optimistic that if the club opens, and there is snow on the hills, we will race.

As far as updates go, expect some more information as we approach the end of this initial four-week province wide lock down.

Happy New Year to all! Enjoy your hiking, snowshoeing, Nordic skiing, skating, and all other outdoor activities. Stay safe, follow the guidelines and we look forward to seeing you on the hill soon!

-Doug Jarvis

The GDHL Update

The title is a slight misnomer, as we do not have any specific updates to share. Right now, we know our race season will not begin for at least four weeks. Between now and next Thursday, your GDHL committee will be working hard to brainstorm, consult, and evaluate options and assess risks. We hope to have a new season-plan to you by next Thursday in this newsletter.

We appreciate everyone’s patience. We are all upset to have our season postponed but we also understand that sacrifices are needed for the greater good, health and safety of our community.

We hope to see you on the ski hill soon! Happy Holidays to everyone!

-Doug Jarvis

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Spooky Season!

Fall is here, and today is October 1st! Congratulations, you have made it this far into 2020, which is truly an amazing accomplishment! As we enter spooky season, the month  leading up to Halloween, we get to watch the Fall colours, bring out our autumn wardrobes, and prepare for Ski Season. This will be a short newsletter highlighting a couple items, most importantly Registration.

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Registration:

The 2020-2021 GDHL season is becoming a reality, and today we invite you to register! We have a brand new registration page on our website that you can visit here: www.gdhl.org/registration

As always, there is an early bird discount of about 17% for signing up before November 15th. Billing to member accounts will happen when the season begins in early January.

Registration will be open until January 1st, but if you act today, you save big!

Fee Structure

Early Bird - Before November 15th, 2020

  • $200 + $26 HST

  • Member Under 35: $79 + $10.27 HST

After November 15th, 2020

  • $240 + $31.20 HST

  • Member Under 35: $95 + $12.35 HST

Other notes

Sometimes when an email distribution goes out, it leaves out the best of parts of the newsletter, mostly hyperlinks and youtube videos. If you are ever curious as to why there is not a link where there should be one, just check out the website under the News section of www.GDHL.org. This has all the hyperlinks and youtube videos embedded. The website also has any updated spelling/grammatical changes that the editor missed before sending the newsletter to press.

There will be more news coming shortly, and another reminder to sign up before the November 15th early bird deadline. Until next time, be safe and take care of one another.

-Doug Jarvis

Recently Added: New Season of GDHL

Since most people have finished every tv show season available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Crave, and Hulu, throughout the Covid-19 Crisis, we hope the news of a new Ski Season brings joy to you!

The last you heard from us, it was March 19th, six months ago, and the Covid-19 Crisis had just shuttered the doors of Craigleith. It is hard to remember exactly how events occurred at the end of last ski season, but surely not many people foresaw the extent to which our lives would change.

Craigleith Ski Club’s Going Down Hill League (GDHL) is excited to announce our intent to operate at near-normal capacity this coming ski season! Both the Ski Club and our League will be subject to changing circumstances that make determining concrete plans difficult, but we have some details that we can share today.

What 2021 Season Looks Like Right Now:

It is the intent and goal of the GDHL committee to bring you, our racers, as many races as possible during the 2021 season. As of right now, we expect six or seven races.  The plan is for the season to start in early January and conclude with the Club Championships in early March. At this time, there is no in-person, in-doors Calcutta planned. Social events are obviously a huge part of our culture, so we are working hard to find alternatives to engage our racers and fans. 

The races and other details of our ski season will probably look different compared to other years, and those changes will trickle down in time as everything is assessed closer to us getting on snow.

Registration

Our Registration portal will be open on October 1 (one week today) and is hosted on our GDHL.org website. The Registration tab will be in the ribbon at the top of the page, once clicked you will be brought to a webpage to fill out your details. The cost of registering will be identical to other years, however we are prepared to change it to reflect the final race schedule, i.e. if we have only 5 races scheduled we will prorate accordingly. Both individual and team options are available, and if you remember, to be an athlete chosen in the Fantasy GDHL you must be on a team.

Fantasy GDHL 2021

One of last year’s big successes was the launch of our Fantasy GDHL league and it is back again! We are working with an impressive app developer to bring a professional like experience to the participants and we expect to triple our entrant number (about 50) from last year. This gives those avid investors another way to win some money, and for ski racers that are experiencing poor results to gain some credibility back.

We are excited about this upcoming ski season, and we hope this news helps bring some level of normalcy to your life!

Some distractions:

In the midst of a crazy end to the FIS World Cup Season, some may have noticed that a perennial champion, Mikaela Shiffrin was no where to be seen. Her father passed away suddenly at the beginning of February and Mikaela’s season was quickly derailed. Here is an awesome video by NBC Sports sharing where Mikaela opens up about those difficulties and what she is doing to prepare for this year’s World Cup Circuit.

For those of us who have put on the Covid-19(lbs) here is a great video with illustrating various workouts to get yourself back into skiing shape. Just remember those 19lbs you’ve gained may help you on the Landslide GS this year!

When the World Cup circuit starts up in Europe on October 17th/18th, it will be without a few household names. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, many athletes were not able to retire on their own terms, but here is a nice piece on the FIS page highlighting the athletes who will be free-skiing from now on.

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We look forward to seeing you at the club!

-Doug Jarvis

The End of a Season, and Your Isolation Edition

Leaving the ski hill at the end of the season is never easy. With the spring sunshine beating down on the slopes, it is hard to grasp the change of pace, from skiing every weekend, seeing your friends, racing on Sundays, and then suddenly, it stops. This year it was probably more difficult than usual. Even with lots of snow left to be skied, Craigleith, like all other non-essential facilities had to shut down.

It’s now isolation day 3, or 4, or 7… depending on who and where you are. No matter how you frame the tough decisions that have been made, shutting the Club down when they did was in the best interest of everyone’s health. There may never be another season like this, another world event like the one we are living right now, and its common to feel unstable during such tumultuous times. In an effort to provide some stability, we have another Thursday morning newsletter for you to digest. You will not be able to read this on your morning commute (unless you are an essential service, and in that case THANK YOU), but the content is not much different than other weeks.

Two weeks ago (nearly) we enjoyed an amazing banquet put on by the GDHL committee. Last week the traditional award winners were recognized in our email; this week you will find our more eclectic award winners. There is also a very important fantasy update below that will cause some fantasy team owners heart ache. For those who are trying to stay fit during their isolation period, you can find some work out ideas and inspirations for now and the off season. This week’s newsletter will finish off by rolling the credits on our season.

Brook and Peter Dyson, Winners of the Highly Coveted, Fastest Family Award

Brook and Peter Dyson, Winners of the Highly Coveted, Fastest Family Award

AWARDS: The Fun Ones!

When we plan our awards ceremony for the year, we have one goal; to keep everyone in the room smiling. Everyone loves to hear their name called to the top of the podium, but for many of us (your editor included) it does not happen often. So to ensure the GDHL appreciates race contributions from all types of athletes, we’ve created awards to recognize different kinds of exceptional performances. From our banquet night, the following athletes were recognized:

  • Fastest Family - Peter & Brook Dyson

  • An Athlete’s First Time Cracking Top 50 - Rob Peerenboom & Paul Petersen

  • The Family with the Most DNF’s - Doug and Steve Jarvis (2 each)

  • Fastest Old Guy - Scott McLorie, Scott then passed it onto his more senior equivalent, Greg Cavers

  • Mr Consistency - Mike D’angelis won for dislocating the same shoulder two consecutive years, in the same race weekend of the season

  • Best Start - Gino Gentile was awarded for his gracious face plant on the start ramp as he exited the starting hut

  • Best Dressed Athlete - Joey Hill (see pictures)

Joey Hill

Joey Hill

  • Most Confidence Award - Tony Baldanza, who at the start of the Super G racecourse said the following: “I got this, I can do it. Now which way do I go around the first gate”

  • Spirit Award – Bob Callow for his consistent attendance record and unwavering support of our GDHL community

  • Who got mis-ranked the worst – Steve McDonald (we will get it right next year!)

  • The #IGotChicked Award - given to all the guys who Katie Farrow beat in the Comet SL:

    • Alec Libert, Gordie Bruce, Trevor Whitten, Joel Charon, Jon Kinsie.

It was great fun giving these awards out, congratulations to all the winners!

Joel Charron, Trevor Whitten, Jon Kinsie, Katie Farrow, and Alec Libert all celebrate Katie’s triumph! Missing: Gordon Bruce

Joel Charron, Trevor Whitten, Jon Kinsie, Katie Farrow, and Alec Libert all celebrate Katie’s triumph! Missing: Gordon Bruce

Fantasy Update

What a great inaugural season for our Fantasy GDHL. Thank you to all who submitted teams, we hope you had fun tracking your progress weekly. As we progress into the off season, if anyone would like a more detailed breakdown of the athletes, their scoring per race, and advanced metrics, please reach out to gdhl@gdhl.org. We will happily make all data available to ensure you can build your winning team next year!

The Re Count. As you read last week, the final race had a missing racer in the finish details. This error skewed the results, and when the correct results were run through our program, we had new winners!

The final results on the season are as follows:

  • 1st place: Paul Peterson #2 – 1,115 Points

  • 2nd Place: Trevor Jackson – 1,097 Points

  • 3rd Place: Anthony Ruffalo – 1,085 Points

As always, you can find all details on this google sheet here.

How to stay in shape:

No doubt about it, staying in shape while also trying to stay inside your 600 ft2 downtown Toronto apartment is not easy. Here are some inspirational workouts for you to try, hopefully they help you keep your sanity!

Leg Blasters

This workout has been around for a long time and is often cited as the only dryland training for some of the best back country skiers. It will break you if you are not careful. It is all body weight movement with a lot of squats, lunges, and jumps. Click through to read more

Mikaela’s Home Workout

For the slalom specialists in the crowd, this is a great collection of movements to get the legs burning. It includes a spin bike and chin up bar.

With so many people in self-isolation right now, I've seen a lot of really cool workout ideas circulating online and on social media, and I thought I'd share the workout I did yesterday! Explanation below with substitution ideas (below, in comments) if you don't have any equipment. Of course, every time you see a workout vid out there, use your best judgment on your own comfort level and ability. The most important thing is that everyone stays safe. There's no need to get hurt at home doing any of these workouts, especially when hospital care and resources are so limited. With that said, enjoy! 🏋🏼‍♂️💪🚴🏼‍♀️ Set 1: -Bike intervals: 30 sec. hard, 20 sec. rest x 5-10 -90º/90º hip openers with activation x 4-5 per side -Plank row x 8 per side (try to keep everything solid, no twisting your hips or shifting weight) -Dead bug SLOW x 5 per side (count to 3 each rep, with or without weight) -Straight into full sit-ups SLOW x 10 (my strength coach would say "savor it!", lower back to the ground slowly and with control, with or without weight) -Pull-ups x as many as you can do. (if you aren't able to do one, you can use a chair to start at the top and then do slow-eccentric let-downs- try to count to 5 or 10 seconds as you let down.) -Repeat ALL 2-3 times Set 2: -Sideways monster-band walks with scapula-stabilization x15 steps each direction -Single-leg glute burners x 15 per side (with or without band, stand on one leg with slight knee flexion and extend the other diagonally backwards. Keep your lower back solid, the motion comes from your glutes/hips, not your back! Use a wall or pole etc. to assist with balance) -Body-weight overhead squats x 15 (with or without band) -Single-leg stair jumpers x 6 per side (drop down onto one leg fast, and then explode up from that same leg onto the step) -Double-leg continues stair hops x 10 (jump up and down on the stair continuously.) Optional bonus: -Handstand push-ups x 6 -Handstand walk-outs x 4 -Repeat ALL 2-3 times (substitution detail in comments) @oakley @adidas #HereToCreate #createdwithadidas

32.4k Likes, 411 Comments - Mikaela Shiffrin ⛷💨 (@mikaelashiffrin) on Instagram: "With so many people in self-isolation right now, I've seen a lot of really cool workout ideas..."

Aksel Lund Svindal’s Gym Routine

If you’re looking to bulk those legs up, here is your routine! This will be for your offseason (unless you have a full squat rack in your basement), when everything opens back up, and it is intense! It requires a partner, and lots of gym equipment.

A final farewell for now:

Thank you all for participating in a great racing season with us! Your weekly efforts on the ski hill are what inspire my writing and commentary.

Huge thank you to our amazing Coyotes who provided great, safe races all season.

BIG thank you to our coaching team led by Keith Farnhand

Our fearless Committee Chair, Marlene Jackson also thanks the exceptional contributions of the entire GDHL Committee who are:

Randy Dalton, Dave Henderson, Carrie Lenauskas, Julie Hughes-Workman, Jamie Coulter, Trent Winstone, Greg Cavers.

Depending on many external circumstances, including my isolation boredom, you may hear from me again in the near future. 

-Doug Jarvis

 

Yes, we have a recount!

That’s a wrap on the season! We had seven races in ten weekends, a great mid-season event with the women’s NORAM Cup coming to our Club and finished off our season with our trademark banquet. Thank you for joining us on this journey! We hope you’ve had as much fun as we have.

This past weekend we had our final race, a GS down Big John, that doubled as the first race for the Club championships. It feels symbolic and appropriate that we often begin our seasons with a GS down Big John and finish the same way. On Saturday, Ben Williams won, with his first run time of 31.21. Alex Libert (31.41), and Mike Welton (31.57), came second and third on the men’s side that had all three within four tenths of a second. On the Women’s side, Katie Farrow won with a time of 32.71 on her second run. Mackenzie Irwin (33.24) and Cheryl McConachie (34.09) came second and third respectively.

All of this led up to a very exciting evening. Every year at our Banquet we announce the individual winners, by gender, and age category, and then end the evening by announcing the winning teams for the year. You will find later on in the newsletter the individual winners for each category, but there was considerable excitement built up about the team standings, and things got more exciting as the evening progressed.

At the banquet, the three winning teams were announced to the applause and cheers of the entire league, however there was an incredible ending. The three teams ranked 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, finished within 9 points of each other for the season. Some very diligent racers did their research, and following the announcement at the event on Saturday, a discrepancy was found in the race results. Katie Farrow had been omitted from the final race results on Saturday. A small oversight any time of the season, however her performance alone could impact those competing teams, especially because she was on one of them!

A re-count has been performed and results scrutinized. We have new team results which will stand as final and they are:

Results:

Teams:

  • 1st Manitou - 3241

  • 2nd Landslide - 3134

  • 3rd Big John - 3129

  • 4th Cornice - 3128

Individual Results:

Alec, Ben, Joel and Mike

Alec, Ben, Joel and Mike

Men Overall:

  • 1st Ben Williams - 442

  • 2nd Alec Libert - 441

  • 3rd Joel Charron- 437

  • 3rd Mike Welton – 437

Cheryl, Katie and Mack

Cheryl, Katie and Mack

Women Overall:

  • 1st Katie Farrow - 421

  • 2nd Mackenzie Irwin - 406

  • 3rd Cheryl McConachie – 394

Jeff, Greg and Al

Jeff, Greg and Al

Men Vintages Category:

  • 1st Greg Cavers – 414

  • 2nd Jeff Sutherland – 406

  • 3rd Al Lachance – 394

Julie and Leslie, not pictured: Peri

Julie and Leslie, not pictured: Peri

Women Vintages Category:

  • 1st Leslie Sims – 301

  • 2nd Peri Wiseman – 232

  • 3rd Julie Hughes-Workman - 200

Our evening was a hit! The GDHL committee loves putting on our events and the Banquet is always special for us. There will soon be pictures uploaded to our GDHL website (yes there is a picture section!) which you can peruse and share on social media.

Next week we will wrap up the season with a look-forward to what the GDHL committee has planned for the off-season, and next year!

Thanks for a great season!

Doug Jarvis

Worth Reading

We are approaching the ultimate weekend in the GDHL Season; Craigleith Club Champs, Our Final Race, and our 2020 GDHL End of Year Banquet! After two weeks with no ski racing, this weekend will be a big finish to an amazing season. Today’s newsletter is loaded with details about all the events, so read below and be informed.

This Weekend’s Race(s)

On Saturday we will race in our Club Championship. The Championship consist of two races, each of which is one run. In the morning there will be a GS on Big John, and in the afternoon, a Slalom also on Big John. The timing is below:

  • AM Big John GS

    • Inspection: 9:10 to 9:40

    • Start: 10:00 am

  • PM Big John Slalom

    • Inspection: 12:10 to 12:40

    • Start: 1:00 pm

The GDHL will count the GS race in the morning as the seventh and final race of the season. This means that all GDHL’ers will be awarded two runs in the GS, but only to count towards the GDHL.

All Craigleith skiers can participate in the Club Championships, therefore we will be using a different set of bibs. Bib Pick up will begin at 8:30 Saturday morning in the Loft in the Old South Lodge. When you pick your bib up for the day’s races, please drop off your GDHL bib!

What Follows the Club Championships?

The Club Championship awards ceremony will be in the middle of the busy Apres Ski, currently planned to begin around 3: 30If you win any hardware, be sure to keep it on all evening, as you will be celebrated when you attend the next event in the weekend’s busy schedule!

The 2020 GDHL End of Year Banquet!

There are only 10 tickets left… better get to them! To secure your spot for the biggest night of the year, email events@craigleith.com

While you are contemplating the different possible outcomes of the GDHL team standings, take a look around your ol’ ski chalet for musical instruments! If you find a guitar, flute, recorder, or ugly stick, bring it along and play with our evening entertainment at the banquet! It is OPEN MIC this year. (Please do not let me regret typing that).

More details on the event are:

  • Date:  March 7th @ 7:00 p.m. at the Base Lodge

  • Cost: $35+hst /per person - $25+hst/ per intermediate member

  • Coaches & Coyotes are welcome!

  • BYOW (Wine - $10 corkage)

Team Standings:

It will be a fun finish to the season! By the looks of things, Manitou has run away with it, but Landslide and Big John are duking it out to finish 2nd/3rd with only 1 point separating them right now. Cornice is close as well and can make a jump onto the podium with a big, final race on Saturday! Worth watching who is coming down the hill on Saturday morning!

The points look like this, and a full standings breakdown is found HERE:

Fantasy:

The Fantasy Standings haven’t changed in a while, but if you’ve not taken a look click here:

In our first year of Fantasy GDHL we have learned a lot. The most impressive outcome from all the results is how important it is to start, and finish races. The second most impressive outcome proves how important it is to pick a team that has racers who will improve!

The top five entrants look like this right now:

  • Trevor Jackson: 961 Points

  • Anthony Ruffalo: 952 Points

  • Paul Peterson 2: 932 Points

  • Mack Irwin: 924 Points

  • Brayden Irwin 3: 888 Points

It is worth taking a look at where you currently sit, because the swing of points from race to race are immense! The lowest point total by an entrant in a single race this season is 23 points, the highest point total by an entrant in a single race is 253 points. What does that mean? It means a lot can happen on Saturday!

The results for the Fantasy season will be sent out on Sunday or Monday, and the money will be withdrawn from all accounts, and deposited in the winners account next week. The buy is was $10/entrant, with 42 entrants. Winner receives $294, 2nd place $84, 3rd place $42.

Tracking individuals in the fantasy competition has been fascinating. Some skiers have been able to capitalize on incredible improvements in their skiing, while others have performed admirably, but without scoring numerous points. There is a new sheet in the google docs page that shows each athlete in their designated table, illustrating the best pics any entrant could have made. Who did you choose for your team?

The top 5 athletes before our final race are as follows:

  • Paul Peterson: 290 Points

  • Derek Brodie: 247 Points (sleeper pick)

  • Brayden Irwin: 219 Points

  • Peter Ashworth: 214 Points

  • Graeme Blair: 213 Points

What or who will you be watching as racers finish their season on Saturday? There is lots to enjoy, and a great weekend ahead of us!

See you on the slopes

-Doug Jarvis

Bye Week Edition

We are entering our second of two sequential bye weekend and we are all excited to race on March 7th. And even more excited for our end of year banquet on the same day!

Even though the GDHL has been quiet, there was an incredible race on Big John last weekend as Craigleith won another Interclub Title. James Mathers has been invited to contribute a full write which you can find below.

Details about our banquet:

As always, our end of year banquet will be a blast! Get your tickets for the event ASAP! Details are:

Date:  March 7th @ 7:00 p.m.

Cost: $35+hst /per person - $25+hst/ per intermediate member

Coaches & Coyotes are welcome!

Ticket purchase deadline: February 29th

Included in the ticket price is ample wine, (though you may choose to bring your own and pay $10 corkage), delicious food, free drinks from our Craft Alcohol sponsors, and a beautiful Craigleith Masters Racing technical T Shirt.

Craigleith Interclub: The Dynasty

"Threepeat" is clever, but what is the equivalent for nine in a row? Whatever the answer, next year Craigleith's Interclub masters racing team will be seeking to complete a Decade of Domination to build on Saturday's unprecedented ninth consecutive victory in the Interclub finals.  

Results can be found here. It was a comprehensive success, as Craigleith won all but one of the age groups in which the team had a starter and, in the end, finished 36 points ahead of Alpine and 53 points clear of the Peaks.  Highlights included age group wins from Anne Mathers, Leslie Sims, Allan LaChance, Jeff Sutherland (highest point scorer of the day), Kate Veer, Trent Winstone, Greg Cavers, Mackenzie Irwin (fasted woman on both runs), Scott McLorie, Taylor Simms-Brown and Joel Charron (fastest overall on both runs), plus big point scores from Glenn Blaylock, Chris Fregren, Richard Usher-Jones and Jerry Patten.

If you're interested in looking back to the beginning of the streak, the report of the 2012 finals with lyrics composed in honour of the occasion can be found here.  (We won only eight of eleven age groups back then.)  But if you're focused on how you can join this elite group going forward, consider this:

You don't have to be "super-elite" to be an important contributor.  For example, first-year Interclubber Rob Bruce finished sixth in his age group, but because there were 20 in his group, he scored 26 points.  That was as many or more than eight of the team members who won their age groups!  And, his presence resulted in each of the three Craigleith racers who finished ahead of him getting one additional point.  It's really a strategic game.

Sometimes we're short on racers.  Had one more person come to the early season race at Alpine, we would likely have won that race. And while our usual female racers are all category winners, we don't have as much depth as we would like.

We expect that the finals will be at the Peaks next year and that Craigleith will host a regular season race instead.  That will make it easy for 24 people to get one race, but we'll only have space in the finals for one person who hasn't started two races.  So plan your off-escarpment weekends for March and April to be sure your schedule doesn't conflict with Interclub :). We'll do our best to avoid conflicts with GDHL races!

Beer and Druxys sandwiches follow every Interclub race - a good time is had by all. But a certain level of decorum is expected.  J-F Courville was part of the 2012 winning team, but it's not clear he has raced Interclub since this unfortunate costume choice a couple of years later!

JF1.jpg

- James Mathers

 

Who Survived the Long Slalom?

Family Day has come and gone, and we are through most of our race season. Individual and team results are adding up, giving a clearer picture as to who may be winning money at the end of year banquet on March 7th. Last weekend we saw some incredibly brave performances as racers took on the challenge of finishing a monster slalom! Originating in the Millennium start gate, following the hill slope to the top of Venture, down the entire length of Venture, and finally finishing beside the V Hill quad chair. It was a quad-burner that made a few athletes re-consider their off-season fitness regimes.

Keep reading for a complete review of this past weekend’s race, and a primer for the balance of season (only 3 more weekends). There is also reminder of our GDHL end of year banquet, (on March 7th), a reader’s submission from Bob Callow (Mr. Yellow Bib), and a call for racers at the 2020 SUPER G at Georgian Peaks.

SATURDAY’S RACE

The super-long slalom has always presented a unique challenge for those who spend most of their skiing time on the escarpment: leg-burning, lung taxing, foot cramping, endurance. A normal GDHL slalom course on Comet is about 45 gates, this past Saturday, the course was more than 65 gates. Twenty extra turns may not look like a lot during inspection, but at the bottom of the course, with rolling bumps between gates, there were many of us with legs on fire!

There were of course, those who were not fazed by the length of the course, Mike Welton was one of them. Mike claimed the first victory of his GDHL Career with the fastest run of the day at 45.32 seconds. Ben Williams (45.98) and Joel Charron (46.33) finished their day in 2nd and 3rd, both making their fourth appearances on the podium this season.

Cheryl McConachie didn’t blink during her wicked fast first run, taking top spot among the ladies with a 47.95 time. This was Cheryl’s second appearance on the podium this season, and her first win. Brianna Machej (52.93) and Mack Irwin (53.29) took home second and third for the ladies, while also bolstering their season ranks. For those counting, this was Brianna’s fourth podium appearance and Mack’s fifth.

All results are available on the website under the results – database link. Click through to take a peek at your rank and how your team is performing!

 In the coming weeks, there will be detailed analysis of individual ranks and team standings to build suspense before our season finale with the Club Championships on March 7th.

This Weekend:

There are no GDHL races this weekend.

The Interclub Finals being held at Craigleith! If you find yourself looking for some fun on Saturday afternoon, head over to Big John to cheer on your fellow Craigleith racers!

SKIING - THE PERFECT FAMILY DAY ACTIVITY

Few activities can span generations the way skiing can. It is always a special moment when a grandparent has a chance to ski with their grandchild, and even more impressive when they all race on the same course together!

At the start of the second race of the season, Bob Callow (Mr. Yellow Bib) brought his two Grandsons, Dylan Gust and Zack Enticknap to the start gate and gave them a chance to forerun the race. The official times of both the younger forerunners is not available, but surely it was a tight race between Bob and his two grandsons! Following Bob down the track was his daughter, Sam Callow, completing a three-generations race.

Thank you to Bob for sharing his joy of racing with his family and with us!

Bob Callow in his Yellow Bib, with Grandsons Dylan Gust and Zack Enticknap

Bob Callow in his Yellow Bib, with Grandsons Dylan Gust and Zack Enticknap

END OF YEAR BANQUET

As always, our end of year banquet will be a blast! Get your tickets for the event ASAP! Details are:

Date:  March 7th @ 7:00 p.m.

Cost: $35+hst /per person - $25+hst/ per intermediate member

Coaches & Coyotes are welcome....

Ticket purchase deadline: February 29th

Included in the ticket price is ample wine, (though you may choose to bring your own and pay $10 corkage), delicious food, free drinks from our Craft Alcohol sponsors, and a beautiful Craigleith Masters Racing technical T Shirt.

Fantasy Standings:

Fantasy Results are here. It will be a close and intense finish to the season, as Trevor Jackson’s team has taken top spot. Expect a full recap on fantasy standings in the next two newsletters.

An Advertisement for Super G at Georgian Peaks on March 13th:

Adult & Masters Racers

Georgian Peaks has hosted the only Super G race in Ontario for fun loving adult racers for the past 15 years. Unfortunately attendance has been in decline and the race is not economically viable without a full field of at least 100 racers. The ROC has determined that unless there are a minimum of 100 entries by registration deadline of February 29, the race will be cancelled.

Those who have experienced this race understand that it is an exhilarating ride down Minute Mile on a track that is set to accommodate a wide variety of adult racing abilities. Safety, combined with fun, is the objective. We need more participation.

The race this year is Friday, March 13. Teams are encouraged but single entries are allowed and teams will be created where possible. To ensure the continuation of this great racing event please take a moment to go to the Peaks website www.gerogianpeaks.com to register or email alpine@georgianpeaks.com with your individual or team info.

Thank you and see you at the 2020 Super GP Classic!

See you on the slops!

-Doug Jarvis

Extra Long Slalom and an Extra Long weekend coming up! And Extra Long Newsletter!

What a special occasion we all enjoyed last weekend! Having the majority of the women’s Canadian Alpine Ski Team racing down Big John in the afternoon, and Little John in the evening was something we can all burn into our memory banks and chat about at Après skis for years to come. For those who braved the cold, watching the dual slalom, there wasn’t much time for recovery before our OWN GDHL dual slalom down the exact same hill, started late Sunday afternoon, and ended even later.

The action won’t stop for us though, as we enter the Family Day Long Weekend with another marquee race on the docket, the “Extra Long Slalom”. This will be our last race before club championships on March 7th. Which, is also when we have our GDHL Banquet… have you bought your tickets?

There is lots in this newsletter. Everything above is covered in detail, as well as a GDHL Fantasy recap and a Standings update.

Race winner, Erin Mielzynski cresting the pitch on Saturday afternoon

Race winner, Erin Mielzynski cresting the pitch on Saturday afternoon

Weekend Schedule:

This weekend’s Slalom Race is on Saturday, February 15th. Not on Sunday, which was previously reported. We appreciate your patience with our schedule, as we know it has been fluid this season

NORAMs

Hosting the NORAMs is always special! The last time we hosted the women’s NORAM circuit at Craigleith was 2008, and before that 2005, so it has been a while. The Club was bursting with activity, and excitement throughout the day and evening despite the -16 temperature. Many of the women’s CAST have since taken to social media to share their thanks to Georgian Peaks, Osler Bluff, and Craigleith for hosting the 5-day race carnival. The Craigleith event was structured as a FIS Slalom, one-run qualifier down Big John. Then a separate NORAM sanctioned Dual Slalom on Little John under the lights in the evening. Erin Mielzynski won the qualifier race, and Canadians Stef Fleckenstein (4th), Amelia Smart (7th), and Roni Remme (10th) finished top ten.

A view of the Dual Slalom course on Little John, with the crowd gathered waiting for the race to begin

A view of the Dual Slalom course on Little John, with the crowd gathered waiting for the race to begin

All the CAST women made the top 32 cut to move onto into the Dual Slalom evening event. As the temperature plummeted, the dual slalom took off, with an incredible jump mid way down the pitch and the ladies laying down blistering times. By the time the racing finished just before 8 pm, Roni Remme of Alpine Ski Club had won it all! Stef Fleckenstein finished third in a dominant performance of determination. We all hope to bring the NORAM circuit and similar events like this back to our Club more often.

Thanks for the wicked week of racing C-Wood! Everything was perfect, from the hill prep to the cheering squads. One of the best NorAm series I've been to 👌🏼 Now it's time to get back to work in Europe 😈 * 📷: @andrewmielzynski

667 Likes, 4 Comments - Roni Remme (@roniremme) on Instagram: "Thanks for the wicked week of racing C-Wood! Everything was perfect, from the hill prep to the..."

DUAL SLALOM

The fun of the weekend did not end after the lights of Little John turned off! Sunday afternoon we ran our first (fact checkers please confirm) ever sanctioned and scored, GDHL dual slalom! With a different format from last year’s exhibition Dual Slalom, this event enabled all racers to take part. The results were determined by combining the first and second run times of each racer. If a racer failed to finish either run, they were credited with a half-second penalty, and the qualified run was just doubled. This made for interesting results!

As we started the race, the Coyotes quickly realized we had to reset our race format, and within 15 minutes had a whole new system set up in the timing hut. Following the race, the Timers told us that our race was more difficult to run than the NORAMs, which is a pretty impressive accolade!

The Sunday crowds looked smaller, but they were just as supportive as those on Saturday!

The Sunday crowds looked smaller, but they were just as supportive as those on Saturday!

After a few other course delays, and many gate panels going missing, we ran each racer twice. Ben Williams won the overall race with a time of 34.32. Trevor Whitten (34.48) and Mike Welton (35.05) finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. On the ladies side, Katie Farrow took home her third victory, with an overall time of 37.00. Congratulations to Bridgette Mingay (38.56) and Meghan Barber (38.97) who both made their inaugural appearance on the podium coming 2nd and 3rd!

Following the race, there was an effort to build an eight-racer bracket for a Fun Race, however with afternoon dwindling away, the bracket was called off and two fun runs through the course were scored for fantasy points. Ben Williams won the Fun Race and took home an additional 20 points on the day, with Mike Welton and Joel Charron taking home 10 and 5 points each for placing 2nd and 3rd in the Fun Race. Congratulations to Jeff Sutherland, who after breaking the start gate, finished both his runs, and placed 4th.

GDHL DINNER:

As always, our end of year banquet will be a blast! Get your tickets for the event ASAP! Details are:

Date:  March 7th @ 7:00 p.m.

Cost: $35+hst /per person - $25+hst/ per intermediate member

Coaches & Coyotes are welcome....

Ticket purchase deadline: February 29th

Included in the ticket price is ample wine, (though you may choose to bring your own and pay $10 corkage), delicious food, free drinks from our Craft Alcohol sponsors, and a beautiful Craigleith Masters Racing technical T Shirt.

This is always the party of the year for us. We are so excited to have you there!

Standings and Fantasy:

The GDHL League results are slowly coming together and showing which teams are in the running for money this year! Manitou, Big John and Landslide and on the top, but Cornice and National aren’t out of the picture yet.

We have had some interruptions with our database this year, which we are working to fix, however in the meantime our GDHL team will be double checking results and doing long hand multiplication to ensure all results are correct and final.

Fantasy Results are available here:

Check out your team and make sure you take a moment to thank those racers you’ve selected who are getting you points! Each race counts in Fantasy, so it’s important to stay tuned until all the race results are submitted and calculations final!

The top three entrants are:

  • Paul Peterson #2 – 817 Points

  • Anthony Ruffalo – 780 Points

  • Brayden Irwin – 778 Points

Top three athletes are:

  • Paul Peterson – 236 Points

  • Derek Brodie – 200 Points

  • Vern Gomes – 171 Points

See you on the hill!

-Doug Jarvis

Dual Slaloms!

The NORAM women’s circuit is tearing up the Niagara Escarpment today and balance of the week, racing GS at Georgian Peaks, Slalom at Osler Bluff, and finishing off at Craigleith for an exciting Dual Slalom. All this of excitement follows a weekend with no GDHL races and it is time we got in on the fun! We’ve got a great weekend ahead, with events both days, and lots of skiing planned. The weather looks like it will finally be on our side (hope that didn’t jinx it), which makes it even better!

There are lots of details about the upcoming race schedule, including this weekend, in this newsletter so be sure to read through. Sadly, as there was no race last weekend there is nothing to update in the fantasy league. Lastly there is a reminder to buy your tickets for the Annual GDHL end of season Banquet (open to GDHL skiers, their families, and friends).

Before getting into the details of this weekend, two corrections to last week’s newsletter are needed.

  1. It was stated that during the race on January 25th, Trevor Whitten finished with his first podium of the season; in fact, this was Trevor’s second podium, he also came 3rd in the Big John GS at the start of the season

  2. It was stated that the last women to win a GDHL race was Kate Ryley, in 2016; Kate did win in 2016, however Cheryl McConachie won the race on January 14th, 2018 – also a Slalom race down Comet

Apologies for the misinformation. We’ve already addressed the errors with our research team and taken the necessary actions to prevent this happening in the future, though no guarantees!

Laurence St-Germain (left) and Erin Mielzynski spending time at Georgina Peaks earlier this week. Credit: Dave Armstrong

Laurence St-Germain (left) and Erin Mielzynski spending time at Georgina Peaks earlier this week. Credit: Dave Armstrong

This Weekend:

It is going to be one for the books! The NORAM Dual Slalom is taking place on Saturday afternoon and evening. The bracket of 32 athletes will be determined by a single qualifying Slalom run on Big John earlier in the day (1 pm start). There will be no shortage of Star Power at the events on Saturday. Nearly the entire Canadian Alpine Ski Team women will be in attendance, while also attracting the top talent from NCAA programs.

As announced last week, the GDHL will be hosting the Apres Ski, from 3 pm to 5 30 pm in the Base Lodge, and it is open to everyone. We will have 1 drink ticket for each GDHL member available at the front desk. At 5:30, the Dual Slalom starts under the lights on Little John and the sold out NORAM APRES PARTY gets under way.

Make sure to dedicate some time to watch the races and keep a keen eye out for these current CAST skiers:

Noram Poster.jpg

GDHL Dual Slalom on Sunday: 1 PM Start Time

Sunday’s Dual Slalom will be a scheduled and scored GDHL race, so please allow yourself time to complete two runs. We will be running the Dual Slalom on Little John, with each racer completing one run on the blue course and one run on the red course. The start list will be set the same as a normal race, and each competitor will race against the skier sequential to them. Both racers will race for their time, not first across the line, and the combined times of the two runs will be the finishing time for each racer. For racers who fall, or do not complete a second run, their single run time will be doubled with a half second penalty added.

ALL RACERS ARE INCLUDED! We had so much fun last year running our short start list through the Dual Slalom, that when we got an opportunity to race everybody, we had to take it!

Following every racer’s two runs, we will run a table for the top 16 times. This will be a fun ski competition to finish the weekend off, and we invite you to stick around and watch!

SCHEDULE ONWARDS

Next weekend we will have our Super Long Slalom starting at the top of Millennium, skiing down the flats to Venture, and then down Venture. The schedule on the website is up to date.

END OF YEAR BANQUET

Our end of Year Banquet will happen the evening following our last race, on March 7th. Below is from last week’s newsletter:

GDHL Celebration Party and Dinner is fast approaching. 

Date:  March 7th @ 7:00 p.m.

Cost: $35+hst /per person  -  $25+hst/ per intermediate member

Coaches & Coyotes are welcome....

Ticket purchase deadline: February 29th

As you know, the GDHL Party sells out quickly at the last minute so a little pre-planning will get you tickets for the best event of the year. (To purchase tickets, go to Craigleith calendar date March 7th and click ‘register’)

Dinner will include 2 bottles of wine on the table (Family Style fare) in the Georgian room.  Band (BAM) sets up at 6:00 p.m. for the hors d'oeuvres and mixing and mingling. Everyone is on the GDHL this year will get a special GDHL Masters TShirt upon arrival.

We have sponsors serving FREE Vodka Soda (Cottage Springs) and Beer (Lost Craft) throughout the evening.

Coyotes are invited this year to the event to thank them for all they do in setting up and making our racing happen. Just send an email to events@craigleith.com and Whitney will add you to the list.

For those who has been to the GDHL Dinner before, you will recall we have some ‘fun’ games and Awards throughout dinner. Also, let me mention we have raffle tickets for some goodies from our sponsors that will be included in the evening.

Awards don’t always go to the ‘winners’, there are awards and prizes For: Most consistent racer; Family that races together.... Fastest over 60... craziest outfit....etc..... who knows what awards will be given out but you will need to be there to find out!!

Ticket cost will be $35+hst/per person ($25+hst for intermediate members) includes wine at table, hors d’eourves and a complimentary drink ticket and for those who return their bib will also get a drink ticket!

Remember, if you are musically inclined to join the band after dinner, we had quite a JAM session last year!

See you on the hills!

-Doug Jarvis

Who Is KateLynn Farrow?

We have a new race winner! It is always exciting when new athletes join the GDHL, it is even more fun when they challenge the perennial winners, and top ten finishers, for first place! KateLynn Farrow did just that last Sunday, with a spectacular race down Comet. Most of us were working pretty hard just to get across the finish line, as the course deteriorated, despite the Coyotes’ best efforts. Results from the race are posted which means you can find out how your run compared to the top finishers. As well, the race marks our fourth of the season, and rankings are available, so take a moment to review your season performance and how your team is doing.

Sunday’s Race

Our race on Sunday was successfully completed through drizzling rain and warming conditions. The hill had ruts, and the snow was soft, before we took to the course to try our best. It was challenging conditions and the best conditioned challengers rose to the occasion!

The last time a woman triumphed was Kate Ryley winning slalom on Comet in 2016. It seems almost eerie that another Kate(Lynn) would repeat the feat four seasons later!

KateLynn Farrow won the overall race with a time of 36.84, with Mackenzie Irwin (41.07) and Brianna Machej (42.09) rounding out the top three women. All three women stay in the overall points race for the season with their strong finishes!

On the men’s side, Gordie Bruce scored his first podium for the season. His time of 37.61 beat out Trevor Whitten (38.02) and Joel Charron (38.02) who tied to finish on the podium. This was Trevor’s first podium of his season as well, while Joel has yet to finish a race (3 finishes, 3 podiums) outside the hardware.

Who Is KateLynn Farrow?

Since we have a new race winner, it would be nice to know who she is! From extensive research, it seems she’d us rather refer to her as “Katie”, so we will start now. Katie skied at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), but before that grew up at Craigleith, skiing with the Ontario Ski Team, travelling across North America racing FIS. Her results at UNH are nothing short of exceptional, finishing top 20 and top 10 multiple times in each season she competed. In 2014, Katie was the lone freshman to earn a starting spot in the NCAA championships.

We are so glad to have Katie racing with us! Congratulations on her first career, GDHL win. We are sure there are many more to come!

Below: Katie racing for UNH in 2017

@ktfarrow off to @sundayriver for NCAA regionals. Good luck!

83 Likes, 1 Comments - UNH Ski Team (@unhskiteam) on Instagram: "@ktfarrow off to @sundayriver for NCAA regionals. Good luck!"

Standings:

All standings, individual and team, are available here. Click through to find out where you are. It looks like team Manitou has the lead, but team results change quickly as results are based on racers four best races through out the season

Carrie’s social update...

We heard you....you were torn but have decided you want to watch the future Olympians speed down Little John in a head to head dual slalom, so we have decided to join in the party!   We will be shifting our Mid-season Après to the Base Lodge and the GDHL will be sponsoring the NORAM APRES.  This will make the event even bigger and better to showcase the best of Craigleith and bring more awareness to the GDHL.  Win-Win!

The band 'Not Ottawa' will play from 3-5pm and there will be après nibbles passed around.

But Carrie, what's in it for GDHL racers? Why should we come?

FREE drink ticket!  Live music. All your friends. Awesome ski racing.  Nuff said.

Drink tickets for GDHL participants can be picked up from the front desk.  One per GDHL participant. (free drinks at Après... who knew that was possible?)

We are also extending a $5 discount to all GDHL participants who would like to purchase a ticket to the Noram Dinner event which runs from 5-8pm. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased by contacting Whitney @ events@craigleith.com or by clicking through here

Included with your ticket is dinner, a hat, drink tickets and tunes form a DJ.

Tickets are almost sold out so grab them right now.

Noram Poster.jpg

Fantasy Update:

Our new Fantasy GDHL has been a hit! We are so happy to have you involved. Right now, Anthony Ruffalo is leading all entrants, and you can find out just where your team compares by clicking through here. Thankfully for Trevor Whitten and Stephen Jarvis, their skiing is better than their fantasy team choices!

So far this season, the top point producers are:

  • Paul (Big Points) Peterson: 177

  • Brayden Irwin: 168

  • Derek Brodie: 149

There is still lots of race season left for your team to make up ground. Every race counts in Fantasy GDHL!

End of Season Banquet

GDHL Celebration Party and Dinner is fast approaching. 

Date:  March 7th @ 7:00 p.m.

Cost: $35+hst /per person  -  $25+hst/ per intermediate member

Coaches & Coyotes are welcome....

Ticket purchase deadline: February 29th

As you know, the GDHL Party sells out quickly at the last minute so a little pre-planning will get you tickets for the best event of the year. (To purchase tickets go to Craigleith calendar date March 7th and click ‘register’)

Dinner will include 2 bottles of wine on the table (Family Style fare) in the Georgian room.  Band (BAM) sets up at 6:00 p.m. for the hors d'oeuvres and mixing and mingling.   Everyone is on the GDHL this year will get a special GDHL Masters TShirt upon arrival.

We have sponsors serving FREE Vodka Soda (Cottage Springs) and Beer (Lost Craft) throughout the evening.

Coyotes are invited this year to the event as a way to thank them for all they do in setting up and making our racing happen.  Just send an email to events@craigleith.com and Whitney will add you to the list.

For those who has been to the GDHL Dinner before, you will recall we have some ‘fun’ games and Awards throughout dinner. Also, let me mention we have raffle tickets for some goodies from our sponsors that will be included in the evening.

Awards don’t always go to the ‘winners’, there are awards and prizes For: Most consistent racer;  Family that races together.... Fastest over 60... craziest outfit....etc..... who knows what awards will be given out but you will need to be there to find out!!

Ticket cost will be $35+hst/per person ($25+hst for intermediate members) includes wine at table, hors d’eourves and a complimentary drink ticket and for those who return their bib will also get a drink ticket!

Remember, if you are musically inclined to join the band after dinner, we had quite a JAM session last year!

See you on the slopes!

-Doug

We Got Snow, and We Raced!

This past weekend was packed with fun, and snow! We enjoyed two races put on by the Coyotes and our coaching team; a GS on Big John on Saturday, and a “Modified GS” on Landslide on Sunday. Individual Results are live on the database here, and there is a round up of the highlights from each race further down this newsletter. We are also formally announcing our Mid Season event! All details for the event being held February 8th are included here. Lastly there is a short Fantasy update.

This Weekend:

We’ve got a Slalom race on Comet on Sunday Afternoon. Inspection will begin at 12 15, with a race start of 1 pm. One item of note, if you would like to wear a downhill suit+slalom shorts on your bottom half, you will be allowed. We understand you may not want to mark up your nice ski pants with slalom gates in the race. You will need to abide by outfit regulations for your top half.  

Race Results:

Big John GS on Saturday

It was a small field on Saturday afternoon, with only 75 racers taking to the slopes persevering through a substantial blizzard. The course was set to run fast, however the snow was not. It was Duff Isberg’s day to take top spot on the podium, finishing with a time of 35.33. He beat out Joel Charron (35.34), and Alec Libert (35.48) in an incredibly tight race. On the women’s side, Katie Farrow finished in 36.07 to win, while Mack Irwin (37.30) and Brianna Machej (39.78) finished 2nd and 3rd. There were some major points won, by Paul Peterson (gaining 40 pts), Brayden Irwin (gaining 37 pts), David Henderson (24 pts) Chris Knight (28 pts), Mark Shillum (27 pts), Ray Murakami (40 pts), Graeme Blair (32 pts). There is still one remaining Big John GS, for those of you who missed the race, or simply missed the opportunity to gain big points in the race!

Landslide Modified GS on Sunday

Our 2020 speed race was executed without hiccups by the Coyotes. There was a lot of snow (A LOT) to get off the course for them to run a safe race, and still they were able to complete two runs for all racers who chose to run twice. After getting knocked of the top of the podium on Saturday, Alec Libert returned to his winning ways, putting down the fastest run by nearly 8 tenths of a second, finishing with a time of 50.72. Following Alec were Ben Williams (51.49), and Joel Charron (51.86). Interesting fact, it was Alec Libert’s first win in our annual Speed event, since 2015. Whatever he waxed the night before, it worked!

The women’s race featured the same three on the podium as the day previous, with Mack Irwin taking top spot with a time of 54.26. Katie Farrow finishing 2nd (54.69) and Brianna Machej finishing 3rd (56.74). All three women are in tight competition for the overall lead. Both Mack and Katie share the lead with 300 Pts a piece, while Brianna, is not far behind at 253.

All results and details are available on the website!

Call for Volunteers:

Craigleith is hosting the Ladies NorAm Dual SL On Feb 8th. We will have the best of the best ladies racers duking it out in head to head dual slalom on Little John under the lights. We need volunteers to help with the event in various functions. You get a front row seat watching the excitement while helping to create a world class event. If you are able to help either in the afternoon for the qualifier SL race or the evening dual event please contact Jean Allen at jean.allen@sympatico.ca. 

Thank you,

GDHL MID SEASON EVENT:

This year’s mid season event is the GDHL Apres Ski Party! Join us on Saturday, February 8th, for great music, and great company at the NORTH LODGE, 3:30 – 6 pm.

No need to be a GDHL member, all are welcome! And it is BYOB (Bring Your Own Booze). “Not Ottawa” (the band) will be playing, there will be plenty of food to enjoy, and best of all, no big bar bill!

Following our event we will head over to Little John, to watch the best Female Alpine Skiers in North America run the NORAM Dual Slalom under the lights!

GDHL poster2020.jpg

Fantasy Update:

There is a large volume of data to be processed for Fantasy, and the crew of statisticians is hard at work. At this point, the updates have not been made to the spreadsheets found here. To check your team, you can click through, and make sure you know who you are cheering to score big points. All data will be ready for next week’s newsletter.

See you on the slopes,

-Douglas Jarvis

FINALLY, A RACE NOTICE YOU CAN SMILE ABOUT

RACES ARE BACK!

Thank you to everyone for your patience this past weekend. The weather did not cooperate with us and the GDHL committee had to make live-time decisions with the health and safety of everyone in mind. Now we’ve got lots of great news to share! We have been rescheduled for a double header this weekend! To find out more about our rescheduling, read below, and click through to the updated schedule page on the GDHL website.

Even though most of us were not skiing last weekend, there we still some who found some snow. There were some strong Canadian results on the World Cup Circuit last weekend, as well a solid Interclub race held at Alpine on Saturday. At Craigleith, a group of die-hard ladies followed their fearless leader and coach, Shelley, through the rain. All this while a large contingent of Craigleith gentlemen enjoyed catskiing through BC outback. All this and more can be found in the newsletter below.

Finally, a Race Notice to Smile About 😊

After two cancellation notices last weekend, we are ecstatic to bring to you a race notice, announcing our rescheduled races! This weekend was supposed to be open on the schedule, but with the help of the race office, we’ve been provided two races this weekend. DOUBLE HEADER WEEKEND IS BACK!

  • Race 1: Saturday January 18 – GDHL GS on BIG JOHN – PM

  • Race 2: Sunday January 19 – GDHL GS on LANDSLIDE – PM

Saturday’s race is a traditional GS down Big John; inspection at 12:15, race start at 1 pm. Sunday’s race is a “MODIFIED GS” down Landslide. This is our annual speed event and is very exciting! With every year’s speed event, come specific rules to run the race, including but not limited to: mandatory inspection check in, hard eared helmets and functional pole baskets on each pole. You will receive a special email regarding all the rules before the weekend starts, to ensure you can abide by all of them. For those of you who would like to do you due diligence now, they are also available here.

Thank you to Keith Farnand, Dave Campbell, Kylie Deacon in the race office, Jen Gillard and the rest of the Coyotes for their work to get us re-scheduled, and for keeping us safe last weekend!

World Cup Update:

It has been a tough year for the Canadian Alpine Skiers. They’ve continued to put competitive runs through courses but haven’t been able to match two solid runs in a day to find the podium. Last weekend was no different, with some great results, but no one was in the hardware. In the lady’s race weekend in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria (if you think it’s hard to pronounce, try spelling it!), Roni Remme skied to a 12th place finish in the Super Combined (1 Super G Run, 1 Slalom Run), while Fredrica Brignone took home her 3rd win of the season. The men were skiing in Aldeboden, Switzerland, and Erik Read (son of Ken), put down a blistering second run time to finish 0.66 seconds off the lead and in 11th place.

Who else was skiing last weekend?

As mentioned above, even though most of us didn’t even think to put their ski boots on (your newsletter editor is guilty of this), some did get some runs in! Shelley Johnston took her team of fearless ladies for some laps in the torrential rain and posted on Facebook to prove it.

Shelley and her girls.jpg

While we were getting rained on, a group of GDHLers were enjoying backcountry champagne powder out west. I am sure Greg, Jeff, Scott, and multiple other GDHL alum will be happy to share with you their stories of the beautiful back country they enjoyed!

Boys trip out west.jpg

Now a note from Dave Campbell:

NZ Thursday Night ‘Get in the Gates’ Training will begin on Thursday January 16th.  New this year people must sign up and register on the NZF website - direct link you can use this so it takes people right to the registration: http://nzfoundation.crowdchange.co/craigleiththursdays

We are also looking to utilize these nights to help prepare and train coaches on the CSC PL pathway with exposure to the SOD athletes and a number of the AOA/CSC PL facilitators will be on site these nights.

The Crowdchange site is now live and also we have noted on the NZF homepage - www.nzfoundation.ca

See you on the slopes this weekend! It is going to be great!

-Doug Jarvis

Wanna Race? Try Interclub!

Former columnists never give up, as long as the password for the news site isn’t changed :)

Turns out the only Craigleith masters who got to race Saturday, at least in North America, were those brave souls who represented the Club at the Interclub event at Alpine Saturday morning. (For newcomers, Craigleith’s Interclub team is now the eight-time defending champion, after decades of near misses and other disappointments. Info concerning Interclub is available on the GDHL website here. It will help in interpreting what follows.)

It was certainly a damp day, but the race crew did a great job of preparing the course and spirits remained high. No drownings were reported. As numbers were generally down a bit, for the first time in memory, we didn't run out of sandwiches or beer tickets at the post-race festivities. Team members were able to linger a bit with the cancellation of the afternoon GDHL event.

The scores for the first three team places were 403, 395 and 390, so very close. Craigleith ended up second. As several women suggested, this may be good for other teams' morale, especially as we didn't dwell on Craigleith only having 17 racers, while first and third counted the maximum 18. Interestingly, there were more starters in the men's 80+ group than in the women's 40 to 49 combined. Kate Veer did nothing for the morale of the 45 to 49 group, winning by over 7 seconds.

Mary Riopelle and Leslie Sims both won their age groups handily. Mack Irwin reported temporary inattention as the cause of a late hip slide, but she finished nonetheless, in a better time than two Club directors.

Jeff Sutherland was high scorer on the day with 29 points and held first place overall until almost the end of the first run. Special congrats to Alan Shaw for a PB 25 point performance. Trent Winstone, Rob Burnes, Ian Latimer, Jerry Patten and Bryce Conacher were also 24+.

Full results are available here. When you’ve finished perusing them, flip to the home page on the Interclub site (interclubski.org) and “Sign Up Now” if you haven’t been part of Interclub previously, or “Sign In” and register for 2020 if you’re just late rejoining. (Spelunkers are being sent to look for one notable late rejoiner!)

Next week’s race is SL at Caledon on Saturday afternoon. This is a great opportunity to make your Interclub debut, as the distance tends to suppress attendance. Shoot an email to captain Taylor Simms-Brown to confirm your interest.

Let's not let others’ morale get too high! In the end, beating them is better.

And in the meantime, hopefully we get some racing at Craigleith on Sunday.

Cheers,

James Mathers