Saturday, December 16, 2017

Lecht Open 2018



It's finally here! Entries are now being accepted.

Entries can be made on the dedicated website:


Enter quickly, it's sure to be popular!

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Gordon Skiers - Sunday Spectacular

What a fantastic day of racing! Thanks to all the parents who worked so hard to make the day a success!

The full list of results can be found by following these links:

U8 / U10 / U12

U14 / U16 / U18 / U21 / SEN / MAS / Coaches

Also, a reminder to sign up for the Christmas Lunch. Please check your emails for details of how to register.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Wednesday night race timing - 15/11/2017

Here are the full results from last night:

Click for results

Well done to everyone involved and let's hope Sunday is just as successful!

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Braehead Indoor Challenge Cup. GDN Club Results

After a fantastic day's racing at Braehead over the weekend, we now have the GDN results available. These are informal results and don't make up any part of the event results. We have created them purely for the interest of club members. We hope you find them useful.

Click links to see the results:

Minis / Barins Results

Seniors Results



Friday, October 20, 2017

Competitor Licence, Snowsport Scotland

Attention all GDN members:

As the membership year comes to a close on 30th October, we would like to remind you to renew your (son/daughters) Competitor Licence with SSS, if you have not already done so, for the 2017/18 year.

Please note any registered child born in 2005 will now need to pay for their registration as
they are now in the u14 category.  

The age group years of birth are as follows:
  • 2005/2004  are U14
  • 2003/2002  are U16
  • 2001/2000  are U18
  • 1998/1999 are U21

It would be great if any athletes who are younger than 2005 birth could register for their Child Competitor Licence. This makes the administration of races a lot smoother AND IT'S FREE!

Cost
Competitor Licence costs £35.00 per year for club members or £45.00 per year for non-club members.


For full details please visit our Licence renewal - 2017 Page

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Urgent Reminder: Membership and Drymat training, 1st October 2017

The first session of Drymat training will take place this Sunday, 1st October 2017

If you haven't already done so, please register for the Drymat sessions using this form.

You will also need to complete the Membership form and pay BEFORE Midday Friday 29th September 2017.

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Drymat sessions 2017 - Dates & Times

Just to let everyone know, the Drymat Sessions for this Autumn at Alford will run from 09:00 until 13:00.

The dates are:
1st October
8th October
5th November
12th November
19th November
26th November

3rd December
10th December

Please remember that to take part in the Drymat sessions every athlete needs to have signed up and paid for the sessions and also be a member of Gordon Skiers. Forms can be found here: Forms

Look forward to seeing you all there!

Saturday, September 09, 2017

Reminder for tomorrow's Gordon Skier's Open Day.

Reminder for tomorrow's Gordon Skier's Open Day.

Kick off at 2pm for existing members looking to take part in the fitness and 5pm for the skiing Skills Quest.

Come prepared, as we'll be making lots of movements:- Snacks, water bottles, fitness kit and ski gear.

Looking forward to seeing you all there and the forecast looks like there will be a weather window for the outdoor sessions.

For those coming to trial, please be ready to ski at 4:30pm. It's nothing to stress out over. We all know that it can be tricky to ski on plastic if you haven't tried before, or if it's been a while.

Friday, September 08, 2017

GORDON SKIERS OPEN DAY - 10th September 2017

GORDON SKIERS OPEN DAY

Please find below the timings for the Open Day on Sept 10'th
Gordon Skiers are delighted to welcome new members to the Open Day. If coming along for a trial, please come to the Alford Ski Slope for a 16:30 start.
The ACE, Fitness testing, will start at 2pm and will take place in the Alford Community Centre (just 2 mins walk from the ski slope)
Skills Quest will start at 5pm, for existing members.
ALL MEMBERS are welcome to attend the open day. We will be running Performance Squad trials, but we are also introducing new group levels this year, so please come along and have fun.
More info on the new groups to follow.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Gordon Skiers EGM 30th August, 7.30 pm at the Broadstraik Inn

Don't forget to fill out the form below

1. If you are planning on coming so that we can have an idea of numbers.

2. If you are interested in standing for a committee position. All responses need to be in by Thursday morning this week such that we can notify the membership in advance of the meeting.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Scottish Dryslope Alpine Championship - Hillend 2nd and 3rd September

Registration for the Scottish Dryslope Alpine Championships is now open here. Gordon Skiers will be offering race support to any racers taking part on either or both days.

Friday, August 11, 2017

Gordon Skiers Open Day Sunday 10th September


We will be hosting our annual open day at Alford Dry Slope on Sunday the 10th of September from 12.00 noon. This is a great opportunity to come and see what Gordon Skiers get up to on the dry slope but also our plans for the snow season ahead. Skiers over the age of six can come and join in a trial session and some of our more experienced skiers will also have the opportunity to take part in ACE fitness testing and Skills Quest sessions. Detailed timings to follow.
If you are interested in trialling or know someone who might be please register your interest by email at Gordonskiersracing@gmail.com We look forward to welcoming you.

Friday, August 04, 2017

EGM at the Broadstraik Inn at 7.30pm on 30th August 2017

We are keen to hear from any members that can come or that are interested in a committee position, if you think you can attend please RSVP using this form.


Thursday, July 06, 2017

Autumn Drymat Sessions - Dates Confirmed


Planning for our autumn Sunday morning and Wednesday evening drymat sessions is underway and we can confirm that we have the slope at Alford booked for the following dates

Sunday Mornings
1st and 8th October
5th,12th,19th and 26th November
10th December Christmas Lunch

Wednesday Evenings
4th and 11th October
1st,8th,15th,22nd and 29th November
6th December

Keep an eye on the blog and Facebook for booking information to follow.

Monday, June 19, 2017

Gordon Skiers AGM 2017, 7.30pm Wednesday 21st June At The Broadstraik Inn Westhill


A final reminder that our AGM is this Wednesday evening at 7.30pm at the Broadstraik Inn at Westhill.

It is really important that as many members as possible attend.  This is your opportunity to shape the future of the club.  We have some important changes to the constitution of the club to be voted on and there are also a number of the current committee who are standing down so this is your opportunity to be involved in shaping the future direction of your club.

We would appreciate it if you could make time in your busy schedules to come and join us.

Gordon Skiers Committee

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Final Wednesday Training


A brilliant final night of racing tonight at the Alford Stade.

We had 16 members racing with 2 coaches joining in and it was red hot. We even had a dead heat for second place, with first place only 0.14s ahead (over 2 runs) Impressive skiing from all, but the biggest difference was, definitely, from coach Andrew Campbell. What a difference a sharp pair of skis can make. Even Andrew was impressed by the grip he was getting round the gates.

New to Under 14’s, William Lennox was showing some class with less than a second splitting him from first place (again, over two runs)

As has been the pattern over the Spring and Summer season, the courses have been becoming more difficult. Tonight we set a bigger offset with a difficult exit from a banana into a hairpin finish (Parents :- all questions and interpretation requests welcome) We saw some real drama in the last gates with near misses.

It’s been amazing to see the improvement in the skiing. As the difficulty of courses has increased we have seen the difference in times, from fastest to slowest, decrease drastically.

Our youngest female racer, Jera, continues to impress the coaches with her determination and skiing. Let’s watch the competition between Jeera and Finlay Smith, our youngest male racer, develop over the coming seasons.

Kathleen and Andrew ran great sessions before the racing tonight. Kathleen’s group was working on Body Management, focussing on keeping the hips forward to help the skis engage the turn earlier. Andrew was working the racers hard on race starts. He had set up a split timing system, so the racers could see where they were making and losing time in the race.

The final times will be issued once James updates the master sheet and publishes to the blog.

Many Thanks to all that have been attending the sessions. They’ve been a great success, with improvements for all. Also great to see so many new racers and parents.

I really hope Kiera Henderson is OK after her her tumble tonight and back ready to race soon.

See You All Soon, Gary W

Monday, June 12, 2017

Braehead Weekend

For those entered to and racing in the GBR Indoor Race 3 and Scottish Indoor Championships next weekend, please find below the plan for the weekend.

Here is the timetable for the weekend.

Unfortunately there will be no dedicated Gordon’s training on the Friday night, due to a communications failure between Snowfactor and Gordons.

The indoor races are always exciting to watch and take part in. The racing is fast and the whole course can be seen from the spectator’s viewing balcony.  As ever, please ensure skis are sharp. Indoor races tend to be on a firm surface. Once the soft snow has been pushed aside the race course will be firm and grippy.

The Bairns will race on stubbies, following the first race of the Children. Typically the Bairn’s race will be on the same course as the children, with the full gates replaced by stubbies.

Parents, if you’ve never skied in the Glasgow indoor slope before, please note helmets are compulsory. They must be worn even if walking out onto the snow to watch from the bottom of the slope. Typically it’s -6 in the dome, so wrap up warm.

Both races will be supported by 2 Gordon’s Coaches.  Please let me know if you have any questions, or if anything is unclear for next weekend.

Gary W

Sunday, June 11, 2017

GBR National Schools Championships

NE Scotland and Gordon Skiers head south to the cold of Chill Factor and run red hot in the GBR National Schools Indoor Champs.

William, Kieran and Paul were reunited for their first race together since the "Dream team" that cleaned up at SSSA Indoor Champs last Autumn. The boys blitzed the GB field and won the Junior school prize and another trophy for Newmachar Primary. Jonny Marshall also raced representing Meldrum Academy and to assist the younger guys with course inspection.

Results from the fearsome four were as follows;

  • Meldrum Academy - Boys Senior School champs
  • Newmachar Primary - Boys Junior School Champs
  • Jonny - 1st U16 boy, 2nd overall 
  • William - 1st U14 boy
  • Kieran - 1st U12 boy
  • Paul - 3rd U12 boy

All four will be racing again indoors at Braehead for Gordon Skiers next week. Hope to see a great team turn out!


Saturday, June 10, 2017

Twin Peaks 2017 Report


Last weekend a team of Gordon Skiers travelled South to race in the Annual Twin Peaks Event.
As the name suggests, the race takes place on 2 separate hills.  Saturday’s races took place on the Tillicoultry Artificial slope at Firpark and the Sunday races took place on the legendary Hillend artificial slope, at the Midlothian Snowsports Centre.

Firpark


As with all points races, the skiers must complete 2 separate courses, set by different course setters. Course 1 was a great warm up to racing with a fast Slalom. This is also great for the spectators.

Course 2 was set by Olympian Alain Baxter, which certainly threw up more of a challenge to skiers. Of the top 6 Males, only 2 managed to finish which is indicative of the level of difficulty.

Saturday’s race was part of the GBR series, so racers from all over the UK had travelled to take part, resulting in some very competitive races and a low points penalty.  Gordon’s had 11 racers taking part. 1 x U18, 7 x Bairns and 3 U14’s.

We were off to an impressive start with almost all of the Bairns racers completing both runs.  Young Michael McIntosh raced very well, in his first race, taking 14’th place in his age category.  Seasoned Racer Daisy Cowie was showing the younger Gordon’s girls the way with an impressive top 10 finish, in age category.

The U14 boys weren’t quite so lucky with a couple of the boys not managing to complete both runs. However, Nathan was showing the other clubs that we have talented racers in the NE, taking 7’th place, in age category, for Gordons.

We only had one entry, Beth Whatford, in the U18 category. Beth had a very strong performance in the second run to take first place for Gordon Skiers.  Well done Beth

Hillend


Racing at Hillend is always a challenge for the non-locals. There’s a huge advantage to training on the (almost) biggest artificial slope in Europe. Our skiers always surprise me and do very well, with most Gordon Skiers only managing to attend 2 races there a year. We did make it onto the hill for a short training session on the Saturday evening, following the Firpark, race.

The race start at Hillend is very steep and worth a look if you’ve never been to the top. Well done to all of our U14’s and above for competing and competing there.  We had 8 racers taking part on Sunday. 4 x Bairns, 3 x U14’s and 1 x U18.

Once again the racers must compete on 2 courses. This time the Bairns had their very own slope to race on, with the best 2, out of 3, runs counting to their final time.

Michael MacIntosh, once again, should his talent by skiing into 14’th place. Racing has really brought Michael’s skiing on, so well done to him.  Solid performances from the U14 boys with Nathan Smith skiing well into the top 10, in 8’th place, with Ben Whatford being just outside in 12’th place.

Another impressive podium for Beth Whatford at Hillend, this time taking the Silver Medal.

The next races are the British Series and Scottish Indoor Championships at Braehead. Entries have now closed for these races.   If you are thinking of entering a race and feel a little unsure. Why not speak to one of our experienced coaches, or speak to some of the racers and their parents. I’m sure they’ll be able to put you more at ease.


Friday, June 09, 2017

Entries For Scottish and British Dry Slope Champs Now Open

We have just been notified that the entries are now live for both the Scottish Dry Slope Championships on September 2nd and 3rd and  the British Artificial Slope Alpine Champs which are being held at Hillend on September 23rd and 24th.

Saturday will be Slalom and Sunday will be GS for all U14 and older skiers.

There will also be unseeded races both day for U10 and U12 skiers.

Please see the link below for entry forms.


  
Given the Indoor events next weekend have filled up we would suspect that entries for the above event will be large too and therefore recommend those wishing to attend make their entries as early as possible.



AGM, Further Proposal for Constitution Change

We have had a proposal for a further change to the constitution from member Margaret Brown. Margaret has suggested that under Section 13, Procedure At the Annual and Extraordinary General Meetings, Section v) Every member of the club over the age of eighteen years shall be entitled to vote should be amended to read “Every member over the age of sixteen years shall be entitled to vote.”

This proposal will be voted on at the AGM along with the proposed changes already publicised.

Thursday, June 08, 2017

Wednesday Night Training, 7th June


Wednesday morning saw a lot of rain fall and flooding around the area. Luckily during the day, the rain stopped and water levels subsided and the sun even came out for us during our mid-week training session.

Coaches for the night were Andrew C with Performance Squads and James in control of the Race Development groups. We had a good turnout of 18 athletes training, with a couple others off injured this week.

Andrew was working on agility with the performance team culminating in a tight set course to finish their training session. James was assisted by Andrew S who was shadowing for the night whilst giving the development squads some good feedback. The aim for the race development skiers was to work on upper body management, this was developed through various drills before putting it all together through a stubby course.

For the timed runs a very challenging course was set under the watchful eye and guidance of Gary with two hairpins and a tight Banana gate. 5 skiers from 20 were unable to complete the required 2 runs last night. Neil S lead the pack just ahead of his older brother Andrew, Nathan was holding his own and took 3rd place a fraction ahead of Beth.

Great skiing and times from all last night, the challenging courses are paying off when it comes to races with Gordon Skiers performing well last week on some tough courses at the Twin Peaks races.

One more Wednesday to go (next week) where everyone will be looking for the all-important points to finalise the standings for the Summer Mid-Week Series.



Tuesday, June 06, 2017

AGM Wednesday 21st June

Further to our last posting the committee has now had a further meeting and has been reviewing the club constitution. We feel that there are two sections that require updating.

  • Firstly, leading on from our last posting we would propose updating the section 9, vi on ordinary members sitting on the committee to :- "Section 9, vi) In addition to the members so elected the Committee may co-opt up to four further members of the Club who shall serve until the next Annual General Meeting. Those ordinary committee members may serve up to two consecutive years and may then stand again after a one year’s break from the committee. Co-opted members shall be entitled to vote at the meetings of the Committee."
  • Secondly we would propose updating the roles on the committee in section 9, i to reflect the current structure. "Section 9, i) The committee shall consist of the Chairperson, Financial Controller, Club Secretary, Communications Convener, Training Convener, Racing Convener and Sponsorship Convener"

We would very much appreciate if members could send expressions of interest in these roles to admin@gordonskiers.com. Members of the current committee will be happy to discuss what these roles entail.

Friday, June 02, 2017

Scottish Summer Series 2017

Please see below the email we have received from Snowsport Scotland regarding the 2017 Scottish Summer Series. There is a link to their attachment at the foot of this posting.

"Please find attached the rules for this seasons summer series. There are no major changes in the rules from last year. The Firpark leg of the Twin Peaks on the 3rd of June  incorporates round 2 of the BSA GBR outdoors series. There is a big entry with a number of athletes with low points attending. Many are also attending the Hillend leg. Hopefully this will help to bring the points of Scottish athletes down to more realistic levels.

BSA are also sponsoring the indoor series with race 3 at Braehead on the 17th of June followed by the Scottish indoor on the 18th.  In addition to the Scottish Outdoor, Craig MacFie and Bairns and Lassies, Hillend is also the venue for the British out door championships on the 23rd and 24th of September.

Points will be awarded to the top 30 entrants in accordance to World Cup rules. Additionally everyone who starts will receive 0.5 points in each event to qualify for series points.

If all 9 events run (10) for those eligible for the Bairns and Lassies, the best five results will count.

The SSS website is being updated and thanks to James Paxton the Points Series results will be update ASAP and POSTED ON THE WEBSITE.

Two events are the minimum required to constitute a series.
A start at Firpark and Hillend this weekend qualifies competitors for the series.

I have attached a copy of the rules. Please note that the links are not live on the document but hopefully this will all be live on the SSS website next week.  A big thanks to all of the sponsors giving prizes for individual events and BSA and  the Craig MacFie Trust, MAD, LSRA and SSS as main event sponsors and organisers."

Rules of Summer Series 2017

Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks is this weekend, so I hope all entrants are ready to go and the skis have been sharpened.

Most entrants have been attending the Wednesday Training and Race sessions so will, by now, understand how important it is to have sharp skis

The goal of the Wednesday training has been to increase the difficulty of the courses and drills, in preparation for the Summer race series. The advantage of this is that we can see the difference in the times between the skiers is narrowing as the skills improve and the courses become tighter. Last Wednesday's course being the toughest yet with 2 Performance Squad, 2 Race Development and 1 coach failing to finish.

Train Hard, Race Easy !!

Hard work pays off and I'm sure, with all the training we've been doing, our skiers will perform very well this weekend.

Remember we have the additional training session on Saturday evening, straight after Firpark, at 5pm. This will be an excellent opportunity to ski on Hillend and become familiar with the set up and the different surface and gradient.

Coaches this weekend will be Gary W and Callum S and we'll both be there for both races. We're looking forward to a successful and positive weekend, so let's be ready to race and have our race faces.

Race one is at Firpark Ski Centre Fir Park, Tillicoultry, FK13, Scotland. I hope the below link to the location works.

Firpark Ski Centre


Firpark Start Time : Provisional start time is 10:30 with course inspection between 10:00 and 10:30. Bibs will be available for collection between 08:30 and 09:00. The slope is available to warm up between 09:00 and 09:45.


Race 2 is at Hillend Midlothian Snow Sports Centre Biggar Road, Penicuik, EH26, Scotland

Midlothian Snowsports Centre


Hillend Start Time.Bib collection 12:30 with warmup from 13:00. Course inspection 13:20 with the race starting at 14:00
The Bairns will race on the tow slope, with U14 and above racing on the main slope. Both races will take place concurrently.

Gdn's will have an area for parents, spectators and ski servicing set up, so feel free to bring a folding chair.

Coaches will be on hand this weekend to help out with the servicing of skis, so if you have a travel bench and some basic service kit, please stick it in the back of the car.

Wednesday 21st June – Gordon Skiers AGM Broadstraik Inn, Westhill.

It is now only 3 weeks to our AGM at the Broadstraik Inn Westhill on 21st June. We would like to invite and encourage as many members as possible to attend. It is a members club and your views and opinions matter.

The procedure for the AGM is for the current committee to stand down and then all roles are up for re-election. Some of the existing committee will be looking for re-election but other roles will be vacant and we are looking for new members to join.

There are some procedural matters that we need to advertise. A copy of our constitution can be read here.

Firstly we would like to propose a change to the constitution to be voted on at the AGM. Currently the constitution provides for the committee to co-opt two ordinary members on to the committee however they have to stand down after one year and cannot be co-opted back on to the committee until a further year has elapsed. We would propose that this is changed to allow these ordinary committee members to be co-opted on to the committee for a second year.

Secondly the constitution also states:- “Nominations for elections of members to any office or for membership of the Committee shall be made in writing by the proposer and seconder to the Administrator (admin@gordonskiers.com) not less than seven days before the Annual General Meeting. Notice of any resolution proposed to be moved at the Annual General Meeting shall be given in writing to the Administrator not less than seven days before the meeting”. We would therefore encourage any members considering joining the committee to contact us via the admin@gordonskiers.com so that we can ensure the necessary paperwork is completed.

Training Wednesday 31st March


Wednesday night saw another glorious evening with 18 trainees turning out to train in the sunny weather.

Coaches for the night were James, with Performance, and Andrew C working with Development  with Andrew S shadowing and assisting with the Performance squads, giving them some extra tips throughout the session.

With the Twin Peaks looming this weekend it was decided to do some warm up drills before taking everything we have been working on all season into the gates. Development were skiing a ‘suicide; style course whilst the performance squads started on an open corridor working on accelerating out of  the turn, before the course become tighter later.

For the timed runs the trainees requested a technical set, in the hope it might replicate the style they may face this weekend. A challenging course with left footed hairpin exit and banana gate was set with open gates before, between and after. The course caught quite a few of the faster skiers out as well as losing some of the younger ones due to confusion.

Beth W took top honours overall to take 100 series points with Andrew S closely behind. Torin was mixing it with the older kids and rounded off the top 5 and taking the honours for fastest U12. Ollie took a nasty fall on Run 1 and retired from the racing but we hope to see him back in action again next week.

Reminder- the Sunday sessions have now finished for the summer. We have 2 more Wednesday sessions with the AGM the following week (21st June)

We wish all the racers competing this weekend at Twin Peaks the best of luck and hope to hear all about it at next Wednesdays session. Good Luck.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Training Wednesday 31st May

Good Evening All, Wednesday’s Race Training will go ahead tomorrow at Alford. The competition is hotting up and we’re approaching the end of the current session, so make sure you’re there if you’re looking for race points.

We also have the Twin Peaks Races coming up this weekend. So, if you need a last training session in gates, make sure you’re there for the races. There is no better training for a race, than to race.

Come prepared with sharp skis and your race face ready to go.

Gary Whatford

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Training Sunday 28th May

For this Sunday's training session at Alford I'm delighted to
welcome Ella Still to the coaching team. Ella is a Gordon Skier and member of the British Ski Team.

Ella will be working with the Performance Squad Athletes and James will be running the session for Race Development.   I'm sure Ella will run an excellent session, so make the most of it, as she's a busy girl and isn't around too much.

We also have 3 members of Gordon Skier's Performance Squad racing in Landgraaf, Holland, this weekend.  Good luck to Neil Simpson, Beth Whatford and Ben Whatford.  Tomorrow they will be racing Slalom in the morning, with a Pro-Slalom in the afternoon.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Training Report, Wednesday 24th May


We had very close racing at Wednesday’s session with 15 racers. The session started with the Performance Squads training with Andrew and the Development Squads training with Kathleen
and Rachel.

After the warm up both squads worked on consolidating the balance sessions we have been doing for the last few weeks. Andrew set up training gates for the Performance Squad with a focus on fore-aft balance in the top section and lateral balance in the bottom half which tested all of the skiers. Kathleen and Rachel set up a similar course in stubbies for the Development Squads.

The course set was challenging, especially through the last 3 gates. Coach James was mixing it in the top 3 overall last night. Andrew Simpson followed James with Beth following closely behind into third, as first girl. Welcome back to training Beth, good to see you back in the gates last night. Congratulations to Daisy C who made it into the top 5, of the skiers, last night and was top Bairn.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Wednesday Training, 24'th May.

Just a reminder to all that race training and timed runs will be on this Wednesday, at 7pm.

All skiers have been working really hard on their race skills, so let's see them put into practice in the gates.

Who will take the 100 points this week?

Gary Whatford

Monday, May 22, 2017

Training Sunday 21st May

Well done to the coaching team tonight. Kathleen and Jamie were ably assisted by Rachel, to deliver a fun session. Kathleen and Rachel were coaching the majority of the skiers and were working on drills and skills that helped to develop the timing required to move into performance skiing. Kathleen is one of our members and racers that has recently qualified as a BASI Level 2 instructor. Rachel is still a racer and is working her way through the Instructing and coaching qualifications, who has qualified as a BASI Level 1 and will also soon be going for her BASI Level 2 qualification.

Great to see the girls working together tonight and engaging with the kids. Great demos and team work.

Jamie was working with the Performance Squad Skiers, continuing the theme of challenging balance from recent sessions. The Performance Squad ranges from age 17 to 11, with the whole age range on the hill tonight. The Performance Squad were being thoroughly challenged by Jamie tonight, with slow speed performance and early edge change being the theme.

Gordon Skiers are lucky to have Parent Members who are very strong skiers and it was really refreshing to hear them commenting and giving feedback tonight on the strength of our skiers on the hill. One was even heard to say “I’m glad I’m not the one being asked to perform these drills” Although Alford mat is only 60m long, the skiers can be challenged at any level and Dendix is the perfect to develop new skills.

With new members on the hill tonight, the coaches set a head to head stubbie course where the racers could challenge each other and have a chance to race against each other and the coaches.

The racing was very close, with a few surprising results. Findlay and Cameron Cormack were receiving the majority of the cheers, from the bottom, tonight with amazing skiing from the boys. Definitely two boys to watch for the future.

We also had a, potential, new member trial tonight who should some great skill. Well done to young Fraser Scott, who showed brilliant potential and skills. Keep it up Fraser, you’ll be chasing your sister Kizzy in no time.

Wednesday Race Training is going ahead this week. If possible, please let me us know if you will be there.

Gary Whatford

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Wednesday 17th May


Wednesday night saw another good turnout of members ranging right through the age groups from our youngest member to our coaches. The session was led by John and James and followed on from the themes from last week's session of; turn shape, early turn and initiation and then the skiers started to look at building pressure up throughout the turn. Following a couple of drills the skiers then demonstrated what they had learnt in a simple 3 gate course with the focus on 'the start' and first few gates of a course.

For the timed run session, the coaches replicated an off camber course set by having more focus on the right footed turns. The course was challenging, with 3 older skiers unable to complete the necessary 2 runs, with a slightly larger (2 mat diamonds) offset which allowed the younger skiers to compete with the older skiers.
Andrew S was on good form and held a clear lead in front of the pack with Andrew C and Ollie tightly contested behind. The 'Nicholson family battle' continues with Jera taking the honours this week ahead of brother Joe. Was excellent to see young James back again this week as well as welcoming Finlay to our club training sessions.


Training, Sunday 21st May

Afternoon All, Sunday’s training coaches will be Kathleen and Callum on Race Development, with Racer Rachel Brown shadowing and helping out with the groups. Jamie is making a return to the slope and will be working the Performance Squad Skiers.

Let’s hope the rain holds off for training, but has left the mat nice slippy for us all.

As per last week, have a think on what we’ve been working on and let your coaches know what you’re keen to work on and develop.

Please be ready to ski for the start of the session at 16:30 and remember to sign in before skiing.

Thanks, Gary W

Friday, May 19, 2017

Training Offer


As you now know, from James’ recent post, we have a few Summer race events coming up soon. To make these events more enjoyable for the racers, we often have a training session prior to the races.

Our first event is the Twin Peaks, which takes place over 2 days, at different dry mats. The Saturday takes place on Firpark. This a smaller mat and doesn’t really merit a training session. However the Saturday race is on Hillend, where skiers do benefit from training.  Twin Peaks takes place on Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th June, so training would be on the Saturday Evening.

The next big event is the Scottish and British Indoors, taking place on Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th June, at the Braehead Indoor Snow Slope.  I’m awaiting feedback from Brahead to confirm that we will have slope space, with gates available, for training on the Friday Evening.  As the start lists are not yet published I can’t see who has entered either race. I’d really appreciate if you let me know, by mail or feedback on this post, who has/intends to enter.  Once I have a better idea of numbers, then coaches can be arranged and training confirmed.

Many Thanks, Gary W

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Landgraaf Camp

Good Morning All,

In an effort to make European races more available to our club members I have arranged partnerships with other clubs, that have more of a presence in the European Ski Resorts.

As we have seen in the past, Gordon Skiers often struggle to generate enough interest, or race entries, to justify running our own camps as the costs would be very high.

One such race is approaching, so I apologise for the short notice. I have only just finalised the arrangements. I believe there may only be 2 places left.

This race is of particular interest to those skiers changing age group, as BASS points are awarded, even though it’s an indoor race.

With our, recent, poor snow season, I saw many racers unable to qualify for the Brititsh Champs at the end of the season. To secure a start in the British Champs, a racer must achieve, less than, 400 BASS points. This is easy to achieve, but they must have the chance to enter a race.

Accommodation at Landgraaf is situated adjacent to the ski slope, so all facilities are easy to access, once in at the ski slope.

Please take a look at the following link for more details on the ski slope.

https://www.snowworld.com/…/Ski-s…/Ski-Slopes/Slopes-Funpark

I have added short details on the race below and a link to The Downhill Only (DHO) web page to provide further information.

SSE BASS Race Series

Friday 26 May to Monday 29 May

This camp is now open for booking

These are BASS races and so points earned here can improve your seed points, which is important for race qualification and start position.

This short camp will include a day of training and two days of racing. The price includes transport by minibus from SE England, 3 nights half board accommodation and coaching and race support.

The 4 day camp will cost GBP400

https://racing.downhillonly.com/…/landgraaf-indoor-camps-2…/

Please get in touch if you would like further info, or have any further questions. I will also be travelling to and attending the races, so Gordon's will have a presence.

Gary W

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Wednesday, May 10th


We follow a format on a Wednesday where the first part of the session is focused on a particular aspect of improving our performance. We then use that in the gates to see if the racers can transfer it into their skiing.

The racing is always close and each skier has their own target of who they are chasing and looking to take points from.

Exam timetables allowed some of our senior members to attend last night and it was great to see them having some relief from studying for a couple of hours. If they were that high last night, I can only imagine what the session after the exams are finished will be like.

Top honour for the girls went to Rachel Morrison, Rachel showed great form in the gates last night with consistent and accurate runs. Sophie R worked hard last night and was rewarded with fantastic improvement in her last run, taking 0.11 seconds off her best time.

Welcome James Gask, who raced for the first time in the Wednesday League. The coaches were keeping a keen eye on his improvements last night.

The competition for the boys was close as ever . Thanks to the senior racers for putting on a great show for the new and young racers last night. Ollie and Andrew S were in great spirits and skiing very well, keeping their skis firmly on the mat and putting their new Body Management skills to effective use.

Let me know if you have any special (training) requests for Sunday and we’ll see if we can work it into the plan.

Gary W

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Sunday 7th May 2017

Sunday night saw a very select gathering at Alford due to exam revision and several kids being ill. Coaches Callum and James worked the skiers hard through a range of drills with Callum’s focus on shape turn and matching the skis whilst James was working on some more race orientated drills building up to skiing a Slalom course in preparation for the Twin Peaks event.

We welcomed another potential new member to the club last night, young James, who was racing at Braehead in the schools event a couple of weeks ago and father Mark saw the Gordon Skiers brand on show and enquired about joining. Five new members in the last 3 weeks is a good end to the season and shows the appetite for next season, great to see lots more young skiers coming through.

Wednesday night sees the usual Mid-Week Training at Alford from 7-9pm, come along and join in. Please email racing@gordonskiers.com to note your attendance, please bring £12 cash on the night.

Sunday, May 07, 2017

Braehead Video


Many thanks to James for this video from last weekend's Braehead trip, some great skiing on show.

Thursday, May 04, 2017

Wednesday Evening League, 3rd May


Tonight, saw another glorious night at Alford for the mid-week sessions with a turnout of 15 skiers plus two coaches. Many of the older athletes are in full exam revision mode just now hence several them haven’t been present so far this series.

With the mat dry and sticky again tonight the focus was more orientated round precision and slow drills working on posture and edge control with a build up to a Short Swing challenge/ competition before break.

Andrew C was on course setting duty and set a lovely flowing course which was suited to the dry conditions we faced tonight.

Again, there was some very tight racing tonight and some family rivalries. James took a comfortable lead over fellow coach Andrew, seems to be each coach loses on their own courses recently. Kieran L then sat in 3rd leading the Newmachar pack with both Andrew H and William L having the same combined time to take joint 4th with Nathan just 2 tenths behind into 6th place. Daisy took top ranks for the females tonight just ahead of Sophie who rounded off the 16 second marks. Michael was in good form after his great session at Braehead on Sunday and scored a solid time tonight breaking below the 18 second barrier with Kizzy and Keira fighting it out in 10th and 11th respectively. Louisa had a superb 3rd run bringing her combined time right down, Josh J (new to Wednesday night sessions) skied excellently and picked up all important points. It was then onto the battle of the Nicholson family with only a hair to split them over last two weeks, Joe managed to pip sister Jera by 0.09 seconds combined today to give him the win in the family battle. Josh H was unlucky on his 3rd run and took a crash but showed true sportsmanship and finished the course but unfortunately made his combined time not reflective of his other two runs.

Sunday training at Alford as usual this Sunday 4.30-6.30pm. Hope to see you there.

Regards

Wednesday Night Team

Tuesday, May 02, 2017

Braehead Trip


Yesterday saw 22 Gordon Skiers kids plus parents and 3 coaches head to the snow dome at Braehead for an afternoon of training. We were joined by our friends from Aberdeen Snowsport Club who brought along 10 of their kids as well as some of the parents and their two coaches.

It was a long day with the bus leaving Westhill at 9am, before picking up at various stops enroute and not arriving back to Westhill till 9pm but everyone was in good spirits throughout the day.

Bus arrived at 12.30pm to Braehead and shortly after everyone had dumped their kit bags off in the room they were all given a sandwich lunch before getting ready for the ski session at 2pm. Braehead staff were very helpful right from the start to the end and had two course set for us; one full size gate slalom course alongside an open corridor stubby course.

Bang on 2pm we all made our way out onto the slope and split into three groups. Callum S oversaw the younger kids whilst Stuart had the middle group with James looking after the Performance and top end Development athletes. Each group did their own warm up drills but all made the most of the variable terrain we had on offer- all the snow had been pushed into bumps at the edges whilst the middle was slick. It was great to be working alongside ASC and seeing the similarity in training provided from the two clubs in the North East. Groups slowly progressed up to skiing the open stubby course (which was slightly bumpy) before the Performance kids moved across to the full slalom course allowing other groups onto the stubby course. Athletes were working on certain individual skills in and out of the courses so every so often they would be pulled out the gates to go work on another drill before returning to the gates. The improvement in the short period of 3 hours in all skiers was amazing and it was fantastic to be able to train on a course longer than the 8 gates we get at Alford.

Everyone seemed to have fun and pick up new skills and techniques with all 3 coaches reporting back positive comments on the kids.

James took some video footage of the older kids and hopefully we can get this compiled shortly and posted for viewing.

WATCH OUT FOR AN EMAIL AND POST IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS WITH DETAILS FOR TWIN PEAKS AND INDOOR WEEKEND BOOKING.

Wednesday Night training is on as usual this week from 7-9pm at Alford @ £12.00 for members and £15.00 for Non Members.

Friday, April 28, 2017

Wednesday Evening League, 26th April


With the Lecht this week receiving more snow this week than has fallen all winter the topsy turvey winter season in Scotland ends but the summer training continued this Wednesday at the Stade de Alford.

Some of the athletes were working on their own specific skill development as identified by them whilst others focused on developing and refining stance balance and pressure control. The Alford mat was dry in areas due to atmospherics necessitating a rather direct and straight course set. Supplies of Pledge (other brands of furniture polish are available) certainly contributed to quick times for all concerned. Equipment and ski preparation does improve race performance.

It was the battle of the families and ‘Newmachar Squad’ in the timed runs. Hamish Alexander took the lead comfortably ahead of Nathan who put in a fantastic 3rd run which significantly improved his overall time. Graeme C had another solid night pulling into 3rd ahead of the run of Newmachar contingent. Older brother William lead younger brother Kieran by 0.19 seconds with Andrew H hard on their tails who was 0.01 seconds behind Kieran. Ollie B finished off the 15sec grouping to come in 7th. Kathleen then held the middle ranking with a low 17sec combined time with Josh then leading the next pack of Michael and Keira who could barely be split with 0.1 between the two of them. Both Louisa and Finlay S were holding their own as the younger members last night and both scored excellent times. Joe and younger sister Jera were very close last week in times but this week they couldn’t be split at all and both came in with a combined time of 24.75. Definitely some very close family rivalry amongst the members now.

Regards

Wednesday Night Team

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Gordon Skiers Party Postponed


We are sorry to have to announce that we are postponing the Gordon Skiers Party.  There has not been enough interest to warrant going ahead with it at the current time.  A number of families are away and a lot of the older skiers are studying for exams.

We will look at finding an alternative date later in the year.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Summer Dry Mat Training, April 23rd


Tonight, saw the first of the summer Sunday training sessions at Alford with 12 skiers attending with many of our older kids now into revision for exams.

With it being the first week back after Easter there was some uncertainty on how many would attend but hopefully the numbers will grow over the next few weeks. Rachel B stepped up to the mark and was coaching a group of the younger kids tonight with guidance from James who had the group of older children.

It was great to welcome along two new skiers to the race training scene, Alistair and James, who have come through a lesson programme at Alford Ski Centre and want to take their skiing to the next level- fantastic to see the links between the club and centre starting to merge. We also welcomed Stuart and Liam, who also train with ASC, and want to increase the amount they ski so have joined in with our training programme also.

The mat was slightly dry tonight but everyone worked hard on the various drills they were given and all enjoyed the head to head races at the end.

Emails and posts will follow shortly about Mid-Week League this week and the trip to Braehead next Sunday.

We would also like to wish fellow coach Andrew C the best of luck on his coaching course this week.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Summer Wednesday Evening League, Week 1


Last night saw the first session of the Summer Mid-Week League take place at Alford where we welcomed 14 members including adding another skier to our team of 5 year olds with Jera Nicholson joining us for the first time.

With the mat being a little bit dry and sticky it meant there was plenty opportunity to work on refining some of the finer details in individuals skiing, working on a variety of aspects from matching the skis with some of the younger skiers through to working on increasing the pressure throughout the turn with the older athletes.

We had to set a fairly straight course to cater for the dry mat otherwise it may have ended up with a skating race to get through the finish. Andrew C took top honours tonight with a healthy lead over fellow coach James, who narrowly beat Hamish by 0.02 seconds. Andrew H then lead the next charge with a small gap ahead of Ollie who in return had William and Graeme hot on his heels. Kieran took up centre of the ranks with Kathleen behind followed by Daisy who leads the U12 girls so far. Michael and Kizzy were skiing well and had some tight times with Josh behind having a slight slip in his final run increasing his combined time. Louisa was ‘Miss Consistent’ with 0.02 seconds splitting her two times with the two Nicholson children having a very close battle to round off the rankings with 0.03 seconds splitting them (there will be some tough family rivalry going forwards).

A great night was had by all and was great to see some new additions to the Wednesday night scene. Look forward to seeing the numbers increase in the weeks to come. Big thank you to Caroline and Gregor for doing the timing tonight.

GDN Wednesday Night Team

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Snowsport Scotland Movement Preparation and Gymnastics Sessions.


Please see the below email from Louise about the Snowsport Scotland Movement Preparation and Gymnastics Sessions.

"As you know, the Snowsport Scotland Movement Preparation and Gymnastics sessions at Etko Sports Academy are due to kick off again on Saturday 6th May, and will run each week 2pm – 4pm

for 8 weeks. These sessions are open to all skiers and snowboarders born in 2009 or earlier who are members of a Snowsport Scotland affiliated club and part of a regular training programme.

The aim of these sessions is to support club programmes by providing facilities and coaches to aid the development of physical literacy to become well rounded athletes. Coaching will be conducted by qualified gymnastics coaches with regular input from SIS S&C coach. Sessions will include the development of fundamental keystone movement patterns as well as acrobatic training. This will be the main route to earn the right to gain access to the additional Strength and Conditioning sessions at RGU.

There are approximately 30 spaces available per session.

The sessions cost £90 for the block of 8 weeks OR £15 per session. These sessions should be booked and paid by using the Snowsport Scotland Membership system. To do this you should sign into your Snowsport Scotland profile to book (this may require setting up a profile if the attendee doesn’t have one already). The rest is fairly straight forward but if anyone has any problems Emma in the SSS office can help"


https://snowsportscotlandmembership.azolve.com/workbench/public/events

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Gordon Skiers Easter to Summer Plans

Nathan Giving It Everything At Firpark 2016
Hope you have all had a great Easter and those that have been away skiing have had a great break.

Its back to business at Gordon Skiers this week with various training opportunities and events coming up, details are as below.

Wednesday Nights
Wednesday night training starts this week, 19th April and will be running for 9 weeks from 7-9pm at Alford with training for the first hour followed by 3 timed runs with results then being accumulated to form a league. Cost is £12 for the session, payable on the night. For this Wednesday please email racing@gordonskiers.com to note your attendance.

Sunday Evenings
We have managed to secure Alford for 5 Sunday evening sessions running from this Sunday 23rd from 4.30-6.30pm. This is open to all members and will be a good block of training sessions prior to the Summer races but also to keep the ‘ski legs’ going over the summer.  We will send out a sign up form for the sessions shortly but the charge is £12 a session.

Training Trip to Braehead
On Sunday 30th April, the club are heading to Braehead for a 3hour training session in the afternoon with 2hours in gate training.  Plan will be to depart Westhill at 9am and arrive home about 9pm. Transport, lunch, training and lift ticket are all provided for the total cost of £40- the club is subsidising the transport and coaching costs. Non-skiing parents/siblings would be asked to pay £10. Please email racing@gordonskiers.com to book a place.

Gordon Skiers Party & Awards
Saturday 6th May at Westhill Golf Club with a 7pm start. Food and disco provided with drinks to be bought at the bar. Tickets are £15 Adults, £10 Child and Family £40. Great end of season get together with the awards for Most Improved Skiers being presented.  Get your tickets bought either by emailing admin@gordonskiers.com or getting them at one of the training session where they will be on sale.

Twin Peaks Race
Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th June. We are still awaiting entries to go live. Saturday is at Tillicoultry, Stirling with Sunday at Hillend, Edinburgh. Gordon Skiers will be providing race support for this event and would encourage as many members to enter. There is always a great club atmosphere amongst kids and parents and it’s an enjoyable weekend for all. Cost for race support is FREE.


GB & Scottish Indoors
Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th June. Entry form and details can be found at

Again, we would encourage members to enter these races, they are open to all ages and abilities with the weekend being a great social event for athletes and parents as well as being an enjoyable race to be part of. Gordon Skiers will provide race support for the weekend for FREE.

If you are wanting to book training, Braehead trip or party tickets please email racing@gordonskiers.com.

We will notify you once the Twin Peak entries are live but encourage you to get entered for the GB and Scottish Indoors – please email us to let you know if you are entering events.

Kind regards

Gordon Skiers Committee

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Gordon Skiers Trip to Braehead, Sunday 30th April.


We have been lucky enough to get a booking at the Indoor Snow Dome at Braehead on Sunday 30th April. The committee have agreed for the club to help subsidise the trip for our members and therefore the cost per head is £40; this will include 3hrs lift pass with 2hrs gate training, lunch, coaching and transport to and from Glasgow. The session will run from 2-5pm with departure from Westhill about 9am and returning at 9pm.

This is a fantastic opportunity to get some training on snow, which we have lacked this season, plus a great chance to see what Braehead is like before the Indoor Race Weekend in June. We hope that several members take up the offer of this trip and make it a successful day plus hopefully persuade folk to enter the Indoor Races which will be fully supported by the club.

It is open to any age (kids and parents), we will have parents on the bus to accompany kids travelling without parents. Non-skiing parents would be asked to pay £10 charge for transport on the bus.

We would be grateful for a prompt response for attendance for this trip as we will need to organise a size of bus depending on the numbers. If we have space, we may look at opening it up to Aberdeen Ski Club members as well.

We do realise this is a week before the exams start for our older members but hope they might look at it as an option for some relief from revision.

Please email racing@gordonskiers.com to book your place, we will look for payment once we confirm your booking.

Regards

GDN Committee.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Summer Wednesday Evening League


Due to several members requesting we continue the mid-week sessions after Easter the committee have considered it and we are delighted to announce that we will continue the sessions during the next term. The sessions will run on Wednesday evenings at Alford from 7-9pm and will be running on the following dates, we will then stop in the middle of June for the AGM the week after and a slight break before the summer holidays.

  • April- 19th & 26th
  • May - 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st
  • June - 7th & 14th.

We will create this as an event on the Facebook too and would encourage as many members to attend but would also be delighted for you to invite friends along too- they must be able to ski the Alford Slope competently.

The sessions will form part of a league as before with each skier’s top results counting towards the overall league results.

We would be grateful if you could give us an early indication of which dates you may be able to make- each week will then look for more definite numbers to allow us to arrange coaches. Please email admin@gordonskiers.com to note your intention to attend and if so which sessions. To bring the charge in line with other training sessions the cost per person will be £12 a night for members and £15 for non members

We are also planning to run some Sunday evening sessions at Alford in the run up to the Summer Races which happen in June, hopefully details on this will follow shortly.

Regards

GDN Committee.

Friday, April 07, 2017

Snow Training Rebates


The one positive thing to come out of a difficult season is that at least you will get some money back!  James and Philip have been correlating the attendance at the Sunday Alford sessions with snow training fees paid and hopefully this is now just about finalised.  It has been a lot of work so many thanks to the two of them for sorting that out.

Philip as treasurer will be actioning the rebates so you will be receiving these over the coming two weeks.  Thanks for your patience whilst we have been organising this.

Gordon Skiers Committee.

Saturday, April 01, 2017

Dates for the Calendar



Saturday 6th May - Gordon Skiers Party and Prize Giving


7.00pm at Westhill Golf Club. Open to all members, family and friends. This is our annual end of season disco and gathering as well as our prize giving. It is a great way to finish off the winter season and have a club get together.

Tickets are £15 for Adults and £10 for U12 (Family ticket for 2 Adults + 1 or more kids £40) – this includes the disco and a snack buffet. Drinks can be bought at the bar.

Tickets are on sale and can be ordered through admin@gordonskiers.com or at a training session. Payment to be made using paypal with treasurer@gordonskiers.com as the payment address. Tickets will be released after payment is received.

Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th June – Twin Peaks Race


Saturday at Tillicoultry, Stirling and Sunday at Hillend, Edinburgh.

Entries will go live shortly and we will publish more details once they are available.

This is always a great event which the club will provide race support for and on the Saturday evening in Edinburgh we all try and meet up for a meal. Friday night folk tend to stay in various locations prior to the race at Tillicoultry but on the Saturday night the majority of folk stay at either the Novotel or Premier Inn at The Gyle. It would be good to get a good contingent from the club for this weekend.

Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th June – Scottish and British Indoors Race


Both days in Braehead, Glasgow.

Entries will go live shortly and we will publish more details once they are available.

Again, as a club we will be providing race support for our members at this event. We try to make it an enjoyable weekend for all participants and parents and often have a big meal on the Saturday night. Some members have friends and family in the area so stay with them but the hotel of preference (if available) is the Premier Inn just behind Ikea- about a 5 minute drive from the ski slope.

If anyone has any questions about the races and if they should enter then please feel free to email racing@gordonskiers.com or speak to any of the coaches. The race weekends are a great experience and although it may all sound very daunting to parents it really isn’t (just asked some existing members). The coaches will take care of the kid’s right from the start of the race day through to the end of the race whilst you socialise with the other parents (and watch your kids of course).

Wednesday 21st June – Gordon Skiers AGM
Broadstraik Inn , Westhill.


We will be holding our AGM at the above venue on 21st June, the committee would like to invite and encourage as many members as possible to attend. It is a members club and your views and opinions matter. The procedure for the AGM is for the current committee to stand down and then all roles are up for re-election. Some of the existing committee will be looking for re-election but other roles will be vacant for new members to join. More details on the committee roles and the AGM plan will follow but please save the date and come along.

Friday, March 31, 2017

Final Mid-Week Session


Wednesday night saw the final mid-week session before the Easter break and the final chance for the skiers to score the important points for the league.

Andrew C set a training course that challenged everyone, coaches and older skiers were forced to take a high and early line to make it between the two stubby gates, whilst the younger athletes were encouraged into parallel at the end of the turn to make it through the gap.

It was Andrews’s week for setting the timed run course too and the skiers were treated to a fairly tight course with open gates and two hairpins both with tight exits. Again the majority of times were improving across the 3 runs each person got, some skiers were getting caught out on some of the gates and unable to complete the course. Josh and Finlay C were skiing neck and neck all evening with just 0.01 seconds splitting them at the end of the night (it is something like 1 diamond on the mat). Emily and Josh were improving each run and scoring all important points to help them in their league positions. Mark and Kieran were fighting it out in the middle of the pack, Mark is Mr Consistent who has attended every session and not once failed to make at least two runs, whilst Kieran skied well to pick up an important 50 points. Andrew H was skiing to his best ability and showing the improvements he has made this season and picked up a healthy 60 points. Ollie B was unfortunate to make mistakes on his 1st and 3rd run meaning no ranking for him this week but the 2nd run was a tight competition between Ollie, Andrew C and James with 0.02 seconds between the three of them.

That is the winter training programme finished for a couple of weeks but we are going to be running Wednesdays from after Easter through to just before the summer holidays.

Regards

Wednesday Night Team

Monday, March 27, 2017

Final ‘Snow Season’ Training

Tonight saw the final Sunday training session before the break for Easter. With a number of folk headed for the Alps already and others partaking in the very important day of Mother’s Day, numbers were lower than previous weeks. Those that attended were treated to spectacular weather and some unseasonal heat- was like mid-summer skiing.

Both John and James were working on individual skier drills focussing on upper body position and stability. John was using the free mat space to work on the drills whilst James was using a simple course for the youngest skiers today. Given the low numbers it was decided to mix it up a little bit compared to previous weeks and instead of head to head dual slaloms, the skiers were given 3 timed runs through a course set by John , assisted by James. The mat was very sticky and seemed to be drying out so although the times may not have shown an improvement through the 3 runs for each skier the improvements in the skiing were visible.

Fastest time for each skier are below.

  • Jack M – 7.56
  • Vicky R – 7.56
  • Torin L – 7.69
  • Murdo R- 7.83
  • Racheal M- 7.94
  • Keira H – 9.01
  • Romily R- 9.57
  • Glenn L – 9.70
  • Annabel M – 10.30
  • Thomas P – 11.10
  • Carys H – 11.12
  • Joe N – 12.63

Wednesday night sees the final session of the Winter Mid-Week League and a number of folk are needing those all important points to finish the league off nicely. Please email racing@gordonskiers.com if you plan to attend.

Regards

GDN Coaches

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Walk Up, Ski Down Night

Wednesday night training this week was slightly different to previous week in the fact that the select few trainees attending on the night were made to walk up the slope by coaches Andrew and James. 5 minutes into the session whilst everyone was getting out onto the slope the poma lift took a turn for the worse and ended up broken awaiting repair by a specialist later in the week. Given we had 8 trainees plus coaches present and ready to go it was decided that we would just continue as normal and use the walk up as some added fitness. 

The theme for the night was posture and upper body stability with the focus on keeping the upper body stable to allow pressure to the skis beneath. Given the lack of uplift the runs were limited in number but we tried to ensure each run and every turn counted. A basic slalom course with three different corridors was set for some gate work before the course was reset for the timed runs. The combined times from the night plus the overall league standings are attached below.

Next Wednesday will see the final mid-week session before the Easter holidays so please come along and get those all-important final results.

Sunday- we are hopeful the lift will be repaired and ready for Sunday. We have our usual session 4.30-6.30 booked so please email racing@gordonskiers.com to book your place.

After Easter- we are currently looking at what training options we can offer for after the Easter holidays, further communication will follow in the next few days as well as a post about ‘Save the dates’ for various club events as well as summer races.