Scottish Schools Snowsports Association School Championships

Out of 500 + total (individual) entries to the Scottish Schools Snowsports Association School championships, 7 Gordon Skiers made it through to the Secondary Schools finals.

FAST British Championships Camp in March 2015

If your child wants to attend the FAST British Championships Camp in March 2015, you need to read on!

First, welcome back to those who went to Tignes! I hear that it was a great camp and the organisation of it was absolutely excellent: many, many thanks to Dawn Waitt in particular for all her hard work which brought the camp to fruition. Also a big thank you to the houseparents, the coaching team and all the children for making the most of the two weeks, combining hard work with good fun and great attitudes all round.

Snowsport Scotland Competitor Registration for 2014-15

A reminder to all Gordon Skiers racers to renew their Snowsport Scotland competitor registration for the upcoming season.  Please complete the competitor registration form HERE. For both re-registrations and new registrations they will be issuing competitor licences in early November.

You will notice slight change to the form from previous years particularly relevant to Alpine racers. On any iBARTS, oBARTS and BASS race start lists and results, only one club will be shown. Therefore, we request one named club for BARTS (Artificial races) and BASS (Snow races). The same club can be used for both where appropriate. More information can be found here.

So for all Gordon Skiers planning on racing over the next year (all of you we hope!) please go to the Snowsport Scotland website to either renew your existing registration or take out a new one.  The good news this year is that the price has been held at £35!  For families with more than one competitor, additional family members can register as a competitor with a £10 discount.  Any competitors in the Under 12 category or younger (born 2003 or later) can register for free.

Please note, there will be a late charge for those re-registering after 7th November 2014. Please register before this date even if you won't be competing until the dryslope competitions in Spring/Summer. All late re-registrations will be charged £45.

Bairns and Lassies Race.

Thanks to everyone for letting James know they have entered for the Bairns and Lassies Race at Hillend on Sunday November 2nd.  We have 16 members competing, one of our best turnouts ever at a dry mat race.

Coaching support has been finalised and consists of Gary Whatford and Andrew Cambell with Iain Cambell in support.  We will be running a training session on Saturday afternoon,  starting at 2pm and finishing at 5pm in order for the younger skiers to get back to the hotel and get a meal at a reasonable time as it is a very early start on Sunday morning.  There will also be coaching support for the races on Sunday to help with course inspection etc.  There will be a charge of £20 per competitor for the whole weekend to cover the coaching.

We will be in touch by email to see who is staying at Novotel and who would like to join up for a meal on Saturday evening.

The Life of a Head Ski Coach!

Gary on Oct 23rd at Tignes getting a massage from Ben and Paul during lunch. His excuse was it was his 15th wedding anniversary and Wilma wouldn't oblige. The truth is out, now we know what Gary really gets up to on his skiing vacations!

Snowsport Scotland AGM

AGM 2014 Reminder – Sunday 23rd November, Glenmore Lodge.

We wish to remind Member Clubs that the formal announcement of the AGM and its agenda will be issued to you on this Friday, 24 October, together with the detailed programme for the weekend of 22 and 23 November.

Hence any motions for the agenda or nominations for Board vacancies which you might wish to propose have to be received by us no later than Thursday of this week (23rd October). Please email info@snowsportscotland.org<mailto:info@snowsportscotland.org> with any nominations that you may wish to make. Please note in order for votes to be put forward clubs must be affiliated for the 14-15 year, I have attached the club subscription form for the upcoming year.

Kind Regards,

The Snowsport Scotland Team

Snowsport Scotland
Tel: 0131 625 4405|Fax: 0131 317 7202

Suzanne Taylor, A Message From Walter

Walter has asked us to post this message on his behalf:-

"Dear Friends,

Rhiannon and I were both extremely disappointed to discover after the service on Monday that so many of you came along to participate in the celebration of Suzanne’s life only to be left out on the corridor and hence missed the service. You may be one of those people and if not then you may know some of those that missed out. On hindsight I should have reserved more seats for friends but given the number of people that let me know that they couldn’t make it due to holidays I thought we would be able to seat you all. As it happened we were overwhelmed and the hotel counted around 300 of you when we had anticipated around 100. Hindsight is a great thing isn’t it?

FAST Training Camp

Great representation from Gordon Skiers on the FAST autumn training camp in Tignes this week.  The girls pictured here at Edinburgh Airport this morning prior to flying out to Geneva.  There was a serious mountain of kit, it was amazing Easyjet even got off the ground!! Here's hoping they have a great week.  (There were some seriously jealous dads waving them off!)

Follow their adventures on the FAST Facebook page.

Suzanne Taylor

It was with great sadness that we learned of Suzanne’s death. Walter, Suzanne and their daughter Rhiannon have been enthusiastic members of the club for several years. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during these difficult times. Walter has asked us to post the following notice:

TAYLOR
(ALFORD/BUCKIE)
Peacefully, at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary on Saturday, October 4th, 2014, Suzanne Cowie Patience aged 55 years. Beloved wife of Walter Bryden Taylor, adored mum of Rhiannon, dearly loved daughter of Nan and the late John Patience and a much loved sister, sister-in-law and aunt. A celebration of Suzanne’s life will be held in the Cullen Bay Hotel, Cullen on Monday October 13th, at 12.30 p.m. to which all friends are respectfully invited, thereafter to Cullen and Deskford Cemetery. You are encouraged to arrive at Cullen Bay Hotel from 11.30 a.m. onwards to meet with the family for reflections of Suzanne’s life. Family flowers only please but donations in lieu, if desired, may be given at the hotel door for Macmillan. Informal dress optional.

Bairns and Lassies Race, Final Call for Entries

Important Notice

In order to keep costs to the club to a minimum we would like to finalize the coaching support and book their accommodation before the prices start to rise as the date gets closer.  Could all those who have either entered the Bairns and Lassies Race or are planning on entering please contact James by email on racing@gordonskiers.com so that we can gauge how many coaches are required.

Because half term is coming up we would like to place a deadline for contacting James of Saturday 11th October.  The club is able to absorb reasonable costs for coaches. However, late bookings are expensive and any additional coaching coasts, due to late club entries, may need to be levied amongst those that register or respond too late.'

Gary / James

Training Report Sunday Oct 5th.

Evening All,

Many Thanks for the efforts and commitment at today's training.

A slight change around for the coaches today and the feedback from all was excellent. The physical training was great fun and the highlight, for me, was finishing with a good old fashioned game of British Bulldogs.

Bairns and Lassies Race, 2nd November 2014

Important Notice

Following our last posting, this is a quick warning for everybody planning on heading down to Hillend for the Bairns and Lassies Race.  The race is booking up fast, as I write this at 18.15 on Sunday evening the entries are up to 53.  The entry form is not easy to find on the LSRA website so I have placed a link direct to the entry form below.

Entry Form

It will be great to see the performance squad members flying the flag for Gordon Skiers!

Dry Slope Training October 5th

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow.  Groups are pretty much unchanged, just one mover in  Hamish Alexander to performance squad 1.

Remember it is our second hand sale tomorrow so if you have clothing or ski kit your skiers have grown out of then dig it out and bring it along.  Don't forget that Blues will also be doing a ski preparation demo and will be bringing along a range of kit for members to purchase.

As last week, Performance Squad 1 and Development Squads 1 and 3 will be skiing first (This will be the same every week so skiers, no excuses for not being kitted out at 9am sharp ready to start). We'll swap around for the second session and then everyone on the mat for racing at the end.

Gary and James will be doing the first fitness session whilst Kenny works with Performance Squad 1, Jamie with Development 1 and Malcolm with Development 3.  In the second session it will be Malcolm and Kenny on fitness, Gary skiing with Performance Squad 2, Jamie on Development 2 and James on Development 4.

The timings will be

• First Session 9 - 10:30
• Second Session 10:30 - 12
• Racing 12 - 1

Remember the house keeping note from mid week, please sign in and out and leave us a contact phone number!

Clothing / Equipment

We are pleased to announce that Fras Mcleod has agreed to take on responsibility for all Gordon Skiers equipment and clothing.

Fras will be taking on responsibility for all the Gordon Skiers clothing orders.  We are currently looking at putting together an order for Team Spirit clothing.  More on this at a later date.

He is also going to be in charge of negotiations with equipment suppliers.  We will try and collate information on the deals negotiated on the Clothing / Kit page of the blog.

As a result of this he has already been in touch with Shona Anderson at Nevisport in Glasgow (ex-Blues and who nowheads up Nevisports ski dept) regarding discounts for race clubs.  She has put together the below deal on race items (approx 25% discount).  It's just a case of completing the form and returning to aberdeen@nevisport.com however you need to go into shop to pay deposit / take hard copy at that time. Clink on the links below for the offers and application form.

Nevisport 1
Nevisport 2

LSRA Bairns and Lassies Race

The eagle eyed of you may have noticed that dry slope training does not restart till November 9th after the October break.  This is because the Lothian Ski Racing Assosciation Bairns and Lassies Race takes place at Hillend on Sunday 2nd November. The event is open to all Bairns (both male and female) 2003 + and Boys and Girls (despite what the name suggests!)  U14 and U16 ( 1999-2002)

We would love to have a strong Gordon Skiers presence at this race so why not come along and join us.  We will have coach support at the race. We are especially looking for a strong turnout from our Performance Squad!

Unfortunately the U14 / U16 age category does start at the rather uncivilized hour of 7AM so you may want to book accommodation and travel down on the Saturday afternoon!  A number of us have already booked in to the Edinburgh Park Novotel.

In the past we have taken the skiers along to the slope for about 4pm on the Saturday to give them some time to familiarize themselves with the Hillend slope which is very different to either Alford or Garthdee.  We hope to run a training session on Saturday evening for all those that are able to make it down.

Hillend is a tough and challenging slope so if you are unsure if your child (most likely Bairns) is capable then please ask a coach to advise. If you are entering the event then please let  James, the club race convenor, know at racing@gordonskiers.com so that we can arrange adequate coach cover. If you have any questions then please also feel free to ask James.

For more information on the race click here

The view from the bottom

The view from the top

Dry Slope Training, Sunday October 5th

Just a quick reminder that this coming Sunday , October 5th is the club second hand sale so if you have some old kit you think might be of use to someone else then dig it out and bring it along.

We are also looking forward to a demonstration of ski maintenance from Blues ski shop.  They will also be bringing along some goodies you all to buy!

Housekeeping Notices.

• Please ensure your skiers are signed in and out, irrespective of age and that we have a contact phone number.  This is important for us, primarily for safety reasons but it also affects the rent we pay at the ski slope.  We need to reliably know the numbers who have attended and the sign in sheets are our system for doing this. 
• We still have some skiers attending who have not paid either membership or dry slope training fees.  You will all have been contacted so please rectify this.
• For parents of younger skiers who need assistance in changing into and out of skiing boots etc, you need to be available to assist them at mid morning break and then prior to the racing starting.
• Soup rota.  If you are not yet on the soup rota, there are spaces left that need to be filled.  Please speak to Maggie Simpson.
• Gary has a blue fleece left by someone on Sunday, he will bring it along next week.
• We have negotiated a 10% discount with Ski Racing Supplies, type in GORD2014 at checkout. Details also on the clothing / kit page.