Gordon Skiers Open - BOOKING OPEN

The Gordon Skiers Open

January 21st and 22nd 2017

The Lecht

Register and get your pass today

DETAILS and BOOKING

Course Crew Training and Fish Suppers - BE THERE

Wednesday 14th December, Alford Ski Centre 7pm to 9pm

Gordon Skiers end of season Head to Head Competition and Course Crew Training.

£10 member racers
£12.50 non member racers
FREE course crew presentation Q&A

Mums and/or dads who have their little and not so little darlings racing will be treated to a Fish Supper as well as James Paxton presenting the roles and responsibilities of ski race course crew roles.

Last Alford night till the New Year so please feel free to drop by and demystify ski race crewing and enjoy a Fish Supper!

Click HERE for more details

Snow Training and Race Support - One week only to secure your place

Gordon Skiers snow training and race support for Winter 2017 will commence January 8th, the first Sunday after schools return after New Year and will run until Sunday 26th March 2017.

Given our increase in membership and training requests this year we will be closing our booking form for the Winter at 6pm on December 19th. Bookings and payments after this date can sadly not be guaranteed and you may not be able to participate in some of the training. 

Coaching plans and race support need to be organised and assigned based upon ability and age levels and why we ask you to help us maintain arguably the best level of ski race support in the North East from Bairns through to seniors.

2017 Winter Snow Booking form

Please also ensure that before booking any snow training that you have also completed the membership form and parental consent forms should you have not participated in any of our Autumn series training at Alford. All forms can be found HERE

Christmas Races and Lunch December 11th

Gordon Skiers Xmas Races 11th Dec 2016 - not including 20+ shy parents behind the camera

On behalf of the Gordon Skier’s committee, many thanks to everyone who took part in our Xmas races today at Alford and to those who attended the Xmas lunch at Alford Golf Club. One hundred and twelve people (a record, I think) sat down to an excellent lunch to celebrate the end of a very successful dry mat season. We had maximum numbers of racers signed up this season to dry mat training. Fingers, toes and everything else crossed now for some good snow.

Photos from the day as well as all our Sunday and Wednesday race league champions of the future are now posted on our Facebook page.

To add to the enjoyment, during lunch we watched Alex Tilley, a lifetime member of Gordon Skiers and British number one female Alpine skier, achieve a superb 22rd place in the World Cup slalom race at Sestriere, Italy. Alex began skiing on the dry mat at Alford with Gordon Skiers aged 8.

Watch Alexs run HERE

Have a very merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Graeme

REMINDERS

• Snow race support and training is live but only till December 19th. BOOK HERE today
• The Gordon Skiers Open will be released to the general public for booking by December 16th. Watch your emails to be able to secure your place early.
• Wednesday 14th December, Alford Ski Centre 7pm to 9pm - last mid week racing fun event PLUS course crew volunteer training. Please if you can tear yourself away from Masterchef and Corrie do so and demystify what helping to run a ski race is all about. Hot drinks and snacks will be served!

Sunday 11th December Christmas Races

So the moment everyone has been waiting for has come around again - the annual Gordon Skiers Festive Races and Xmas Meal this Sunday.

To finish of a fantastic Autumn season we will be having 9 teams racing this Sunday, each carefully chosen using skiers across all categories in the hope that we have some very tight racing - if not just blame Gary because he can't be with us and didn't do the teams anyway!

There will be 36 races – each team gets 8 races each, we will run the pool through once to
determine the results. In the event of a tie (see depiction to the left for meaning) then we will run ski offs after break to determine the winners. If we have no ties we will start to run the pool through again but purely for fun and to see who can challenge Santa Stomper with the most successful Lift, roll squash moment!

We will need a number of helpers to help on Sunday to try and keep things moving swiftly - if you can help then please let James know first thing on Sunday.

We aim to get racing as soon as possible after 9am so would be grateful if you could make sure you turn up promptly and get kitted up early, there will be no fitness so please come in ski gear and your best costume or Christmas jumper if you want to.

Teams will be posted on the wall of the main room at Alford - each team will have a name and a coaches name, once you ready then please find the coach for your team at the bottom of the slope and we will get things moving as fast as we can. There is bound to be some hanging about but we will limit as much as possible and please stick with your team leader and don't wander off.

Proposed Timetable

• Arrive 8.30-9am
• Start racing 9.15am
• Break 10.45 -11.00am
• Ski Offs of more races 11.00-12.00
• Change and Xmas presents to kids 12.15
• Head to Alford Golf Club 12.30-1pm
• Presentations 1pm-1.30pm
• Eat 1.30pm
• Leave – whenever

Photo Caption Competition

We will have 6 photos printed in large format for Sunday morning and would welcome folk to write down captions against any of the photos (parents please remember your audience). 

Entries already received will be on the photos to help try kick start the creative juices flowing from head down your arm and onto the paper as a caption. The committee will then select their favourite few with a vote by everyone at the Xmas meal to determine the podium positions.

Arrangements for Meal

Due to the large number of attendees we are using both the downstairs and upstairs lounges with 70 seated downstairs and 40 upstairs. It will be a case of select where you sit but we do request that no young kids are left unattended upstairs (as tempting as it may sound). When you arrive we will have a sheet to tick you off on, then please find a seat and get a drink. For those of you upstairs we will then come and get you for the presentations which will be downstairs. Alford Golf Club will be doing their best to get us all served in a timely manner but please bear with them and enjoy the festive spirit.

Other Important Info

1. Wednesday 14th December is Course Crew Training at Alford. Snacks and hot drinks
   served in the company of our very own resident Stompmaster James. Details here.
2. Gordon Skiers Jackets have arrived and can be collected this Sunday. Please ensure you have made payment before collection. Orders placed
3. Snow season booking form is live and closes on December 19th. If you wish to secure your place on the dates you would like training or race support please complete by the deadline.
4. The Gordon Skiers Open will take place on January 21/22 at The Lecht. Places may well be capped this year with the booking form going live to the general public on December 16th. An email will be circulated to all members ahead of this general release.

The committee would also like to thank everyone, club members old and new, for a fantastic Autumn series this year. Gordon Skiers is your club so we will always welcome feedback on what you like, what you don't and any ideas or suggestions you would like to see offered at the club. Just collar any of us for a chat or use the usual email address.

Wishing everyone a very Happy, healthy and safe Christmas and we look forward to doing it all again....and more.....on snow from early January.

The GDN Committee

Sunday Dec 4th Training Report

What a "Stomping" Sunday we had today at Alford. A great mornings training to round up the final weekend of formal training for Gordon Skiers this autumn. Next weekend sees the very exciting and tightly contested annual Xmas races followed by Xmas dinner and presentations.

It was another brisk morning and the mat was once again frozen resulting in James and Malcolm having to call in the trusty friend ‘the pickaxe’ to enable course setting to take place.

RD3 and 4 took on the course this morning with their timed runs and from what I could see there were improvements among all the kids (once some of them worked out the route) and I am sure this was reflected in the times. Some of you may have noticed that the lower end of the club has slowly been growing over the last few weeks as we have been trialing some siblings all of whom have been successful, so a big welcome to all our new members.

Performance squads were working hard with Alex and James working on some individual skills followed by some gate practice. The Christmas tunes were blaring and the spirits were high.

RD1 and 2 endured fitness first outside in the cold followed by some more energetic skiing working on similar drills from previous weeks.

The head to head team races at the end were as close as ever with Andrew Campbell’s team going away as winners. A good indication of how successful a training session is, is when we have to physically pull the course from in front of the final skiers on the hill (and no it wasn’t James this time).

For those following the Gordon Skiers Facebook page you will notice that James (our acting head coach) has been getting many comments on his unique style. He is the master of what has been termed "The Alford Stomp!" Whilst amusing this highly developed "technique" by James is actually very likely to lead to a technical straddle and disqualification in the bigger world so please consider before trying to mimic! James was emphasising "The Alford Stomp" to the max today as can be seen in numerous photos on Facebook and above. Enjoy but don't copy folks - James has this technique not only perfected but patented!!! He is throwing down the gauntlet to everyone at next weeks fun Christmas races to showcase a different style that will catch the photographers lenses!!!

Todays times for both PS1, 2 and RD 3 and 4 are shown below.

HOT NEWS: Watch the blog and Facebook for a caption competition with prizes to be awarded at next weeks Christmas lunch.

Your friendly GDN committee

Perf Squads	Time	Dev 3 and 4	Time
Andrew Simpson	6.67	Eva Sinclair	9.88
Ollie Bailey	6.79	Louisa McIntosh	10.11
Rachel Brown	6.91	Rasmus Ipsen	10.6
Neil Simpson	6.92	Oran McGurran	11.03
Beth Whatford	7.09	Romily	11.11
Graeme Campbell	7.32	Keira Henderson	11.21
Jack Morrison	7.64	Carys Henderson	11.41
Andrew Howell	7.78	Struan	11.73
William Lennox	7.93	Emily Carry	11.79
Paul Marshall	7.96	Olivia Sinclair	12.06
Ellie Green	7.97	Catriona Brown	12.13
Sophie Ross	8.19	Owen Campbell	12.13
Vicky Rasmussen	8.25	Glen Liversidge	12.21
Rachel Morrison	8.25	Shea Campbell	12.31
Ben Whatford	8.47	Jennifer Brown	12.59
Finlay Carry	9.15	Thomas Paterson	13.1

Santa Special - GDN at Rugby Plus

 Still looking for Christmas presents that are suitable, great quality, wanted and available at a good price ...... look no further than the Gordon Skier's webpage on the rugbyplus.com website. Ideal Christmas presents for young and old, players and supporters, men and women ... with the Gordon Skiers club logo to show your support for the Club. Sizes run from age 6 - 4XL * and ladies size 8-16 *.

Order asap either through the website or by contacting Rugby Plus 

direct on 01224 647347.

* Availability dependent on suppliers stock

Sunday December 4th Alford Training

It’s that time of the week again to start to dig out the ski kit and get ready for Sunday training at Alford. This Sunday is the 8th week and the final week before Xmas races on Sunday 11th December. We are back to week 2 schedule which sees D3 and 4 on timed runs, D1 and D2 on fitness first whilst Performance Squads are ski training.

Please remember clean shoes for indoor fitness training as we keep making a mess in the gym hall.

Coaches for this weekend are;

PS1   – Alex
PS2   - James
RD 1 - John
RD 2 -  Andrew
RD 3 – Callum & Kathleen
RD 4 – Malcolm & Mark

This week for fitness in the gym hall we are going to work on some High Intensity Interval Training comprising of the following drills. We will do each drill for 2minutes in pairs or small groups and then rotate round the stations with a 1minute rest with the aim to carry out to full cycles. Coaches will adapt depending on the age and ability of the group.

• Press-ups
• Sit-ups
• Burpees
• High Knees
• Sprints
• Bench Dips 
• Plank

Last week we were treated with Cafe2U and Blues both in attendance. The sausage rolls and ski prep demos that went down so well last Sunday sadly won't be available this week but "Fear ye not" as normal service will be resumed with soup and tray bakes to keep you fed. That and the regular friendly chats, cycle rides and all round family atmosphere. 

More details on Xmas races will follow by email shortly.

See you Sunday
The GDN team

Coming to a hill near you very soon.....

We can't give away too much right now but there are lots of exciting new offerings to be released by Gordon Skiers in time for Christmas! Something for everyone - young and less so young, member and non-member, ski racer or novice, teacher or student. It's going to be one heck of a winter season from our club base at The Lecht!

Follow us at www.gordonskiers.com or on our Facebook page to get all the latest information and offers from ski racing, training, events and offers from Grampian and across Scotland.

Winter snow training and race support are now open for booking.

2017 Scottish Winter Training & Race Support

Booking for the Gordon Skiers winter snow season is now live.

Snow training will commence January 8th, the first Sunday after schools return in January 2017 and will run until Sunday 26th March 2017.

Booking for Sunday training and season weekend race support should be booked through the form below. Reservations will close and payment must be made no later than December 19th. This is to ensure that we can assign the right coaches to the right groups for each event or training session.

The program for the season will see us continue our popular format of Sunday training at The Lecht and where we have our base. Race support will be provided for the Scottish series of races as usual. Drop In Saturday sessions are under consideration and will be slotted into the season dependant upon interest and snow conditions. (Please mark your interest - no payment required - on the booking form).

Click SNOW TRAINING FORM 2017 to reserve your place today

Sunday November 27th Alford Sunday and Bairns and Lassies

A great weekend for the club with skiing on Saturday for some at Hillend followed by the normal Alford Training on Sunday.

Saturday saw 11 athletes competing in the Bairns and Lassies race held at Hillend, Edinburgh. The day started off with a 7.30am bib collection (little bit antisocial) followed by course inspection and then 2 runs down a GS from the top. U12 racers needed 1 run to count and U14 and U16 needed combined times. We had 9 U12 racers and 2 U16 girls competing, this is a great number of U12 racers and hopefully this number will continue to grow. Race Support was led by acting head coach James and assisted by Calum S, there was no stoppage between runs so was a pretty busy morning with 120 racers for two runs. All the Gordon Skiers skied exceptionally well especially those who were skiing Hillend for the first time, Hillend is not the most forgiving of slopes and can be a little bit daunting when stood in the start gate of a 450m dry slope. Beth W put in two solid runs with a 0.3second improvement on her 2nd run to give her 1st place in U16 Female whilst two of our youngest members , and Hillend first-timers, were on the podium in the U8 boys with Glenn L taking 3rd and Finn R coming away with 1st. Well done to all racers especially those that podiumed and hopefully this is the start of excellent race entries and results for the season to come.

Sunday was a slightly busier day than normal at Alford with Blues and Datawax doing ski prep demos and giving advice whilst Cafe2U were serving hot drinks and bacon/sausage rolls which seemed to be going down well with parents and children alike - some even choosing to ski and eat on the go!

 

Due to most coaches being available today I decided to take the day off and do some observation , a task Gary wanted to do earlier in season but coach numbers didn’t allow, to see how coaching was progressing and see the general atmosphere in the club. The coaching seems to be going down well with all the kids coming off smiling and the improvements in their skiing are clear and the feedback from parents is positive and rewarding. 

RD1 and RD2 were on timed runs this morning on a slightly more challenging course than they have had previously with a hard left legged turn after a combination. Despite the course being tough both groups were giving it their best shot and the times were improving throughout the session. PS1 and PS2 were continuing the work and progression they have been on during the season and included some synchro skiing and Jamie has PS1 doing some circus tricks (balancing poles) whilst skiing down. RD3 and RD4 again were continuing to build their skills and week on week the level is improving whilst the coaches challenges the skiers to new drills.

The Head to Head races were exciting as usual with some very tight races and those that fell bounced back to continue racing. Today was exceptional in the fact that some teams had to have 2 skiers on the course to try compete against another team but I think the prize for ‘bending the rules’ goes to Mark R team who managed to have 3 skiers on the course at once in the hope to chase down the winning team today. The honours of winning team go to the acting head coach and his fellow team mates.

Name	Time
Kieran Lennox	8.65
Daisy Cowie	8.92
Logan Duncan	9.14
Torin Liversidge	9.62
Archie Duncan	9.68
Murdo Reid	9.73
Harvey Sleigh	9.93
Ruaridh Rogerson	10.11
Jack Sleigh	10.19
Kizzy Scott	10.31
Jacob Ipsen	10.46
Finlay Cooper	10.54
Alex Hay	11.34
Findlay Cormack	11.34
Dylan Driver	12.27

Sunday 27th Training

It’s that time of the week again for us to prepare for Sunday morning training at Alford. We are on week 7 of training out of 9 so are back to the beginning on the rotation again. Please find below this week’s training schedule. We have RD1 and RD2 on timed runs this week with RD3/4 and PS1/2 on the head to heads at the end.

This week’s coaches are;

Jamie- PS1
Alex – PS2
John –RD1
Andrew- RD2
Callum & Kathleen – RD3
Stuart & Mark – RD4

James will be present and will be popping between groups helping out where needed this weekend.

Reminder – we have Blues and Datawax coming along on Sunday morning to do a Ski Prep/Maintenance demo and they will be able to answer any questions on ski prep that you have so please go and see them. We also have Cafe2U serving hot drinks and bacon/sausage rolls during the morning.

Christmas Lunch Deadline- we need to know numbers by middle of next week at the latest so if you haven’t already signed up then please do so on Sunday morning.

Well done to all club members that took part in the SSSA races this week, it was delight to be involved in and see Gordon Skiers competing. I saw some excellent skiing and it was great evidence of all the hard work that has gone in so far this season. Hope you are all refreshed and ready for Sunday . Good luck to all those competing tomorrow at the Bairns and Lassies in Edinburgh and I will see you all bright and breezy tomorrow morning for a 7.30am bib collection.

See everyone on Sunday.

James (Acting Head Coach)

Roundup from Primary and Secondary SSSA SnowCross

Newmachar School Primary winners 

We are delighted to have had all our Gordon Skiers do so well either in the overall standings and with personal bests but also skiing for their schools, alongside their classmates and with smiles on their faces. 

The number of racers from all across Scotland, many of whom use SnowFactor regularly meant that the North East was always going to be up against it away from home. The results (individual and team) speak for themselves and once again show what can be achieved by a short piece of dry mat slope tied together with solid race coaching.

Congratulations and mentions to ALL RACERS (and their parents) from around the Shire who took the time out to head down and race inside the freezer. For once it was debatable whether inside SnowFactor was warmer than outside!!! 

Robert Gordons and St Ninians managed to share the Secondary prize on equal points.

A note to everyone that the SSSA Alpine series is also accepting entries for schools to take place on February 1st and 2nd at multiple venues across Scotland. Gordon Skiers will be helping support these great races at our home base of The Lecht. We'd love to see you there whether seasoned racer or novice. Get in touch with us and come and have a go!

Gordon Skiers results from the two days of racing

Primary
Name	School	Position	Comments
William Lennox	Newmachar	1	83 finishers
Kieran Lennox	Newmachar	2
Paul Marshall	Newmachar	5
Daisy Cowie	Finzean	5	Leading NE skier out of 77 finishers
Finlay Carry	Robert Gordons	13	83 finishers
Findlay Cormack	Finzean	35	First Indoor SkiCross race
Secondary
Name	School	Position	Comments
Rachel Brown	Banchory Academy	1	48 finishers
Ollie Baillie	Robert Gordons	1	52 finishers
Ruby Still	Robert Gordons	2	Family member
Beth Whatford	Westhill Academy	5	Leading NE skier
Hannah Morrison	Robert Gordons	14	48 finishers
Kathleen Ray	Banchory Academy	16
Ellie Green	Robert Gordons	22
Hamish Alexander	Banchory Academy	16	52 finishers
Andrew Howell	Albyn	22	Ski racing since Feb 2016 out of 52 finishers. 1st yr secondary

Sunday November 20th Arctic Alford Sunday

Gordon Skiers are a great bunch. Real enthusiasts on every level.

Saturday we had the Introduction to Mountain Safety day with 19 attendees, 16 of them Gordon’s Members. We covered everything from snow tension on convex slopes to practical exercises with transceivers. The weather was perfect - minus 6 with blue skies and frozen ground.

Kettle and a Pick Axe - Arctic Alford Course Setting

Then today, we had Alford powder with a mat that was frozen solid. Skis were gripping and the skiing was so hot the ice was being turned to steam.

Today’s timed runs were PS1 and PS2. The course was tricky with a big right foot turn 2 gates from the finish beam. It was challenging and a few skiers weren’t too happy with the course setter. Great gains were made and the competition was fierce. Andrew and Jamie were fighting for bragging rights and Andrew managed to pull it out of the bag on his last run, taking the lead from Jamie by the tiniest of margins.

Ellie Green wasn’t feeling it for the first few runs, but once she realised her skiing was more than capable of making the turns she nailed the course and her times came tumbling down. What a smile Ellie.

Race Development 3 and 4 were doing some great work shadow skiing and looking to take parallel skiing to the next level.

Race Development 1 and 2 were pushing themselves hard with testing drills, before testing their skills in the head to heads.

As for the fitness sessions. Great to see the skiers committing to the sessions and even managing to encourage some of the parents to join in. I’m sure I even saw smiles today after fitness - of course that could just have been the cold getting to my brain!

The head to head races were very close today, but Kathleen’s team took the honours. Annabel wasn’t happy with the clean win as she wanted a final. Well done Annabel (and Kathleen) in a great team performance.

Let’s hope the cold weather continues and brings in plenty of snow.

Gary W

Today’s Timed Runs

Winning Team Leader Kathleen and Kieran bowing to the stronger team

Skier	Time
Andrew S	6.81
Jamie R	6.84
Rachel B	7.03
Neil S	7.29
Beth W	7.3
Gary W	7.6
Jack M	7.79
William L	7.93
Nathan S	8.21
Ellie G	8.35
Graeme C	8.45
Paul M	8.61
Ben W	8.72
Rachel M	8.78
Sophie R	8.84
Andrew H	8.98
Finlay C	9.16
Alex	DNF

Training Sunday 20th November

Evening All,

Week 6 of training means we’re at the end of the second cycle of training. The Schedule is as per below

	Group B (Perf 1&2)	Group A (Dev 1&2)	Group C (Dev 3&4)
9:00-9:30	Timed Runs	Ski Training	Fitness
9:30-10:00
10:00-10:30	Ski Training		Break
10:30-11:00		Break	Ski Training
11:00-11:30		Fitness
11:30-12:00	Break
12:00-12:30	Fitness	Head to Head	Head to Head
12:30-13:00

Coaches this week will be

1. James RD1
2. Alex PS1
3. Kathleen RD3
4. Jamie PS2
5. Andrew RD2
6. Mark RD3
7. Callum RD4
8. Gary PS1

It’s going to be cold tomorrow with the mat covered in frost, so we should see some exciting timed runs and races. Please keep this in mind and wrap up warm.

Looking forward to seeing everyone for a good session tomorrow.

Gary W