Training Sunday Oct 2nd

Morning Racers (and parents)

What a fantastic start to training last week and so great to see such a effort from all the the athletes in both skiing and fitness and all with a smile on their faces! A big thank you also to all parents that signed up to help out on the Soup each week. It is fantastic to see you all get involved in the club.

By now you should have received the timetable for Sunday. Please have a close look at the Groups as there have been several changes from last week and this will affect your first session on Sunday.

With our new Sunday format we see 1 Group skiing through the timing gear for one hour of the session. The timed runs are always popular and the racers are always eager to beat their own times (and their peer’s) with each run through the gates. Times recorded so far will be posted after this Sundays session.

Last week we had Race Development 1 and Race Development 2 swapping times and the competition was fierce. The fastest time of the day went to Kieran Lennox, with a very impressive 8.11s. Kieran was filling in for his older brother last week so I’m sure there will be lots of 'discussion' in the Lennox household when William get his chance to better his brother’s time.

We had 6 new members skiing for timed runs last week, so well done to Kizzy, Kieran, Dylan, Jack, Harvey and Archie. You all had great times and raised a few eyebrows with your fantastic skiing.


Hot News - additional evening training sessions
Apologies for the short notice, but from next week we’ll be introducing an additional race evening, where we will have the Alford Mat for a 2 hour session of competitive racing. I’m working on the format, but please register interest with myself, Rob M or James P. The session will run from 7 - 9 pm.

This coming Wednesday (October 5th) will be the first of our mid-week sessions. I’m hoping for these to switch to a Tuesday, once we return from the October holidays.
This may even form the grass roots of a club league. Parents will be more than welcome to come along and have a try at the gates. It’s great fun and really improves skiing skills. (Katie Henderson, I hope to see you at these sessions)

If anything is unclear, as always please let us know on admin@gordonskiers.com

Looking forward to seeing everyone this Sunday.

Gary W and the GDN Committee

Get well soon Malcolm from all of us at GDN

Alford Day Autumn Season Training 2016

"A great first day at Alford! The sun, as always, was shining and it was fantastic to see so many racers at Alford dry mat. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. We have over 50 racers now enrolled in our Autumn dry mat programme. On behalf of the committee a big thank you to all members who have signed up again for training and also a very warm welcome to our new members. Todays session included fitness training in the park and in the new Alford school gymnasium, ski training, timed runs and some team races.

Keep an eye on the Gordon Skiers blog for information about the club, races and other events including club supported events in Austria and Italy. Information about club clothing can be found on the blog and by contacting Lynne (clothing convener - clothing@gordonskiers.com). The timed-runs are always popular and the times will be posted on the blog. Those of you who haven’t been timed today please don’t worry as you will have your turn very soon.

Photos from todays opening session are on our Facebook page. Racers (and parents!) if you do not appear today then apologies but worry not you will be featuring in a gallery soon.

If you any queries about the club, ski race training or equipment then please contact either myself, Gary (head coach) or other committee members. We are always keen to get feedback from the racers and parents about any aspect of the club.

And finally……..I noticed some very keen cyclists today…..I think we now need a cycling convener to coordinate some rides from Alford on a Sunday! Watch this space!

Graeme and the committee 

Alford Training - Sept 25th Day 1

THE DAY HATH COMETH!

Sunday Sept 25th - Day 1 Training, Alford

Evening All,

I’m really looking forward to our first training session of the season on Alford Dry Mat.

The format is all new for this season and will be sent to you all in a separate e-mail this evening. It will include the groups and the timetable for this Sunday and how the sessions will run.

Each training day on the dry mat will consist of Ski Training, Fitness Training, Ski Racing (on most days) and Timed Runs . All of the fitness training will be geared toward improvements in our recent ACE tests and, the majority, will take place in the new Alford Fitness Facility, so we can really make the most of the training time and aim for big improvements.

The schedule is a rolling schedule, so each week the groups will rotate around. The schedule for each week will be emailed on the Friday night before each Sunday session.

For this Sunday (and every Sunday), please come prepared for whichever discipline you’re scheduled for (skiing or fitness) as we’ll be ready to start at 9:00 am sharp. The schedule will have 1 hour of fitness, 1 and half hours of ski training and either timed runs or racing for the other hour.

Each Group on the mat will consist of 2 teams each with an Instructor and the Instructor will follow their team for the whole day, through fitness/skiing/racing/timed runs.

See You All on Sunday,

Gary W

Winter Mountain Safety Course

We are still needing to gauge numbers interested to attend our Winter Mountain Safety course taking part on November 19th from 09:00 to 17:00 in or around Aberdeen (Venue TBC based upon final numbers).

Please register your interest HERE 

We will keep this link open until October 1st after which we will close any more interest and shortly afterwards communicate final details.

You are welcome to share this information with other friends and colleagues who could benefit from this through their participation in winter mountain activities

All questions to the usual email please admin@gordonskiers.com

Sunday 18th September Update

Autumn series training starts next Sunday at Alford - no more lie ins!

Updates

Membership and registration for Autumn training ends this Wednesday evening - we still have just a few places left before out limit. Don't miss out and regret it later! FORMS

Austria race camp for January is live. DETAILS Coaches are now being confirmed and an email has been distributed to all members providing a pastoral option for this camp. 

The Winter Mountain Safety course is still open for booking on our blog. This will take part on November 19th. Please sign up and also share with any friends/colleagues who might also benefit from this course. FORM

Our 2016/17 season calendar is in its final proofing and will be published from our blog very shortly. A notification will go out once it is live.

Have a great week and look forward to seeing you all next week at Alford.

Gordon Skiers Committee

Registration Closing

Registration for membership and Autumn race training closes in only one week

Membership for the 2016/17 season and Autumn training registration closes at 6pm on Wednesday 21st September

Membership, Parental Consent and Dry Mat training forms are required for both new and existing members. Forms are online and can be found HERE

On top of all the usual top class, multi surface ski race coaching we offer, here are just some of the exciting new offerings on the Gordon Skiers program this season;

Autumn Series (Sep 25th to Dec 11th) events taking place

• Club gear sale
• Ski preparation, demo and sales
• SSSA event support and training for Dual Slalom and Indoor SkierCross
• Evening week sessions at Alford (in discussion)
• All mountain safety training course
• Race crew volunteer training session
• Breahead training visits (in planning)
• Clash of the Titans fun race day vs TBC Scottish clubs (in planning) 
• Christmas Dinner

Winter Snow Series (Jan 1st to Apr 16th)

• Ambition and Evolution race series and training, Austria
• Weekly Sunday snow training Jan 9th to Apr 2nd at the Lecht (subject to snow conditions)
• All Scottish series snow races supported and including our very own Gordon Skiers Open kicking off the series on  Jan 21/22
• SSSA Alpine series race training and support for schools
• Inter Schools Ski Challenge Mar 20/21 race camp, Italy
• Scottish FIS series races in April supported for U18+
• Additional Saturday Lecht training (in planning and subject to snow conditions)
• British Children's Championships race camp in France (under consideration and subject to venue dates and confirmation)

Spring Series (Apr 30 to Jun 24)

• Extended regular race training (home and away / multi surfaces)
• Support for all Spring and summer indoor and mat races
• Ceilidh
• End of season prize awards

Additional

Gordon Skiers has invested in a new top of the line timing gear which we will be using to help athletes train and cut their race timings through a course. The equipment is used predominantly for training and will be used regularly throughout the season, both home and abroad, to start shaving seconds off our athletes runs.

Improved refreshments are being offered at Alford than previous years and we are in discussion to set up some parallel Autumn activities for the parents whilst their athletes are skiing. A bike club, fitness and swimming are being considered but please feel free to input your own ideas. 

To further involve parents and not just focus on the younger racers, we continue to run coaching and demonstrations within the field of ski preparation but are also introducing an all mountain safety course and race event staff training this season.

For this season we have secure partnership with Racer Ready Magazine and continue to offer deals with existing partners. 

More details will be announced very shortly but it promises to be a great season to come for Gordon Skiers, it's members and Scottish skiing in general!

"What is Gordon Skiers all about anyway?"

Gordon Skiers is a non-profit ski racing club that exists solely to introduce and develop talent from across the North East of Scotland within the sport of Alpine Ski racing. All our staff are volunteers and give up a significant part of their time to plan and organise events and programs for the good of the sport and it's future. This is a model that has worked well through the years and demonstrable through our successes (Hall of Fame). We support Alpine Ski racing at all levels and believe the way to do this is to lead with initiative and not simply follow. We are committed to sustaining a future for the sport within Scotland and the UK.

Why wouldn't you want to know more? Please direct any questions you have to admin@gordonskiers.com

Gordon Skiers Membership Registration

That's it, clouds are bubbling up, nights are drawing in and the kids are back to school -

Thoughts are officially allowed to turn back towards skiing!

A reminder that Gordon Skiers annual membership and Autumn race training is still open for booking but only till September 21st.

We have an exciting and much expanded program for this coming season but with the same great coaching team and 2015/16 pricing, so don't delay and miss getting involved!

Membership, Parental Consent and Dry Mat training forms are required for both new and existing members. Forms are online and can be found HERE

Membership and Alford training rates have been held at last years prices and once again have different levels of membership to cater for everybody. (Please note that Alford mat training does have a cap on numbers therefore places will be prioritised to those who have registered and paid their 2016/17 membership before commencement of training). The training will take place from 9am-1pm on the following Sundays; 

• 25th September   First session
• 2nd October         Club kit sale
• Half Term Break
• 30th October        Recommence after break
• 6th November
• 13th November
• 20th November    Ski preparation demo
• 27th November
• 4th December
• 11th December    Final dry mat and Xmas Dinner

Bookings are open until 6pm on Wednesday 21st September

Please note that Gordon Skiers are limited on athlete numbers at Alford facility so in case training is oversubscribed we will offer places on a first come first served basis

As always please direct any questions you have to admin@gordonskiers.com