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

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

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.

Training Report Sunday 19th March

Last night saw a smaller group of trainees for the Sunday night session with a few already abroad for various camps and races with others with other sporting commitments.

We had 18 kids spanning all the groups from Development 4 through to Performance 1 working with 3 coaches, John, Alex and Andrew. Andrew was working on matching the skis through the turn with the younger members whilst John was working on body management to be in a more dynamc posture with Alex putting the performance squads through their paces with some tic-tacs and short swings followed by some gate work.

As usual we had the ever competitive head to head races at the end through a technical course with some very tight races. It is amazing how a head to head races pushes the skiers to the next level to compete against their fellow club mates- makes for some very exciting viewing.

Wednesday training is on this week please email racing@gordonskiers.com if you haven’t already done so. Will send an email shortly to remind folk to sign up too.

Regards

GDN Coaching Team

Success for Gordon Skiers at SSSA ‘Green Mountain’ Race

Banchory Academy

This week saw two great days of racing at Braehead run by the SSSA with primary schools competing on Wednesday and Secondary on Thursday.

Gordon skiers had a strong presence at the primary event with 9 club members participating as part of their school teams. There were two courses set, 1 for boys and 1 for girls, both very similar with a small jump half way to add some variety to the event. It was a very busy event with 172 competitors all getting two runs throughout the day. All the club members skied really well and showcased the skills they have been working on over the season. In the girls category we had Daisy who skied into the top 10 to take a joint 9th place, with fellow female Gordon Skier Eva taking joint 26th in a field of 79. Over in the boy’s category we had 7 entrants with William taking the lead in rankings with a 2nd place, Nathan and Kieran took 5th and 6th with only a small margin separating them. Ruaridh, Josh and Findlay C all put in some of the best performances we have seen from them this season to take 25th, 38th and 51st out a field of 98 boys. To round off our entries in the primary event we had one of our youngest (and youngest competitor on the slope), Finlay S who before the first run decided he didn’t want to ski the jump, which was half the height of him. Finlay skied two excellent runs and was seen in the finish with smile from ear to ear. A great day for Gordon Skiers and fellow skiers from the North East.

Thursday saw another strong Gordon Skiers entry with 9 out of 120 coming from the club, a lot of the entrants don’t train with a club and just ski for their schools at these schools events. Again there were two courses with a jump located in the middle section. With less competitors and faster times than the day before the event ran smoothly and by lunchtime was ahead of schedule by an hour. In the girls event it was very tight on the results with the top 5 being split by less than 0.5seconds. Beth W took a very respectable 3rd place just ahead of Rachel B in 4th. Kathleen took 14th ahead of Ellie and Sophie who were split by 0.03 seconds to take 17th and 18th. Boys category was fierce again with just 0.6seconds splitting the top 5 , Andrew S narrowly missed out on a podium by 0.08 seconds to take 4th, with his brother Neil taking 11th. Andrew H, just in his second year of schools events, took a well-deserved 13th with Hamish completing the top 20 , 7 places behind. Again fantastic skiing by all involved and a huge well done to Banchory Academy who took 3rd place in the team category.

Gordon Skiers were represented in the event crew as well with our Race Convenor, James, taking on the duties of running the event and course setting for both days.

Photo Copyright SmugMug

Training at Alford, Sunday 19th March

Evening All,

Thank you to those that have replied about Sunday, we currently have the names below down for attending.

Jennifer
Joe
Emily
Finlay C
Flynn
Nairn
Rory
Ellie
Catriona
Torin
Glenn
Vicky
Graeme
Andrew H

We still have spaces available and need a few more to allow us to run the training session. Training will run from 4.30-6.30 at Alford on Sunday evening.

We are also hoping to run mid-week training next Wednesday as well 7-9pm at Alford again. Please email racing@gordonskiers.com to note your attendance for either or both sessions.

Kind regards

GDN Coaching Team

Training Sunday 19th March

Still no snow then!  So it is back to Alford again this Sunday.  Training will be in the same format and will run from 4.30 to 6.30.  Because our time slot is so short can we encourage everyone to arrive for 4.00 so we can be changed and ready to hit the mat at 4.30.

One of the subjects discussed at the committee meeting on Monday was the difficulties being caused by late notification that skiers will be training.  To keep costs down we try to match the number of coaches to the number of skiers but if we are only being notified late on the evening before training that skiers will be attending this whole process becomes very difficult with the head coach often having to phone round coaches at the last moment.

Can you please email racing@gordonskiers.com by Friday evening at the latest to let us know if your skiers are training on Sunday.

Many thanks.

James

News From The Committee!

Last night the committee met at the Broadstraik Inn in Westhill. Despite a very frustrating season with poor snow conditions, it was a very positive meeting!

The regular dry mat sessions running at Alford are proving very popular and a massive thanks goes to James P for organising the kids and the coaches. This is the first year for a very long time that the club has offered regular twice weekly dry mat sessions during the Winter when the snow conditions have been so poor. It was agreed that we would try and continue running the weekend Sunday session (430-630pm) after Easter. In addition it was agreed that we will look at the possibility of club trips to Hillend and the indoor slope at Braehead prior to the Twin Peaks dry mat events and the Scottish indoor races in June. The Twin Peaks event is great fun with friendly racing at Firpark, Tillicoutry on Saturday 3rd June and then more excitement at Hillend, Edinburgh on Sunday 4th June. (more details to follow)

Plans for the annual Gordon Skiers party are well underway! This year the party will be held at the Westhill Golf Club on Saturday 6th May...please save the date! We would like to encourage as many members and friends as possible to attend. If you haven’t attended before it is always a good fun night for the kids, coaches and parents, including a raffle/auction and awards presentation. Tickets will be on sale shortly.

Another important date is the club’s AGM. This will be held in the Broadstraik Inn on Wednesday 21st June...please save the date! The club is run by a small committee of dedicated volunteers and each year at the AGM we look to encourage new members to join the committee. Succession planning is important for the club committee and we try and have a good mix of newer members with new ideas with those who have been around the club for longer. The club seems to be thriving at the moment with membership up and many new enthusiastic and supportive parents. New ideas and new faces on the committee, however, are always very welcome. The commitment is not onerous and if you would like to know more about how the club runs or are interested in joining the committee then please just ask me or any of the other committee members. The current committee members are Gary Whatford (coaching convener), James Paxton (race convener), Philip Carry (treasurer), Paul Green (communications/IT), Alistair Morrison, Al MacKay, Craig Ross and myself (chair).

Thanks to all the racers, parents and coaches for your continued support.

Graeme

Training Report Sunday 12th March

Last Sunday yet again saw a serious lack of snow on the hills but it didn’t halt the enthusiasm among members to get along to Alford for a training session in the evening with an amazing turnout of 33 kids.

A number of our regular coaches were either away, injured or preoccupied with families or Uni assignments but we were lucky to have ex trainee and current Level 1 Instructor Erik Rasmusen home for the weekend who kindly offered to step in to a coach position and did a fantastic job with the younger kids. Back for her 2nd week was Rachel Brown who once again handled her group effortlessly and all the trainees looked to be having fun and learning new things along the way.

With such large numbers all 4 coaches, with Andrew and James back as the regulars, it was quite a job keeping the skiers moving and occupied at all times.

As normal we finished off the session with the usual head to head races. All the trainees get to choose who they pair up against and it is now becoming a regular occurrence that the older kids elect to race against the younger ones and do so in true sporting spirit. There is a definite club spirit with the mixed age/ability races and the gathering of parents (which is growing weekly) that spectate from the bottom and cheer on all the racers, especially the youngest kids taking on the coaches.

Another great session with good atmosphere, we are certainly making the most of the lack of snow and continuing to keep the club momentum.

PLEASE NOTE- Due to the large number of members participating in the schools events this week in Glasgow it has been decided to call off the mid-week training this Wednesday, we will resume as normal next Wednesday.

GDN Coaches

Gordon Skiers Open Cancelled

As I am sure you are aware we are experiencing a serious lack of snow this season.

We have held on as long as we could before making the call in the hope we might get a huge snowfall but the forecast for next week is for mild conditions.

Therefore we have made the call to cancel the Gordon Skiers Open on Saturday 18th which supports the decision made by ASC and GPS to cancel their events on Sunday 19th.

We will get refunds organised for those that had made payment – we hope to have this completed by the start of the week but please bear with us.

Kind regards

James

GDN Open Chief of Champs

Your Opinions Please! Both parents and Racers.

Good Evening All, this has been a very strange season for all involved in Gordon Skiers.

It's not only are the racers that get frustrated at the lack of snow training. The committee are also thinking on new ways to involve the members and keep training live (like trips to snow domes, etc.,) whilst the coaching team are constantly thinking of how we can keep the training relative and motivational.

We are fast approaching the AGM and will only have 2-3 committee meetings before our Annual Meeting. As such, I'd like to be able to present to the committee what is good and what is not so good about the Gordon's coaching.

Normally at the AGM I would present the next season's training plan and goals. I'd like to be able to respond to the request of members this year and include in the plan what members want.

As such, I would greatly appreciate if you could private message, or e-mail, me any comments you have on this, difficult, season's training and coaching. Don’t hold back on comments as my duties as Coaching Convenor include providing the best quality of training we possibly can. This is only possible if we are aware of what the members think.

If preferred, any comments can remain anonymous.

One more point I'd like to hear opinion on. It seems there is snow in resorts beyond the Lecht. Please let me know if you would be willing to travel to Cairngorm or Nevis for training, if it had conditions suitable to training.

Cairngorm is a 2 hour drive, whilst Nevis is another 60-80 minutes beyond that. I’d be really keen to hear your opinions.

Gary Whatford
gary.whatford@btinternet.com

Training At Alford, Sunday 12th March

We have just checked the forecast again and it is going to continue to be mild with no/little precipitation on the hills. Both Glenshee and The Lecht are struggling to hold any snowfall due to the warm ground conditions.

We now have confirmation that we have Alford booked for Sunday 4.30-6.30pm as usual. The training will follow the format from previous weeks with training drills followed by some fun head to head races to finish the session.

Please email racing@gordonskiers.com to book your place. No payment is needed on the day, it will all be sorted at the end of the season.

Regards

Training Wednesday 9th March 2017

Wednesday night saw another great training session with 16 participants with two coaches, Andrew and James. This week saw the focus on upper body stability and separation to ensure weight and pressure over the outside ski. The athletes were working on both these areas both inside and outside the training course.

With James having caught coach Andrew out last week on his course it was Andrews turn to set and challenge James this week. It was an interesting set with open gates followed by an on-off banana gate followed by a tight exit into couple open gates before the finish. Unfortunately for coach Andrew he challenged himself slightly too much tonight resulting in a DSQ , whilst James managed to hold it together in Run 2 and 3 to ski into 3rd position for the night. With James out of the top two the rivalry for 1st place was left to the Simpson brothers, Andrew is going to have to watch his back, with Neil skiing with a combined time of 14.69 seconds narrowly defeated by elder brother Andrew by 0.05 seconds in a time of 14.64 seconds. Slightly further down the order the family contests continued with father Gordon and son William chasing each other, tonight it was the night for the dad to show the child how it’s done with Gordon beating William by 0.3 seconds over two runs.

Another good session and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Training is on at Alford on Sunday 4.30-6.30pm as there is no snow forecast before the weekend. Please email racing@gordonskiers.com to book your place.

Regards

GDN Coaching Team

	11-Jan		18-Jan		01-Feb		01-Mar		08-Mar
Name	Combined Time	Points	Combined Time	Points	Combined Time	Points	Combined Time	Points	Combined Time	Points	Running Total
Andrew Simpson	13.35	100							14.64	100	200
Neil Simpson	14.59	50					14.86	80	14.69	80	210
James Paxton	DSQ		13.81	80	13.36	80	14.86	100	14.98	60	320
Graeme Campbell	14.83	45	14.63	60			DSQ		16	50	155
Nathan Smith			15.74	36			16.34	50	16.32	45	131
Gordon Lennox			16.36	26					16.37	40	66
William Lennox			15.31	50					16.68	36	86
Mark Rasmusen	16.00	40	16.41	22	15.83	45	17.76	40	17.18	32	179
Daisy Cowie	DSQ		16.29	29			19.34	29	17.53	29	87
Josh Hall			21.29	16	19.11	40	18.6	36	19.51	26	118
Elliot Hall									20.87	24	24
Annabel Mckay	23.28	22			23.69	24			23.42	22	68
Finlay Smith			28.9	13			25.92	22	24.44	20	55
Joe Nicholson	25.87	18	27.21	14	26	22	25.99	20	24.87	18	92
Andrew Campbell	DSQ		13.77	100	13.44	60	DSQ		DSQ		160
Andrew Howell	14.55	60	15.52	40			16.67	45			145
Ollie Baillie					13	100					100
Michael McIntosh			20.11	18	19.22	36	20.33	26			80
Iain Campbell	14.46	80									80
Beth Whatford							15.5	60			60
Ellie Green	16.32	36	16.37	24							60
Louisa McIntosh					22.82	29	23.37	24			53
Emily Carry	24.08	20			22.68	32					52
Hamish Alexander					13.49	50					50
Eva Sinclair	19.34	29	19.43	20							49
Kieran Lennox			15.51	45							45
Ben Whatford							18.98	32			32
Finlay Carry	17.62	32									32
Sophie Ross	DSQ		16.13	32							32
Olivia Sinclair	26.07	16	25.44	15							31
Finn Rogerson	19.63	26									26
Alasdair Crofton	21.11	24									24
Craig Ross	DSQ										0

Sunday 5th March Training Report

The snow arrived yesterday at The Lecht in moderation and then started to disappear again today….luckily we had booked at Alford and it was definitely the right call to train on dry land again as much as it would be lovely to get on snow.

We had a record breaking number of trainees training for our Sunday evening session with 32 members covering the full span of 5 years olds through to a parent (Mr Lennox). With this number of trainees we required 4 coaches so on the hill we had Jamie R and the usual faces of Andrew and James, it was with great pleasure that we welcomed Rachel Brown to the coaching crew for tonight, with many of our other coaches unavailable she stood in at the last minute. Rachel is a newly qualified BASI 1 instructor and has been with the club for almost 12 years so brings great knowledge and club experience with her.

Jamie was working with the performance squads trying to get both skis to work together and prevent any lifting in the turn. Andrew was continuing the theme of previous weeks with Development 2 working on releasing pressure from inside ski and applying it to the outside ski. Rachel and James had Development 3 and 4 working on a variety of technical skills all about matching the skis to make them parallel during the turn.

Once again the head to head dual slalom races at the end were tightly contested with some very right races. It is fantastic and a great testament to the club atmosphere just now to see the older kids offering to race the younger kids and showing true sportsmanship in the process.

Another great session and improvements shown across all groups.

Wednesday Night Session- please email racing@gordonskiers.com to let us know you are attending. It is open to all members and runs from 7-9pm for the amazing value of £10.

Regards

GDN Coaching Team

Training at Alford, Sunday 5th March.

Evening,

Note:- We would like to start using the website more for notifications about training and gathering trainees numbers but recently we haven’t been getting the responses from our posts hence the use of email has come back. We would ask that you check the blog regularly for updates and even better is to subscribe to the blog so that you get an email alert when new posts are uploaded. The website can be found at www.gordonskiers.com and to subscribe you simply go to the ‘follow by email’ section on the right hand side under the big club logo and enter your email address.

Sunday 5th

The snow still hasn’t arrived and isn’t showing much signs of returning, there is some forecast for end of next week so we will keep monitoring the conditions for next weekend but for this Sunday we are back to Alford. Training times are 4.30-6.30pm at a cost of £12 per person (no need to pay on the night)

Below is a list of names we believe to have confirmed their attendance. If your name is not on the list and you wish to attend then please drop us a message to racing@gordonskiers.com, there is still spaces available so all are welcome.

Andrew H                         Louisa M

Michael M                        Murdo R

Nairn F                              Nathan S

Rachael M                        Romilly R

Rory F                                Torin L

William L                           Gordon L

Annabel M                       Catriona B

Daisy C                              Finlay S

Flynn H                              Glenn L

Jack M                               Jennifer B

Joe N

Wednesday Evening Training

Please email racing@gordonskiers.com to note your attendance for next Wednesday nights session.

Kind regards

GDN Coaching Team

Scottish Childrens Championships Postponed

I have just had email confirmation from Neil Ross that next weekends Scottish Childrens Championships at Nevis Range have been postponed.  Although Nevis Range have snow and some upper runs open there is not enough for running the races.

"After concerted efforts to try and find a safe and effective way to run the Children's Championships and Bairns Bucket on the 11th and 12th of March I'm afraid we have had to decide on a postponement. The staff at Nevis Range have, as always, been extremely helpful but are of the opinion that the only slope currently with enough snow on it is too narrow, too steep and too difficult to access. This, coupled with the fact that the forecast is for warmer weather, has given us no option but to postpone the championships until a date that will be confirmed as soon as possible. Entry fees will be refunded if the races cannot take place."
It is hoped they may be able to reorganize possibly in April.

Wednesday 1st March Training Report

Wednesday night saw us return to Alford for our mid-week training sessions after a few weeks rest.

Training session saw the skiers skiing two different training courses, one stubby course which was flowing and semi open and a full sized gate course which had an increasing offset each gate. It was soon evident to those that were falling onto an inside ski after the first couple of runs but by the end of the session everyone was completing the offset course by getting the weight onto the outside ski to enable the pressure to build up and drive into the turn.

James returned to setting the timed run course tonight, ably assisted by Andrew, after taking a few weeks off to allow other coaches to set. The course comprised of 2 open gates, followed by a hairpin into a tight exit gate with couple more open gates before a flush to finish. Beth took an early lead over James after the first run by 0.02seconds with Andrew C following closely behind. Neil S then had a superb 2nd run putting him into contention of winning for the night whilst James and Andrew C both DSQ meaning they had to make their 3rd and final runs to get a ranking for tonight. Neil improved again for his 3rd run to give him a time of 7.42 with James to ski for all or nothing. Again the margins tonight splitting the top 3 were immensely tight with James pipping Neil by 0.02seconds combined and Beth a mere 0.17 behind Neil. Slightly further down the rankings there was a battle between two of our younger members with ‘wee Finlay S’ narrowly beating Joe by 0.07 seconds.

Over the sessions we have been running the coaches have been noticing constant improvements amongst all the trainees and these improvements are presented in the times improving.

League table is attached below.

Wednesdays 8th March- we will be looking to run the session again next Wednesday 7-9pm at Alford. Please email racing@gordonskiers.com to indicate your attendance.

Regards

Wednesday Night Team

	11-Jan		18-Jan		01-Feb		01-Mar
Name	Combined Time	Points	Combined Time	Points	Combined Time	Points	Combined Time	Points	Running Total
James Paxton	DSQ		13.81	80	13.36	80	14.86	100	260
Neil Simpson	14.59	50					14.86	80	130
Beth Whatford							15.5	60	60
Nathan Smith			15.74	36			16.34	50	86
Andrew Howell	14.55	60	15.52	40			16.67	45	145
Mark Rasmusen	16.00	40	16.41	22	15.83	45	17.76	40	147
Josh Hall			21.29	16	19.11	40	18.6	36	92
Ben Whatford							18.98	32	32
Daisy Cowie	DSQ		16.29	29			19.34	29	58
Michael McIntosh			20.11	18	19.22	36	20.33	26	80
Louisa McIntosh					22.82	29	23.37	24	53
Finlay Smith			28.9	13			25.92	22	35
Joe Nicholson	25.87	18	27.21	14	26	22	25.99	20	74
Andrew Campbell	DSQ		13.77	100	13.44	60	DSQ		160
Graeme Campbell	14.83	45	14.63	60			DSQ		105
Andrew Simpson	13.35	100							100
Ollie Baillie					13	100			100
Iain Campbell	14.46	80							80
Ellie Green	16.32	36	16.37	24					60
Emily Carry	24.08	20			22.68	32			52
Hamish Alexander					13.49	50			50
William Lennox			15.31	50					50
Eva Sinclair	19.34	29	19.43	20					49
Annabel Mckay	23.28	22			23.69	24			46
Kieran Lennox			15.51	45					45
Finlay Carry	17.62	32							32
Sophie Ross	DSQ		16.13	32					32
Olivia Sinclair	26.07	16	25.44	15					31
Finn Rogerson	19.63	26							26
Gordon Lennox			16.36	26					26
Alasdair Crofton	21.11	24							24
Craig Ross	DSQ								0