Scottish Dry Slope Championships 2015

Another great weekend for Gordon Skiers!  Some stunning performances from Rachel Brown taking the girls U16 slalom title on the Saturday and then following that up with a silver medal in the GS on the Sunday.  Hannah Morrison added to the medals with a bronze medal in the U18 slalom on the Saturday.

Full report to follow.

Craig Macfie 2015

A great result for Rachel Brown at the 2015 Craig Macfie Classic at Hillend today, with first in Under 16 girls and cup for the fastest girl in children's category.  Times of 33 seconds in the first run followed by 35 seconds in the second was enough to lift the U16 trophy.

Some good performances from our other skiers, Nathan Smith showing real commitment in his skiing, a fall in the first run took him into the 40s but a second run was 38 seconds despite a mistake on the lower section.  Sub 35 is definitely on the cards for Nathan before long if he puts a strong run together.  Andrew Simpson was going really well in the first run when a fall on the steep section led to a hike back up the slope and a 41.9 seconds.

Ellie Green put two clean runs together and bucked the trend of slower times for the second run by taking 2 seconds off her first run time.

A great weekend for all and many thanks go to Duncan Shepherd for filling in on the coaching front.

With the SSSA race next weekend followed by the Scottish Dry Slope Championships the following weekend our skiers should be getting the hang of  the Hillend slope by the end of it all!

• Craig Macfie 2015 Results

Rachel recovers well from a wee scare 4 gates from home in the second run

And some well deserved silverware!

GB and Scottish Indoor Championships, Braehead 2015

Last weekend provided exciting and challenging skiing for all of the racers.

On Saturday 150 competitors traveled from all parts of Britain (including Ireland) to take part in the GBR indoor series at Snowzone, Glasgow. This however was nothing compared to the 200 competitors taking part in the Scottish Indoor champs on the Sunday. With such a huge number of racers on both days it was clear that each age category was going to be filled with tough competition.

Twin Peaks 2015

What a blur the season has been, so much fun and so many races. No sooner had the Winter season wound up, when the Summer season kicked in.

Last weekend was the Twin Peaks. For those that are not familiar, this is one of the biggest races of the Plastic series. 2 days of racing in different venues.

Saturday we had 9 racers in Tillicoutry, racing in Firpark. The weather wasn't nice to us, but the racing was certainly hot. Firpark is a sprint race, with only 15 gates, so the racing is Fast & Furious.

Gordons had a good medal haul with 1 silver and one bronze. Beth Whatford took the Silver in U16 whilst Kathleen Ray took bronze in the U18 age group. Quite an achievement considering they are both new to their age groups, so in the youngest bracket of each category.

Sunday was a completely different affair. The Sun shone, although the wind didn't ease.

For those that have never stood on top of the Hillend slope, it's something to behold. The racers kick out of a dedicated Start Box onto a very steep (Alpine steep) entry to the first few gates. The racers then vanish over a sharp change in gradient, before having to tackle an off camber traverse. Then it's back onto a double stepped steep with another sharp kick off, to the right, at the bottom. The last section of the course is a real highlight for the spectators. The course setters normally install a couple of combinations, right in front of the audience, so the action is up close. I always hear comments about how hard the racers hit the gates and how noisy it all is. It's also amazing to see the faces of the racers close up, as they focus on the gates ahead.

The courses on Sunday proved challenging for many. We had 25 gates (that's an awful lot for a plastic race) which meant a high DSQ rate. Both courses were very technical, with linked combinations.

All the same, Gordon's managed another medal. Beth Whatford was holding onto the gold after the fist run, but the second run saw a local racer squeeze past, leaving Beth with a well achieved Silver.

Well done to all of our racers, especially those new to Hillend. If you've never been, we have another couple of races there this season, so please think about it. It's a great day out.

This weekend sees the racers and coaches back in action. We have the Scottish and British Indoor Championships at the Glasgow Indoor Snow Slope. Once again we have an impressive turn out of racers and they will be fully supported for the races.

Best of luck to all and I'll let you all know how they get next week.

Gary W

Results

• Day 1, Fir Park, Tillicoultry
• Day 2, Hillend, Edinburgh

Bairns Bucket 2015

Well folks, just when you thought we had hung up our boots, the Gordon's Bairns were out defending our Honour.

The Bairn's Bucket, delayed for weather earlier in the season, took place on Sunday 19'th at the top of Cairngorm Mountain. The day started off a bit door and driech, but the sun was soon blazing down on our 8 racers, coach and temporary coaching assistant. We had a great support and attendance from parents too and it seemed all were having fun, both skiing and supporting.

Scottish Childrens Championships, Nevis Range, March 14th & 15th

As well as training at the Lecht this weekend, we also had 12 racers over at Nevis Range in Fort William, competing in the Scottish U14 and U16 Championship.

2 days of exciting racing were completed, under blue skies. The courses were very challenging, with the race pistes being (best described as) very firm.

Scottish Childrens Championships GS Run 2, Photos on Facebook

Post by Gordon Skiers Racing.

Scottish Childrens Championships GS Run 1, Photos on Facebook

Post by Gordon Skiers Racing.

Scottish Childrens Championships, Slalom Photos on Facebook

Post by Gordon Skiers Racing.

SSBX 2015

Glenshee Skier Cross

What another great weekend of racing in Glenshee. Even though the wind provided us some challenging conditions, the Gordon Skiers put in some impressive performances.

A full day of individual Qualifying on Saturday set the racers up for a day of elbow to elbow racing for the finals on Sunday.  Four racers at a time took on the course and the racing was very close.

In the U12's Nathan Smith took home the gold with Jamie Liversidge close behind in Silver. Top performances from both young men. Ben Whatford also made the final, but lost his third place close to the line to finish in 4'th. Very nearly a full Gordon's podium.

The girls U16 was a full Gordon's podium. Ruby Still took the gold whilst Beth Whatford came from the back to hold the Silver position, with Rachel Brown in Bronze. Morven Douglas made it to the wee Final and took the win for 5'th place.

A welcome return to racing for past member Connor Douglas (Morven's brother) He also made it to the final and was in third position, but took a tumble at the last feature. Unlucky Connor, but a well deserved 4'th.

Bormio English Alpine Champs

Photo courtesy of racer-ready

With lots of us busy over the February break, many off skiing, there were 4 Gordon skiers who went out to the British Championships in Bormio.

Both Beth Whatford and Keiran Troup have been spending time at the British Ski Academy in Les Houches where they met up and joined Tabby and Amelia Allan in Bormio. 

Keiran and Beth had good races, Beth Whatford constantly placing top 10 in her races, with a best result of 6th place for slalom. She is showing form this season and is knocking firmly at the door of a secure top 5 U14 girls in Britain, if she keeps up the good work then she can look forward to a successful British championships in Tignes. 

Gordon Skiers Open

Hi folks

Sorry it has taken so long to produce the report on last weekend's racing but at least the lack of training this weekend has allowed a little catch-up time.

It was great to see so many of our skiers turning out for our home races, many racing for the first time and putting up some strong performances that belied their lack of experience.  Given the challenging courses, with a full (close to) 50 gate course for the BASS racers and a mix of GS and combi courses for the younger racers  34 out of a possible 40 skiers is a great turnout.

SSSA. Alpine Series, Secondary Qualifier, Lecht.

Some great skiing in the Scottish Schools Snowsports Association secondary schools race at the Lecht today.  Despite the weather forecast conditions were fabulous and were matched with some first class performances by Gordon Skiers racing for both Alford Academy and Robert Gordons College.  As ever the margins were very close wih Alford Academy pipping Robert Gordons by 4/100 of a second!

• Individual Results

Bairns Race Results

Bairns Race results are now available here.  Some great racing by all involved!!

• Saturday results 
• Sunday results

Our apologies for posting the Sunday results twice, that is the links corrected now!

Gordon Skiers Open 2015, Bairns Photos.

The Bairns race photos are now on our Gordon Skiers Racing Facebook page.  We took over a 1000 photos over the three runs on Saturday and have selected some of the best.  We have tried to include photos of all the skiers, if we have missed someone out then please accept our apologies.

We hope you enjoy them.

Paul

Gordon Skiers Open 2015, A Big Thankyou

Many thanks to all the parents that helped out this weekend whether it be on catering, bib collections, in the race office or out on the hill, without the help and support of the club parents these events wouldn't go ahead. It was a very successful weekend for the club both on the results but also from an organisation point of view.

James , 

Chief of Champs.

Gordon Skiers Open 2015 Results

Gordon Skiers Open 2015 results are now available on Snowsports Scotland website.  Follow the links below.

• Saturday's Races
• Sunday's Races

Gordon Skiers Open Photos

For all Gordon Skiers parents.  I have taken around 1000 pictures on the BASS course over the weekend, some good ones and a lot not so good!  A selection are posted on Facebook.  If you would like more photos of your skiers, I will bring my laptop along to the club hut next Sunday and if you bring a USB drive or SD card I will download them for you.

My colleague David also took around 400 on the Bairns course, I will hopefully get those from him next week and get a selection posted her.

Gordon Skiers Open 2015. Saturday 24th

We have placed a collection of photographs of the majority of competitors on the Harrier course up on our Facebook page (Gordon Skiers Racing).  Afraid the light was poor so quality isn't great but hope you enjoy them.  Afraid we missed the last 10 boys, the photographer was succumbing to hypothermia!

Calling All Gordon Skiers Parents, We Need Your Help!

Calling all Gordon Skiers Parents.  We have had a fantastic entry for the Gordon Skiers Open Weekend with almost 200 skiers entered.  The downside of this is that it will all take a lot of organising.

For those of you who have not yet volunteered, we need your help.  There are a number of jobs not yet covered so please email James with your offers of help on racing@gordonskiers.com