Alex Tilley Presentation, Alford Ski Slope, Monday May 30th 7.30PM

Following the club's successful party fundraiser for Alex Tilley, all members are very welcome to attend a short presentation to Alex on Monday 30th at Alford ski centre at 730pm. Alex has taken some time out of her busy training schedule and Gordon Skiers are delighted to support her quest to compete at the highest level of Alpine ski racing.

Graeme

Gordon Skiers AGM.

The club is holding it's AGM on 21st June at 730pm in the Broadstraik Inn, Westhill.

Since it's foundation, the club has been run by a committee of parent volunteers. The current committee is very keen to get your feedback on any aspect of the club and would be delighted to see you at the AGM. Several of the committee members who have served for some time will be standing down and this provides a good opportunity to welcome aboard new committee members. With our much improved IT, committee membership and club admin is not onerous and can be fun! The specific roles we are hoping to fill are treasurer, club administrator, communications officer and coaching convener. The current committee members who hold these positions are all happy to shadow and support individuals who take on these roles. We also welcome members who wish to stand as ordinary committee members. If you think you might be interested in helping the committee then please contact the chairman (Graeme - graemebrown1@btinternet.com mobile 07740585898) or any committee member. For the club to continue thriving, new ideas and enthusiasm are welcome!

Hillend Invasion

On Sunday, Midlothian ski centre, aka Hillend, aka the steepest and longest dry ski slope in Europe, was invaded by 30 racers from the North and West country! Kids and parents from Gordon Skiers, Aberdeen Snowsports Club and Bearsden Ski Club got together for some Hillend fun. We had a fantastic group of coaches from the three clubs.  Jamie, James, Josef, Duncan, Mark, Stephanie and Oscar. A big thank you to Hillend for hosting us, for providing additional coach support and for setting a good race course. Several of the crew had never skied at Hillend before but everyone enjoyed the thrills (and occasional spill) of racing at this great venue. 

After some free skiing to warm up the legs the real excitement began with 2 hours of continuous racing from the top of the hill. By the end of the session the legs were tired but the hill had been well and truly conquered.

The weather was kind, the views from the top were amazing, the parents were happy and sun-tanned and the bus transport to and from Aberdeen was great…thanks to our driver Kevin from Fountainwell Executive.

The Gordon's crew were Ellie, Rachel, Nathan, Vicky, Neil, Paul, Finlay, Emily, Annabel, Alexander, Jennifer and Catriona.

Look out for the photos and videos from the trip on our Facebook page.

Hope to see you at the Twin Peaks and Braehead races.

Thanks to everyone from the three clubs for making the trip a success.

Graeme

Hillend Trip, Final Arrangements

Hi,

The bus will be departing Westhill at 9am (IKM carpark just past Westhill service station on the left heading west) so please can you arrive at 845am to load the bus. We'll then collect some ASC members at 915am at Garthdee dry slope. The bus company is Fountainwell Executive. (same firm we used for Braehead).

(Annabel, Alexander and Nathan - own transport. Nathan on return bus. There will be spare seats on the bus so let me know if you change your travel arrangements)

For those taking the bus, can you please let me know whether you will be meeting the bus at  Westhill or Garthdee. 

The session finishes at 4pm so we'll probably leave Hillend at about 430pm. 

It would be a good idea to bring some food/snacks although there is a cafe at Hillend. The forecast for Sunday in Edinburgh is "sunny with light showers" so best to bring appropriate clothing for typical Scottish weather.

We have approximately 30 racers signed up from the 3 clubs of all ages and abilities. Having spoken to the other clubs, the main aim is for everyone to have a fun day out!

If you have any queries about the trip please let me know.

See you on Sunday.

Graeme

Message From Louise Kochalski, Snowsport Scotland

Hi everyone,

Now that Gymnastics is up and going, we'd like to invite you to the extra S+C session on a Thursday, this is open to those at secondary school. Those moving up to secondary school after the summer holidays will be eligible to start after the summer holidays

As you know, this is included in the cost you paid for the block, and is for those progressing through their own pathway and would benefit from the extra conditioning support. There are a couple of points I think I should make:

1. This is a result of a successful pilot project, and we have both RGU + Sport Scotland Institute of Sport supporting this project - aimed at helping younger Pathway athletes coming through move better and ultimately benefit from injury prevention + preparation for more advanced S+C in the future. This is all aimed to help you become more agile, powerful and injury resistant in your respective disciplines.

2. As you know, there'll be an age split and with that a slight split in the type of exercises and drills that you are all doing. Its individual and as such we are going to be flexible about how this session ends up being delivered. The first session (tomorrow - 19th May) will be a bit of a 'testing' session to see what stage of development everyone is at. From this the coaches and lead programmer (Sport Scotland SIS coach John Psyllas) will build a programme around that with input from myself, Louise K and the intern coach who will be delivering the session. We all are meeting on Friday to discuss this and the first session.

3. It may end up that we deliver two sessions if required, as our block is 17.30 - 19.30. With one session in the first hour, and perhaps the older athletes working slightly longer. However please bear with us whilst we start this to figure out the best for all athletes.

4. We'll be sharing this session with Park and Pipe athletes also, but the final numbers will depend on a few individuals and their plans.

So, if you can make tomorrow that would be great. No great shame if you can't, but we'll be now running up until 23rd June for this block.

If you can attend please let us know, and meet Louise at RGU Sport at 17.30 tomorrow. The finish time is a little harder to predict but I don't think we'll run until 19.30 tomorrow, as we'll be doing some basic testing to figure out the baseline for everyone.

For those of you not attending Gymnastics but wishing to attend S&C please let me know, so we can arrange payment.

Thanks and any q's please just get in touch.

Cheers

Louise + Ben

Pop-Up Training, Saturday 7th May , Alford Dry Slope 1.00-2.30

Evening folks,

Just when you thought it was time to hang up the ski boots, Gordon's Head Coach has other ideas.
I'm already missing skiing and need a quick fix. I've organised a quick pop-up session at Alford this Saturday.

It'll be focussed on Slalom gates, to prepare for the Summer races and will only last for 90 minutes, as it's during a public session. The training will be free, other than to pay the fees for the mat, which I'm pretty sure is £2.40.

I'm afraid numbers will be limited to a maximum of 10, as I'll be on my own. First come first served.

Hope to see you on Saturday.

Gary W

Twin Peaks and Scottish Indoor Champs

Gordon Skiers will be supporting both the ‘Twin Peaks’ on 4/5th June at Firpark and Hillend as well as the ‘British and Scottish Indoors’ at Braehead on 18/19th June. Both these weekends are normally well supported by the clubs members and are a good social weekend as well as gaining valuable race experience.

It would be fantastic to see as many of our members entering these events. Entry forms are below but please enter early to avoid missing out as these events can become oversubscribed.  We will have our own coaches down providing all the support on and off the hill that is required to make these events as enjoyable and productive as possible for all involved. Race support is £10 per day.

Please drop James (racing@gordonskiers.com) an email to let him know which events you are entered for so that we can arrange appropriate coaches in advance.

Premier Inn and Novotel are the normal destinations for Twin Peaks weekend.  Premier Inn at Glasgow Airport is looking like the best deal for Braehead weekend just now.

Entry Forms Below

• Firpark 4th June
• Hillend (Edinburgh) 5th June
• Scottish and British Indoor Weekend 18/19 June

James (Race Convenor)

Gordon Skiers Awards Night

Saturday 23rd April saw Gordon Skiers hold their End of season Awards night which this year doubled up as a fundraiser for Alex Tilley, who spent her younger years training with the club. Alex is currently Britain’s only female world cup skier and we are delighted to have her as a life member.

All profits from the night were donated to Alex to help support her in her quest to break into the top 30 female skiers in the world next season.

The night saw around 60 club members and their friends and family attend the night. Valentino’s Discos kept the music going throughout and towards the end of the evening the dance floor slowly filled up.

As it was an end of season prize giving there were a few awards to be presented; Most Improved Skier in the 3 age categories of , Bairns, Children and Junior. The club Chairman, Graeme Brown, welcomed everyone to the night and gave a brief run through of the history of the club and the involvement of the Tilley Family within the club, before handing over to Head Coach Gary Whatford and Racing Convenor James Paxton to present the awards.

• Most Improved Bairn – Glenn Liversidge
• Most Improved Child- Jack Morrison
• Most Improved Junior- Kathleen Ray

Guests were provided with a snack buffet by Westhill Golf Club along with some Birthday Cake to mark Alex’s nephew’s 7th Birthday and James 24th a few days later. Food and drinks were flowing and everyone was socialising with one another, there was a great atmosphere and it was great to see all the trainees getting on so well together.

Onto the main fundraising parts of the event, the raffle and auction. The raffle was filled with gifts donated by club members, ski resorts and shops, and a wide array of items were on offer. The raffle made just over £200 which was an excellent effort and will go a long way towards our fundraising for Alex. The highlight of the night was the Auction and Gary kindly accepted the invitation to be auctioneer for the night. I am sure anyone who was there will agree he did a fantastic job (must be that you tube video he watched beforehand!!). Again we had a wide range of items donated to be auctioned off ranging from, lift tickets to Atomic skis, jackets to signed golf prints. The ‘star item’ for auction was a signed photo of Alex Tilley which was kindly donated by Racer Ready. Bidding was intense for this item and the amount kept rising much to Alex’s surprise. The signed photo finally closed at £237, a true reflection on how the club and its members value having Alex as a club member. Total takings for the auction were £996. A big thank you to our Auctioneer, Gary Whatford for doing a fantastic job.

The night was rounded off with the much loved ‘Whisky Shove’ which raised an astonishing £100.

Alex's father, Dave, and Alex herself gave a few closing words to thank the club for their efforts in helping support Alex on her journey. I think the comment of the night came from Alex ‘it was really quite surreal watching folk bid for a picture of me’.

The night was a great success both on a social aspect as well as a fundraising side for Alex and we can report that total profits for the night are £1590 which we will organise to hand over to Alex shortly.

Many thanks to all those that turned up and we look forward to seeing more of you next year.

James P