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