Editorial
The new ski season is fast approaching & we eagerly await the first snows. Snow has fallen on the Cairngorms but hasn’t reached us as I write. The race is on to see who is the first to ski in the Clash. Roy won last year getting out in the forest on 19th November. The Club is always on the look out for new members, we can all play a part in promoting the Club & nordic skiing. How about trying to introduce someone new to the sport.The AGM was
held at the Ski
Centre. Although we only had a turnout of six I received numerous 
apologies along with comments/contributions for the meeting indicating
a healthy support
for the Club. The minutes of the AGM accompany this
Newsletter so I won’t bore you with too much about the
meeting
other than to say Stan Averell has stood down as Chairperson. Dick
Sowden now takes over this role and Lester Standen replaces Dick as
Vice-chair. We were pleased to have one of our junior members at the
meeting Alex Standen who was instrumental in getting his Dad on the
committee.
Roy Young & Peter Thorn continue as Treasurer &
Secretary respectively.
Right: Unfortunately this unsavoury
bunch is your committee for 2000/2001. Roy Young, Peter Thorn, Dick
Sowden,
Lester Standen.
A small team of Huntly skiers travelled to RAF Kinloss to take part in the Scottish Roller Ski Championships, which were jointly organised by Western Track & the RAF Biathlon team. Our team was strengthened by the presence of Gillian Sowden who was back home from Norway for short while. Dick considered racing but thought it best to leave Gillian to fly the Sowden flag that day.
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Results: Men’s 18km
KO 300m Sprints
Final C.Carrier bt J.Skelnar |
Ladies 12km
Junior Boys 6km
Junior Girls 6km
U-12 Girls 1.5km
3x3km Relay
3x1.5km Relay 1. Huntly Nordic Girls |
HNSC
Junior Girls Team (Photo: Gillian Sowden) |
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The Club had success with Sarah Young taking the U-12 Girls race. Olwen Thorn won the Junior Girls closely followed by Emily Skitmore. Gillian Sowden brought the Ladies title to Huntly. Unfortunately your Secretary was unable to match girls success but was happy with his first ever ski race. Carl Carrier of the RAF Biathlon team was very sporting to me in the 300m Sprint race – he let me have the lead until the last few metres when he effortlessly glided past to win. Under pressure from her biathlon teammates Gillian deserted Huntly to race for the GB Biathlon team in the relay, not surprisingly they won.
Our juniors did very well in their first ever roller ski race. It is hoped that the race will be held again next year at RAF Kinloss & I am hoping to take a bigger team from Huntly, especially from our youngsters. PT
The improvements to the Clashindarroch Ski Trails should be finished by the end of November. These include culverts over drainage ditches & grass/heather cutting. This hopefully will improve the snow holding conditions & make it easier to cut tracks with the snowmobile. The Forestry Commission has promised to complete their timber extraction & re-instatement of tracks (including removal of fallen trees) by the end of November. We then should not see any further significant timber extraction in the trail area for the next five years. The dry composting toilets are now operational. The idea is to throw in a scoop of sawdust after use. The Club has volunteered to keep an eye on the toilets & make sure they are kept stocked & clean. A contractor will be brought when necessary to empty them; this probably won’t be needed for several years.
Some minor modifications have been made to the trails map & these will be posted around the forest soon. We have established a good relationship with the Forestry Commission & Sled Dog Association over the trails. I don’t expect there to be any conflict in usage. However if you do encountered problems with the trails (i.e. fallen trees) or other users report this to the Huntly Nordic & Outdoor Centre. The Forestry Commission is trying to be helpful & we should try & understand the restrictions they operate under.
Any of you who want to learn how to operate the snowmobile & cut trails please let me know. Unfortunately for all you juniors you have to be over 26 to drive the snowmobile.
Sandy Thorn & Jayne Osgood have been working hard getting the Ski Centre is up & running for the coming season & it has already had several groups using it. Roy has organised a Coaching for Coaches course every Thursday evening. This is mainly designed to increase the expertise of Junior Development Squad parent helpers. Some of the older Squad members have also benefited from this excellent course.
Changes are again planned for the Centre in that Keith Morris, the manager of the Alford Dry Ski Slope, is also to take over management of the Huntly facility. We shall have to wait & see whether this improves things. A user group meeting for the Centre is planned for Monday 13th Nov at 19:00 at the Centre. I would ask as many of you as possible to attend.
Whenever you are out skiing it is helpful to let the Centre know what conditions are like so they can update their phone message snow report & website. Reports from the Clash or anywhere else in Aberdeenshire are useful.
PT
Final Bits & Pieces
Membership subs are now due. Thanks to all of you who have already paid up
Correspondence to:
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Peter Thorn West Craigton Cottage |
