hnsc newletter

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HUNTLY NORDIC SKI CLUBwww.nordicski.org.uk

NEWSLETTER No. 43October 2013

PRE-OLYMPIC ISSUE

Clash snow days 2013/14 = 0 (0 good, 0 marginal)

Editorial

An Olympic winter always brings a little extra excitement, actually a lot of extra excitement especially when we know there will be British cross- country skiers competing. This is the main event of the season & several Huntly skiers will be attempting to qualify & we wish them & all the other British skiers & coaches the best of luck & success in Sochi (02-23 Feb). We

can all do our bit to support them & I would encourage you all to visit the new British Nordic website

www.britishnordic.org & their Facebook page www.facebook.com/Britishnordic - the more hits & likes they get on Facebook the better chance they have of attracting funding. And you can help more by visiting www.crowdfunder.co.uk/britishnordic & contributing to their Nordic Olympic Dream fund (ends 18th Nov).

Another theme in this editorial is at the other end of the spectrum from Olympic ambitions & that is grassroots development & giving back to the sport. Under the leadership of Malcolm Cooper & assistance from his able coaches the Sunday kids club

goes from strength to strength & is now bursting at the seems. But Malcolm is helping several parents to develop their teaching skills to make sure the programme continues to deliver top quality coaching & ski fun. The jointly HNOC /HNSC run winter JDS will benefit from these new coaches. The Kids Club & JDS is not about racing, it is about developing children into accomplished skiers that have a lifelong love of the sport. Of course one of the results is that some of these skiers go on to be very good ski racers but that isn’t its main purpose. What was very satisfying to see was some of our racing BNDS skiers volunteering to help at the kids club – so thank you to all of those numerous young skiers for helping.

I must also mention Eileen, Claire & Frank for the after-school club & again they receive assistance from many of our older juniors. Alex Standen (along with Eileen & Claire) continues to regularly coach the Huntly & BNDS juniors even though he is an active athlete trying to qualify for Sochi.

One problem common to many sports is the retention of teenage girls in active sports or hobbies. This summer Olwen Thorn & Posy Musgrave organised a girls only training weekend that gave some of our juniors girls a welcome break from the

generally well meaning but rather boisterous boys. It turned out to be an eventful weekend when the girls helped rescue a couple of horses that had become entangled in a barbed-wire fence.

A final example of young skiers giving back to the sport is Harry Nicholls visit to Gartly Primary School to give a talk on cross-country skiing as part of their

Health Week. Harry was introduced to Nordic skiing during “Heath Week” when he was a pupil at Gartly. He was able to explain to the children how he attended after school sessions at the Ski Centre, then joined the Huntly JDS before being invited to join the BNDS. He described racing in Sweden & explained about rollerskis, skis & of course how to look cool in sun glasses before getting the children to participate in his daily stretching & core strength exercises.

It has been a very busy summer for the club with rollerski racing & lots of news from the Clash. Read on……

Harry explains that the skis are waxed to

make them go faster – not to remove creases.



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ROLLERSKI RACING NEWS 2013 SEASON

Huntly Sprints, Sat 25th MayFortunately the sleet/snow seen earlier in the week gave way to

glorious sunshine our first rollerski races of the summer. To

match the high temperatures there was some hot & close skiing

for Saturdays Sprints with only seconds separating skiers in the

morning time trials. Possibly a surprise winner of the men’s timetrial competition was 15 year old Duncan Gibb who held off by

just one second strong challenges from Erik Johansson (SkiFIT)

& Robert Sircus (CBNSC) who tied for second. Posy Musgrave comfortably won the senior ladies race. Jack Nicholls

& Flossie Roberts won the U14 categories. A field of nine skiers, aged 7-13, fought out the novice race which was won

by Felix Roberts & Susan Massie.

The skiers were then seeded for the usual fast n’ furious knock out sprints. Robert Sircus of Cairngorm won a very close

Men’s Sprint Final pipping Erik Johanssen (SkiFit) & Stuart Gray (Huntly). Posy had a more comfortable win in the

Ladies Final.

Clashindarroch Hill Climb, Sun 26th MayIt was a day of new course records in the Clash Hill Climb. Oliver Newman smashed his old 4.85km record by 3 ½minutes in a time of 18mins 27sec. In fact the first four boys (Fergus Newman, Jack Nicholls & Callum Cooper were all

inside the old record. Flossie Roberts won the girls 4.85km climb. There were new records, by about 1 ¾ minutes, in

both the men’s & ladies 8.05km climbs with Erik Johansson (SkiFIT, 22:44) & Fern Cates (SkiFIT, 32:16). Beth

Maclean (U16), in second place, was also inside the old ladies record.

Flossie Roberts receivesencouragement from a

marshal to help her home.

Rick uses music to help him home. Fergus Newman use power &

determination to get him home.

Sircus & Johanssen just ahead of Stuart Gray

on the final steep hill in the Men’s Final.

A Novice Semi Final heads up the start climb

Race Director Frank keeps a close eye on

Thorn in case he impedes the obviously much

faster Jack Nicholls & Brodie Murray



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Huntly Rollerski Championships, Sat 7th SeptemberTorrential early morning rain flooded the track requiring some emergency drainage works but by mid-morning the Sunappeared & dried the track in time for the first start. A large contingent of Army & RAF joined skiers from Cairngorm

to swell numbers & led to some very competitive races. Ben Woolley, just recently retired from the British Biathlon

Team, won the men's 7.1km race by a 50 second margin but only three seconds separated the next three skiers home.

Duncan Gibb & Beth Maclean, both Huntly, won the U18 5.4km races. Brodie Murray (Huntly) equalled the course

record of 10:50 to win the boys U14 3.7km event while Flossie Roberts (Huntly) won the girls title over the same

distance. Children from the Huntly Sunday Kids Ski Club took part in a 1.8km novice race which was won by DavidMassie who persuaded his mum Elizabeth to race as well & by doing Elizabeth became the first Senior Lady claiming

all 50 GB Series points. The relay followed & was won by a young, but very strong Huntly team from the Army

National Development Squad team.

Huntly 3-Lap Challenge & Team Sprints, Sun 8th SeptemberThe Sunday saw a new event on the rollerski calendar with the inaugural Huntly 3-Lap Challenge & Team Sprints. The

Challenge involved a time trial over the inner-middle & outer loops of the Huntly track, a distance of 1310m. The men'srace was won by Gregor Young in a time of 3min 16sec & the ladies race by Beth Maclean in 4 minutes 0 sec which, by

the way are the new official course records. There then followed the Team Sprints an event that involves teams of two

skiers each skiing three laps. A Club Team Sprint using a 409m lap was won by the Huntly pairing of Gregor Young &

Harry Nicholls from the Cowie brothers Lachlan & Hector from the Cairngorm club. The skiers were then sorted

into evenly matched pairs for a Seeded Team Sprints competition using a shorter 294m lap but with more climb. The

seedings worked quite well with very close races with positions changing every lap. The final winners of the Seeded

Team Sprints were Oliver & Fergus Newman.

British Rollerski Championships – Wessex Sprints, Sun 29th SeptemberHuntly juniors had a successful day of competition at the British Rollerski Championships at Castle Coombe. Jack

Nicholls was first U14 boy in the 3km FT while older brother Harry won by a toenail from Gregor Young in the U18

men’s category. Beth Maclean had an excellent victory against strong competition in the U18 ladies race. Then a Huntly

quartet of Angus Maclean, Jack Nicholls, Harry Nicholls & Gregor Young convincingly won the Senior Men’s Relaywhile Beth Maclean & Lynne Gray joined Fern Cates in a BNDS Ladies team that in turn dominated the Senior LadiesRelay.

British Rollerski Series 2013The Wessex Sprints were also the concluding race of the British Rollerski Series. Despite three first places during the

season Flossie Roberts had to settle for 2nd

place in the U14 Girls competition. Jack Nicholls won a very competitive

U14 Boys category. Another close 2nd behind Fern Cates of SkiFIT was Beth Maclean in the U18 Ladies contest withLynne Gray a close 3rd. Huntly skiers took the four top places in a closely fought U18 Men’s category with Duncan

Gibb coming out on top. And finally Dave Horsley took a very deserved top spot in the Men’s Series.

Oliver Newman makesa powerful start

Madeleine & Elspeth Cruickshank

start their first ever rollerski race Harry Nicholls hands over to

Gregor Young in the Relay



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NEWS FROM THE CLASH if you head up to the Clash this winter you are sure of a big surprise, in fact several big surprises….

The Hytti Rises by Hilary Musgrave

In August this year a group of Finns from Juankoski in eastern Finlandfound themselves in the Clashindarroch Forest along with 20 or 30 eager

volunteers from the Huntly Nordic Ski Club. Their task - to help us build anew shelter, Finnish style.

Many of you will remember - with more or less rosy nostalgia - taking refuge from the elements in the oldportacabin next to the biathlon range. While decidedly lacking in beauty it served a useful purpose for manyyears but in its final days choosing to enter its damp and gloomy interior was usually only in extremis - toescape hypothermia, frostbite or complete saturation. When the roof finally caved in and the ForestryCommission said it had to go there were not many tears shed (except by those having to organise the actualremoval who shed many tears of frustration). So when I went to Finland three years ago with a group fromthe Huntly Development Trust and saw all the different styles of shelter the Finns build along their foresttrails I thought there was an opportunity to build something a bit different with help from experts. The road

from the idea to the actual build was a long one with many obstacles - withdrawal of funds from theHDT/Finland collaboration, renewed funding over a year later, agreements to be reached with Forestry, thesudden demand from the Council that we apply for planning permission only two weeks before theceremonial first sod was due to be turned - having previously been assured this would not be needed. Butwith the help of many people, especially from the Huntly Development Trust itself, all these hurdles werecleared, the site prepared and we were ready to build.

The workforce - Finnish/Scottish/other, experts/capable/definitely-not-experts, under instruction from Keijo,Harri, Dave Whitehead and Steve Young, were assigned tasks matched to their ability and were soontransformed into an efficient building machine. The first task was to scrape the bark off the tree trunks whichhad been donated and brought to the site in large quantities by the Forestry Commission. Once a few ofthese were done and cut to length, the experts began to erect the framework of the shelter. The languagebarrier was rarely a problem, overcome with a mixture of gestures and talking slowly and distinctly (English

spoken slowly is universally understood, of course, while Finnish spoken slowly sounds like - Finnish)though I must admit that by the end of the weekend the only names of our helpers that I could rememberwith any accuracy were Andi, Irma and Harri - Keijo, Reijo, Saila, Kaisa, Kauho were too tricky for my brainto assimilate (and remembering Andi was cheating as he is British not Finnish). By the end of day 1 theoutline of the shelter was clear and most of the timber needed was scraped clean and cut to length.

Day 2 started with a Finnish ceremony to celebrate putting the ridge pole into position. A bottle of colourlessliquid was passed around which had an energising effect on the builders, whatever it was. Songs weresung, though our lack of progress in Finnish meant we were unsure whether they were being complimentaryabout our forests and/or building skills or not. Even before the roof was finished three of the Finns decidedto start on the interior decoration and spent the afternoon weaving a basket with larch twigs and filled it withheather. Detailed instructions were translated as to how and where this was to be hung in the finishedshelter. At the same time much thought was given to the name of our new building. After someconsideration “hytti” was decided on as this is Finnish for cabin and has a suitably Doric ring to it. One of theinterior designers made a name board which was nailed above the door, though a more sophisticated plaquehas been promised, to be delivered by another group coming over here in October. She also made a set of

Debarking!!!!! The build starts



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forest skittles and demonstrated the rules sothat even when we don’t have Finnish snow wecan go up to the Clash to play.

There have been many comments on thedesign of the hytti - it does have more the lookof a summer house than a cosy shelter from the

elements. The choice was made primarilybecause it was thought to be relatively quickand simple to build and also because anyonecycling or walking as well as skiing in the forestcan have access to it. The open designhopefully makes it is less likely to bevandalised. To give more shelter in the winterwe are fixing hooks above the windows fromwhich made-to-measure tarpaulins (now on order) can be hung on days when we have groups such as JDSup in the forest. We are also hoping to make a storage container to hold not only the tarpaulins but also thestretcher and tables (and skittles) currently in the snow-machine shed.

After two days hard work the hytti was two-thirds

finished and the Finns had to leave, but we wereconfident that with the help of our own experts,Dave and Steve, we could finish the task. It tookanother couple of days work but the Hytti is nowfully functional and with the recent hanging of theheather basket, beautiful to behold!

As a final word I would like to thank all helped in the build – we had 20-30 people up there at times! In

particular Dave Whithead & Steve Young went beyond the call of duty in leading the build. And then Hilary for her perserverance in seeing the project through from its embryonic stages, over the numerous hurdles & final

naming ceremony with our Finnish friends on the 24th October 2014.

Maps.

There is a new, 3rd edition of the Trails Map in the

forest. The Forestry Commission are thanked for

drafting & producing these & also taking on board our

suggestions & corrections. A lot of work went into

producing these maps & also the new information board

that should appear some time. The old map was drafted have occurred that arenow incorporated on the new map, for example The Fingers are now shown – mapped in using my GPS. A big thanks to

Colin for meticulous checking & correcting of maps & also helping paint map boards & putting maps up.

Snowmobile. The final new sight you will see in the forest this winter will be our new

Yamaha RS Viking Professional 973cc 4-stroke snowmobile. This should arrive in November to

replace the nearly 20-year old Lynx GLS 5900 2-stroke machine. This machine was at the end

of its life & I don’t think we would have got another season out of it without a major &

probably unviable overhaul. The new machine will be more powerful, hopefully requiring less

digging out of snow & more able to tow the roller up the hills. It will also be far more

environmentally friendly. Once again the Lottery Awards for All came to our rescue with an amazing £9500 grant. The

Glens of Foudland Community Fund have pledged £500 & the remaining £2-3000 project will come from club funds.

We will be getting other ancillary equipment such as a trailer, winch & other safety equipment.

The Windfarm.Vattenfall began construction of the new access roads & tree felling in the Clash. The felling just

reaches the northwest corner of the ski trails but will not clear-fell any trees on the trails. There is no access to the

windfarm from the ski trails direction so we should have no problems. The new windfarm roads open up a whole range

of new skiing possibilities. Construction of the concrete bases & erection of turbine will take place in 2014.

The build in full swing

The end – master builders Dave Whithead &Steve Young test the structure

Trail maps over the years



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SKIING LEGENDS – BJØRN DÆHLIE (born 1967)With eight Olympic gold medals, nine World Championship gold medals, six World CupChampionship victories (plus two second places) Bjørn Dæhile is the most successfulcross-country skier of all time. He won in total 29 medals at either Olympic & WorldChampionships between 1991 & 1999. Dæhlie measured a V02 max of 96 mL/kg/min,the second highest ever recorded & only surpassed in 2012 by 18 year old Norwegiancyclist Oskar Svendsen – Siberian huskies running the Ititarod reach 240 mL/kg/min (itis amazing what you can learn on Wikipedia – I’m not guaranteeing its accuracy). Meremortals will have 50 or less.

Dæhlie as a youngster was active in many sports from hunting/fishing to hiking &kayaking. He had ambitions to be a footballer. He attributes much of his success tothese varied activities in his youth. He did not have immediate success as a junior skierbut consistently improved. He made his World Cup debut in 1989 winning his firstWorld race the following season. He won his first World Championship gold in 1991 &then went on to dominant men’s cross-country skiing for the next eight years. His mostsuccessful World Championships was in front of his home crowd in Trondheim in 1997where he won a medal in every race (3 gold, 1 silver & 1 bronze) he claimed that his50km FT victory was is hardest ever race which he won by just 8 seconds. In the same championships Dæhlie displayedhis true sportsmanship by waiting for over 20 minutes (delaying the medal ceremony) at the finish to encourage PhilipBoit of Kenya home. Boit called his first son Dæhle Boit.

Dæhlie’s skiing career came to a premature end when he damaged his back in a rollerski accident in 1999. Despiteextensive treatment he was unable to continue at the top level & retired in 2001. Despite all his success he never won atthe “blue-riband” Holmenkollen 50km but was awarded the prestigious Holmenkollen medal in 1997. Ever the competitorhe photo-finished second in the American Birkebeiner in 2009 raising funds for multiple sclerosis. And in 2011 won thedownhill event in the Kicksled World Championships. On retiring he became a successful businessman with sportswear& real estate development.

I know several of our current British seniors consider Bjørn Dæhlie as one of their major inspirations. A true skiing legend& role model.

SnowKidz.

Huntly got a brief mention at the highest levels of sports governance at a recentFIS Cross-Country Youth & Children Sub-Committee meeting in Slovenia.

Recognition was given to Huntly Nordic SC for putting the first ever British cross-country entry into the FIS SnowKidz Award. Malcolm Cooper has entered theSunday Kids Club into the 2014 competition http://snowkidz.com/ - good luck.

New MembersWelcome to the Allan family John, Mel, Tabitha, Amelia & Phoebe from Alford

who want to broaden their alpine skiing to include Nordic.

Finn Loughnane, who has dual British/German nationality has decided he would like to try & ski for Britain & has

joined the club as the first step in getting his British FIS licence. He has just started university in Germany.

Winter Events.• Sun 1

stDecember 2013 – The Christmas Ming organised by Rick Newman [email protected]

• Sat 4th

January 2014 – Ski Orienteering

• Sun 12th January 2014 – Clash Dash

• Sat 8th

February 2014 – The Secret Clash – New Adventures

• Sun 23rd

February 2014 – Huntly Nordic Open Championships

• Sun 2nd

March – Back-up race date

Correspondence to: Peter Thorn

West Craigton Cottage,Kennethmont,

Huntly, Aberdeenshire

AB54 4QP

Email: [email protected]

CLUB SPONSORS

Brodie Murray

Sunday Kids Club with their

new SnowKidz hats.

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