Patrick
Well-known member
A New Year, 2010 already. Back to work after some time off, this means rushing after work on a Wednesday nights. Tune the skis and set off to one of the local hills in the Gatineaus.
First race of the season, traditionally a GS at Camp Fortune. The closest hill from downtown. A few of my co-workers have their hockey night with beer leagues across town, Ottawa Masters Ski Association is the only game in town, skiing wise.
Ottawa Masters Racing is one of the best way to have fun on these night. Probably one of the cheapest race programs around. Caliber are a mixed a experienced racers to never-before non racers. Everyone has great fun. The series moves to the 4 Gatineau hills, all within 30 minutes from downtown Ottawa. 11 Wednesdays racing GS or Slalom + on the Finals on a Saturday at the end of March.
http://www.ottawamasters.ca (also on Facebook).
Membership fee: $25 (which is required if you join (ie. do more than 1 race)).
Race fees per race: $15
OR
you can pay for the entire season: $160 (membership and all races)
OMSA gets it's lift tickets for something like $10-15.
Do the math, a night ticket cost is something like $27 at Fortune and Edelweiss. Probably a bit less for Vorlage and Mont Cascades.
No medals except at the end of the year, however every night, there is a ton of door prices from the sponsors, Tommy and Lefebvre (http://www.tandl.com) and Kunstadt Sports (http://www.kundstadt.com).
**********
As usual, waited until the last minute to leave work. I was busy the previous evening so I didn't carefully look at my GS skis. Crap, :roll: they needed a small tune in the edges plus the usual race waxing when I'm off to the races. I wanted to be early so I could register for the season. Without registering for the season, I might be temped not to show up certain Wednesdays when I'm tired, it's minus -100c or other reasons. So I pay for the year. 11 Wednesdays and two options makeup races in case of weather + the 2 races for the final.
So I left home at 6pm and the race starts at 7. Once I arrived at Camp Fortune, I hurry to get changed, register and head up the hill. At the top of the Slalom trail, the first racer is in the starting gate. Shit, they are actually starting on time, so I wasn't sure how many racers when in attendance tonight before my start number. Start number are based on age group, so I wasn't exactly how fast my turn would be.
Course inspection are overrated :? ... my turns is approaching so I strip down. Not to bad, it's about -7c. And off I go, snow covered course and track, not even a trace of ice. Three runs in the course later (results are the cumulative best 2 runs) and the evening racing is over. It was getting colder and windy. It was a good evening, I won a friendly weekly beer wager with a co-racer. Did a few more runs afterward before heading to the bar.
Great racing evening, good race, won the beer bet and plus I won a gift certificat from tandl. I believe I still have a few from last year. :mrgreen:
First race of the season, traditionally a GS at Camp Fortune. The closest hill from downtown. A few of my co-workers have their hockey night with beer leagues across town, Ottawa Masters Ski Association is the only game in town, skiing wise.
Ottawa Masters Racing is one of the best way to have fun on these night. Probably one of the cheapest race programs around. Caliber are a mixed a experienced racers to never-before non racers. Everyone has great fun. The series moves to the 4 Gatineau hills, all within 30 minutes from downtown Ottawa. 11 Wednesdays racing GS or Slalom + on the Finals on a Saturday at the end of March.
http://www.ottawamasters.ca (also on Facebook).
Membership fee: $25 (which is required if you join (ie. do more than 1 race)).
Race fees per race: $15
OR
you can pay for the entire season: $160 (membership and all races)
OMSA gets it's lift tickets for something like $10-15.
Do the math, a night ticket cost is something like $27 at Fortune and Edelweiss. Probably a bit less for Vorlage and Mont Cascades.
No medals except at the end of the year, however every night, there is a ton of door prices from the sponsors, Tommy and Lefebvre (http://www.tandl.com) and Kunstadt Sports (http://www.kundstadt.com).
**********
As usual, waited until the last minute to leave work. I was busy the previous evening so I didn't carefully look at my GS skis. Crap, :roll: they needed a small tune in the edges plus the usual race waxing when I'm off to the races. I wanted to be early so I could register for the season. Without registering for the season, I might be temped not to show up certain Wednesdays when I'm tired, it's minus -100c or other reasons. So I pay for the year. 11 Wednesdays and two options makeup races in case of weather + the 2 races for the final.
So I left home at 6pm and the race starts at 7. Once I arrived at Camp Fortune, I hurry to get changed, register and head up the hill. At the top of the Slalom trail, the first racer is in the starting gate. Shit, they are actually starting on time, so I wasn't sure how many racers when in attendance tonight before my start number. Start number are based on age group, so I wasn't exactly how fast my turn would be.
Course inspection are overrated :? ... my turns is approaching so I strip down. Not to bad, it's about -7c. And off I go, snow covered course and track, not even a trace of ice. Three runs in the course later (results are the cumulative best 2 runs) and the evening racing is over. It was getting colder and windy. It was a good evening, I won a friendly weekly beer wager with a co-racer. Did a few more runs afterward before heading to the bar.
Great racing evening, good race, won the beer bet and plus I won a gift certificat from tandl. I believe I still have a few from last year. :mrgreen:
