2008 Illabunda Senior Race Training

Hi Folks!

The Senior Race Training week end was held on July 25th to 27th.
The weather was fantastic, the snow was fantastic and the crowds weren’t too bad. Not a bad recipe!

The early arrivals enjoyed a sunny day on Friday with great snow for a day’s skiing as a warm up prior to Race Coaching on Saturday and Sunday.

Perisher Blue coach ‘Stefan’ is building quite a report with our club and he brought the same friendly approach to this group that he possessed at the Junior Training week. He passed on his knowledge to a very enthusiastic team of racers.


The usual warm ups and drills were rehearsed prior to attacking the GS gates on the ‘Mother in law’ course where ones technique decides a successful run or crash and burn.


Some photos have mysteriously been erased from my camera!


However our team threw themselves into the task with their usual level of self preservation. Zero! And that is what Illabunda is all about, taking one for the team!

Post Mortems were held each afternoon at the Sundek where technical application was discussed and finetuned. The level of bravado increased with each schooner of James Squires.

The races are being conducted on Saturday 15th August and I’m sure we will fare very well and hopefully get the Illabunda badge stamped on a few trophies.
Good luck team.

Cheers
Terry Dryburgh
Race Captain.

A Message From The Race Captain

Hi Everyone.

Well, it’s that time of the year again and I’m sure that the white stuff will start falling soon. Let’s hope so anyway.

The first week of the school holidays will be here soon and that means the Illabunda Junior race team arrive at the lodge for their training program from the 7th July for the entire week.

We will be welcoming a few new faces to the team this year and hopefully they will enjoy the experience and benefit from the training.

Monday through to Friday will be the GS downhill training each morning for a few hours with a bit of Cross Country training thrown in on a couple of afternoons. The weekend will see the kids get stuck into the Snowboard training.

The main focus is to have fun while building on our great team spirit and hopefully fine tune their skills for the races in late August.

Bye for now.

Terry Dryburgh
Race Captain.

2007 Illabunda Junior Race Report

The Illawarra Junior Interclub races were held on Saturday 1st September in brilliant sunshine.

Our considerably young team turned up ready to tackle their more fancied rivals from the big budget clubs but were certainly not intimidated.

The Giant Slalom and Snow Board events were contested on the Upper Rollercoaster Race Course at Blue Cow on a testing layout with softening snow in the morning followed by the Cross Country contest which was fought over at the Nordic track in the afternoon on what was described by experts as a tough course.

Our little tackers not only looked the goods in their team attire but performed admirably on all fronts and did us proud with their efforts.

Lauren Egle Marshall skied her last race for the Juniors this year but also raced for the Seniors as a 16year old. She has served the Juniors well over the years and showed that she will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come by being crowned 2007 Female Combined Champion in the Senior competition.

Ben Dryburgh also heads to the Seniors next year after a very successful reign in the Junior competition. Ben had to unfortunately miss this year’s Junior races due to other commitments.

Thank you and good luck to both of them.

The recruitment phase continued this year with Oliver Howden joining the team. Oliver padded up for all three events and did well.

I would like to extend my thanks to the parents / helpers who provide me with great assistance on the training and race periods. Also thank you to our new Illabunda managers, Luanne and Matt who looked after us with fine food and great hospitality.

Thank you to all of the Juniors who trained and raced for the club in 2007. I hope they all had a great time and enjoyed the team spirit of the club. They all performed very well and I look forward to seeing them in 2008.

We at Illabunda, now enjoy a very good relationship with Rhythm Snow sports at Cooma. Mick and Rolph kindly donated many items for our presentation night as well as the benefits we enjoy when hiring our equipment on each venture to the snow. Let’s show our appreciation by continually supporting Rhythm in the future.

See the Illabunda Web Page Race section for all results.

Terry Dryburgh

Weekend Update

This weeks update comes courtesy of Terry - Illabunda Race Captain:

2007 Senior Training Weekend Senior training was held on the weekend of 28th and 29th July.

The weather varied from a little rain and snow on the Friday with improved conditions on Saturday.

We awoke on Sunday to a pearler of a day.The troupe was in usual high spirits and the look in their eyes was enough to realise the determination that they would be taking into their training.

Our race coach Dave Bale put on a skiing display that inspired us all and demonstrated how to race a Giant Slalom course with passion. He was very informative and gave us precise individual feedback.

This brought out improvements in each racer which will hopefully pay dividends on race day.The weekend produced a few minor injuries which are expected when giving 110%.

A couple of our top end skiers were spotted receiving a verballing and finger pointing from the mountain speed police. Maybe he was just applauding them for the fastest ever approach to a lift line. Maybe not! We blamed the coach anyway for hyping the group up.

The Illawarra Interclub Races are being held on Saturday 18th August and I’m sure the team will fly the Illabunda flag and do the club proud.

Thanks to Luanne and Matt for the fine food as usual.

Terry Dryburgh Race Captain

2007 Illabunda Junior Training Week

What great relief it was to see the snow falling for this eagerly awaited training week for the Junior’s, especially after last year’s lacklustre corresponding week and the dismal season.

The snow was falling when we arrived and virtually didn’t let up all week except for a few patches of sunshine.

Conditions were wide ranging and contained everything from peppering blizzards to calm winds with heavy falling snow flakes.

According to the Illabunda Junior’s Official Snow Depth Gauge (on the orange pole outside the lodge), the snow depth rose from 0.4m on arrival to a satisfying 0.8m on departure. And the pole doesn’t lie.

The G S Race Coaching was once again conducted at Blue Cow with Perisher Blue coaches Damo and Heidi commending our juniors for their commitment and attentive attitude to training. Each child showed varied improvements by the week’s end.

Snowboard Training was at Perisher and was also well received and the usual enthusiasm and will to learn was evident.

Cross Country Training didn’t get the planned amount of time allotted due to the feral conditions but raw mongrel plays a big part on race day for our club.
Some of our junior’s were involved with NSW Inter schools races during the training week and did us proud by association.

Emma Gracie picked up a 3rd in Mogels, Skier Cross and Alpine and Tahlia Jackson excelled for a 1st in Alpine for her division and 3rd in Skier Cross. Well done girls.

A big thank you to our new lodge Managers Matt and Luanne, who’s baptism of fire went well with the littlies and I’m sure they will be appreciated by all members and guests.

Thanks to all the parent’s who assist during the training week.

Illabunda Junior’s also won the Snow ball fight against Telemark Lodge convincingly.

I look forward to seeing the entire Junior contingent for the Races in September.

Cheers
Terry Dryburgh
Race Captain

Illabunda Racing Schedule for Winter 2007

Juniors

Monday 2nd July – Friday 6th July Downhill and Cross Country Training

Saturday 7th July – Sunday 8th July Snow Board Training

Saturday1st September Illawarra Junior Interclub Races
(Downhill, Snowboard, XC)

Note: The Illabunda Junior Club Champions are determined from the Illawarra Junior Interclub Races.

Seniors

Saturday 28th July – Sunday 29th July Downhill Training

Saturday 18th August Illawarra Senior Interclub Races
(Downhill, Snowboard, XC)

Saturday 29th September – Sunday 30th September Perisher Cup Races
(Downhill, Jump, XC)

Note: The Illabunda Senior Club Champions are determined from the Illawarra Senior Interclub Races.

These dates are subject to change depending on the Illawarra Interclub confirmation.


Terry Dryburgh