2015 Picnic date mistake

We made a mistake in setting the picnic date for this fall.  The D-Team picnic will take place on SUNDAY, Sept. 27th, not Saturday, Sept. 26th.  We apologize for the confusion.  We need to keep Saturdays in the fall open for potential weddings.  As a result, we will stick with having the annual D-Team picnic on Sunday.  Again, this year's picnic will take place on Sunday, Sept. 27th.  More details coming soon...thanks.

Spartan Race & Spartan Kids Race this Saturday

I apologize if this is a little late notice but I am assuming that a lot of you already know that we are hosting the Spartan Race this Saturday.  Setup has been taking place since last Friday and this looks to be a very impressive event.  I myself have entered and I am looking forward to the challenge. In addition to the regular Spartan Race, there is a Kid's Spartan Race. It may be a fun way for some D-Team kids to "compete" at Welch is something besides ski racing.  There are two Kid's Races:  A 1/2 mile for ages 4-8 and a 1 mile for ages 9-13.  Both courses will have the kids running up and down hills, rolling in the mud, and going through several fun obstacles.  All three of my daughters are signed up and excited for the challenge (and the mud!). FYI...Spartan Race is charging for spectators as well as parking in addition to the fees for the races.  This is a Spartan event completely.  They are renting the venue from us and in charge of everything except food & beverage, Welch Village is doing that.

Here is the link to the main event page: http://www.spartan.com/en/race/detail/826/overview

Here is a link to the Spartan Kids page: http://www.spartankids.com/

I hope you enjoying your summer so far...remember...winter is just around the corner!

2015/16 Picnic, D-Team Race Schedule, Dry-land training

Good morning D-Team families! 

The annual MSDL meeting took place at Afton Alps last night and we put together the 2015/16 race schedule.  Why wait until the fall to share this information with you?  So here it is...

Saturday Program Race Schedule:
Jan. 23 @ Wild Mountain
Feb. 6 @ Afton Alps
Feb. 20 @ Trollhaugen
Mar. 5th - Championship Race at Welch Village

Sunday Program Race Schedule:
Jan. 24 @ Trollhaugen
Feb. 7 @ Afton Alps
Feb. 21 @ Buck Hill
Mar. 6th - Championship Race at Welch Village

Also, please put Saturday, Sept. 26th on your calendar for our annual D-Team Picnic.  We will again be offering a ski boot program this year and will have staff present in our ski shop to size boots for all of the kids during the picnic.  More details on this event later this summer.

Finally, some of the coaches and I are considering a couple dryland training events on a few fall and maybe even summer weekends.  These would be free of charge simple gatherings here at Welch Village and would include things like biking on the Cannon Valley Trail, hiking/trail running on the hills, Slack-line, Slant-board training etc.  At the very least, it may be cool to get some of the kids together during the summer and fall outside of the hectic ski season.  I know one 8-year old who already misses her ski buddies.  Stay tuned...

If you have any questions about D-Team feel free to email me peter@welchvillage.com.  Otherwise, enjoy your spring & summer!

2015 Championship Race Results & Final Announcements

First of all, on behalf of Welch Village Management, The Welch Village Race dept, and all the coaches, we would like to thank all of you for another great D-Team season.  It's a pleasure to coach your kids and spend 11 weekends with you during the winter on the slopes of Welch Village.  Congratulations to all D-team athletes in both the Saturday & Sunday programs for making huge improvements in your skiing throughout the season and for always demonstrating a high level of sportsmanship at the races.  Thank you for your hard work and dedication to the sport of skiing and to Welch Village Ski Area.  This 2014/15 group is unique because it will always be the D-Team class of Welch Village's 50th Anniversary Season!

Thank you parents for your help at practices, races, and supporting your kids and Welch Village with the D-Team program. Without your dedication as parents, this great family sport would not be possible.

We encourage all D-Team families to continue to ski for the remainder of the season, we are looking forward to several more weeks of great spring skiing.  As you are well aware...we have had several cold days in the last month or so and as a result, we still have a very deep base of snow.  Come down and enjoy it!

A few announcements and reminders:

• For those of you who have not picked up your pictures, you can do so at the main ticket windows. We will also leave ribbons from races there for those of you who still have those.
• We will again offer a junior race boot and race ski program next season.  At this time, we are again planning to carry Nordica & HEAD boots as well as HEAD Jr. Race skis.  We will also offer a lease program again too.  We still have some boots leftover and on sale in our rental shop right now! Stop in if you think your son/daughter will need boots for next season. 
• We will continue to use this D-Team Blog for the main source of information through the summer and fall as well lead up to our annual picnic in September. 

Click Here for the Saturday Championship Race Results at Mount Kato
Click Here for the Sunday Championship Race Results at Afton Alps

Sunday D-Team Championship at Afton Alps Schedule & Map

CLICK HERE for the map and schedule for Sunday's Championship race at Afton Alps.  Good luck racers and have fun!

Saturday Championship Race at Mount Kato Information

Click Here for information on the Saturday Championship Race at Mount Kato.  Good luck racers and have fun!

Free Night of Race Academy Training this Thursday (2/26)!

We would like to invite ALL Saturday & Sunday D-Team racers to join our Race Academy this Thursday evening for one last chance of gate training before the the final championship races of the season!

We will have two tall gate courses set on Lookout (one SL, one GS) from 6-8pm and two stubby courses (one SL & one GS) set on Fowl Play from 6-8pm for any Saturday or Sunday D-team to would like to take a few more runs in the gates.  We are also hoping to have a few of our coaches present to help on both hills.

We are going to try and run timing on Lookout for the tall gate courses.  PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO PETER@WELCHVILLAGE.COM no later than 1pm on Thursday if you know your son/daughter plan to come and train on Lookout so we can enter their names in the system.  Please include their first & last name in the email.  We will not having timing on Fowl Play, just two practice courses.

Again, this practice/gate practice session is open to all Saturday & Sunday athletes.  You will not be in your normal coaching groups with coaches on Thursdays.  Feel free to take as many laps as you want, we will have a few coaches around to help.  It's supposed to be chilly so come prepared for the cold weather.

We will be sending the information for the races this weekend as soon as we receive them from Mount Kato and Afton Alps.

Thanks!