22Oct 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Ski Guiding for the visually impaired, Akaslompolo, Northern Finland – Feb 2020

News
If you would like to give something back to the sport and also have a great week skiing with a sociable group of visually impaired skiers, then your help would be greatly appreciated. A group of blind and partially sighted skiers are going to Akaslompolo in Finland for the last week of February 2020. Ebony Hall of Tyneside Loipers has signed up as a guide for this year. Anyone else interested in acting as a guide should please contact Lyn Street as soon as possible.  Download the information sheet here. Alasdair Wilson volunteered as a guide in 2014 and his report is in the Feb 2015 Loipers newsletter. And here is another more recent article from 2018. Stop Press If you would like to ski at Akaslompolo for the last week…
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22Oct 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Loipers AGM and Social, 8th October 2019

News
Thanks to all who attended the AGM at the Northumberland Club in Jesmond on 8th October. What a surprise - the existing committee were re-elected unopposed (hopefully we will have some new faces one of these days)! We had some good discussion about club kit, Loiper activities and ski trips for this winter. Alan gave a quick demo of our updated website and Mike gave a nice explanation of our new club logo (both of which were well received). Thanks particularly to Neil for chairing the meeting and Charlie for the minutes and thanks to the Northumberland Club for the buffet (much better than last year!). The meeting rounded off with a few slides including some impressive photos of the Hetton roller ski event and race, plus some historic photos…
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22Oct 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Alasdair upgrades to Level 2 Club Coach at Lancaster Roller-Ski weekend

News
Congratulations to Alasdair Wilson who attended the Roller-ski Coaching Weekend at Lancaster on 5/6th October. A successful follow-up to the Snowsport England On-Snow Coaching course at Kvitavatn in April, Alasdair had to take a one-hour observed coaching session with a group of roller-skiers to satisfy senior tutor Patrick Winterton and pass his Level 2 On-Snow coaching qualification. He is already qualified as a Level 2 Club Coach for roller-skiing. Alasdair competing in the 2016 World Masters. Alasdair is now 'bang up to date with current best techniques' having also attended the 1-day coaching workshop with top quality teaching from Scott Dixon and Patrick.
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24Sep 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

East of Newcastle to the coast cycle ride

Summer 2019
Mark and Jane Okeeffe were joined by Neil Waters for a lovely cycle ride on Saturday 14th September. We set off from the Rising Sun Country Park, Benton at 9.30 am on a sunny morning. We were using National Cycleways and a selection of other linking routes of which Mark has an in depth knowledge. Travelling via Willington Quay, Percy Main, Holywell, Seaton Sluice, Blyth, West Monkseaton, Murton and NewYork. Café stops were taken liberally during the day which meant plenty of time to catch up with each others news. We covered around 48 km and got back to the Rising Sun Country Park in the early afternoon. Hopefully we will repeat this trip when Alan Mitcham is fully recovered and maybe one or two other Loipers might be interested!…
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12Sep 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

SSE Roller-ski Coaching Weekend at Hetton, Aug 2019

News, Summer 2019
The August Bank Holiday weekend surprised us with a mini heat wave (too hot for some!). Twenty participants from around the UK turned up for two days of top quality coaching from Martin Watkins, Dagmar Junghanns and Adam Pinney, with each of the coaches covering all aspects of classic and skate skiing technique. Alasdair organised the all-comers race on Saturday afternoon, part of the 2019 GB roller-ski race series, with great competition particularly from some of the GB Nordic Juniors who made the trip down from Scotland. And a particularly impressive performance too from ex-Olympian Martin Watkins. Many thanks to our three coaches. And especial thanks to Alasdair and others from Tyneside Loipers for the efficient smooth running of the event, at short notice, with the 'organiser' undergoing lifesaving surgery…
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31Jul 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Hexhamshire mountain biking – 28th July 2019

Summer 2019
Mark O'Keeffe led another great day of mountain biking on mostly gravel estate tracks of Hexhamshire Common and Blanchland Moor. A few friends joined us from Tyne Valley Mountaineers, making 9 of us in total. We finally managed to do the route which we abandoned last year due to gale force winds. The route took in 3 shooting huts (courtesy of the Allendale Estate) which meant that we had 3 comfortable stops for morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea! The final distance was a mere 35km but there were plenty of climbs and descents and plenty of challenge - thanks Mark! Looking forward to another ride soon. The ford near Heatheryburn The tricky ladder stile near Riddlehamhope Ben leading the fast doewnhill from Riddlehamhope David along the Carrier's Way
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26Jun 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Summer roller skiing and the Snowsport England Coaching weekend in August

News
The August Bank Holiday coaching weekend at Hetton is only 2 months away. We will have some top roller ski coaches, led by ex-Olympian Patrick Winterton who will be taking the advanced group. Adam Pinney and Dagmar Junghanns are sharing the beginner/improver and intermediate groups. And Katya (Ekaterina Rachel) is lined up for a second advanced group if numbers warrant it (which is looking fairly likely). Bookings are coming in for the course at a steady rate. The weekend of coaching will definitely improve your skiing technique on roller skis and on-snow, at whatever your current level. For more details, see the course information dossier. Or contact Alan who is the course organiser on behalf of Snowsport England. Les Cavill, who has recently taken up roller skiing, has written a…
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08May 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Mike Hall’s Engadin Ski Marathon – March 2019

News
I have been dabbling with cross country skiing for some years now and have had a go at most of our free heel skiing disciplines.  More recently I have been contemplating a Nordic ski race.  My former employer (Architect- Sir Norman Foster) takes part in the Engedin marathon most years.  I am nearly thirty years his junior and, if he can do it, so can I!  I signed up with Totally Nordic, run by Alan Eason, for the short race week culminating in the main 42km event on the Sunday, the biggest race in Europe.  Despite upping my roller-skiing in preparation, my first day on snow was pretty shabby.  I couldn’t believe how bad my technique seemed and I was wasting so much energy.  Alan Eason somehow disassembled my skiing technique and reassembled it in 3 days - No mean feat!   Come the race day itself…
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06May 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Alasdair takes part in the 2019 World Masters in Norway

News
Congratulations to Alasdair Wilson who competed in the World Masters cross-country ski championships in Beitostolen Norway in early March. Alasdair is a regular member of the GB team (undoubtedly our most well-travelled and competitive skier)! He travelled to Beitostolen after spending a few days with the rest of the Loipers in Dalseter. Held over a full week with races of different distances up to 45km, the Masters attracts teams from all over the world and the GB team are hard pressed to compete against more experienced opposition, many of them ex- world cup athletes. Alasdair was pleased with his own performance and delighted that team-mate Kelley Haniver (almost a Loiper!) won bronze and silver medals early in the week, then finally gold in the last day of competition. It was…
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04May 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

3 Club members join SSE Nordic coaching week in Kvitavatn

News
Club members Gwenda and Les Cavill and Alasdair Wilson joined the Snowsport England on-snow coaching week in Kvitavatn, Norway, in early April 2019. They had a good week of late-season snow with excellent coaching from top SSE instructors including Patrick Winterton and Alan Eason. Gwenda summed it up nicely by saying that the week delivered all that she had hoped for.. "significant improvements to my technical skiing ability and an enjoyable holiday". Read a full account from Gwenda here. Alasdair was returning to Kvitavatn having done the World Masters cross country championships in Bietostolen only a few weeks earlier. He was looking to sharpen up his skiing technique and to upgrade his qualifications to Level 2 on-snow instructor which he successfully did (with the proviso that he does a one-hour…
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