The weekend did NOT start well at all, Chasers were in on Saturday and were appalling! We didn't win a single race all day, we started off ok, taking the opposing team to 5 legs, but I "bottled" it and gave too loose a change on the last leg and cost us the race...ooops!
From then on it just wouldnt work, Gail struggled to get any decent starts with Digby as he just would not stand still, Jasmine decided she was going to start running out again and to really top it off the box started malfunctioning and wouldnt load! So all we can do is call it a bad day and move on, either that or cry!
Sunday we had three teams; Starters, Seekers and Hunters
Starters were Macdui, Calluna, Lyriq, Lexi and Chance from Grasshoppers. The mornings racing didnt go great, Lyriq was being somewhat of a pleb and played the "I want to have another go on the box" game and so we struggled to get him to run back DOWN the lane! The other three did great, Lexi really starting to shine, she had a few blips but overall ran really well, even starting to pick up some speed!
Team came fifth overall, not a great result but two of them are brand new starters so we cant really expect too much of them.
Next in were Seekers, these were on a declared time of 20.70, which I stand by and say is about right for the dogs that were running, however, little Miss Barbie dog (Skye) has recently had an injection of rocket fuel and is now running almost a full second faster! We broke out in the morning with a time of 19.51!! After that we had no chance of doing it again as Tes decided she wanted to chase the other lane and so repeatedly ran out, naughty girl!
In the afternoon our first race was against an empty lane and they all finally got it together, Tes stopped running out and of course we once again broke out, this time with a time of 20.07, one more and we would be disqualified! Come the last race we decided to push the changes and see what time they could..... so what happens? They do mid 20's which is exactly what I expected them to do! Blooming dogs aye!
These came away with a fourth which was much better than I expected so well done to them, not an easy day but at least we ended on a good note.
Next up were Hunters, this was a brand new line up of our previous starter dogs; Chance (Collie), Summer (Cocker) and Amber (Collie), with Honey and Kane making sure they could complete all day. I cannot put into words how proud I felt, this was quite a few months of hard work with these guys, dogs who have chase instinct, lack of focus and drive and generally not the "average easy going collies." The only "blips" we had was Amber refusing to go over full height, bless her and also having a couple of "Barbie" moments, (she is going to be contesting Skye for this years awards!) Other than that they all ran paw perfect all day, Chance managed to throw in a 4.63, which is pretty incredible, Summer and Amber did high 5's most of the day so were a lot more consistent than expected, they were all utter super stars. Special mentions go to little Summer being the height dog and so having to run all day, but she wasn't phased one little bit. They came fourth after some excellent racing and managed to take home their first ever Open rosettes, so massive well done to them all! Ryecroft next week where Harry will be joining the line up and hopefully gain his Open dog status
So having the weekend go from dreadful to pretty damn good, it was topped of even more with Inca winning ABC (Anything but Collie) Singles with fastest time of 4.12 and also Jasmine and Inca won pairs with a time of 8.29... NOT too shabby at all!
One VERY happy Team capt
From then on it just wouldnt work, Gail struggled to get any decent starts with Digby as he just would not stand still, Jasmine decided she was going to start running out again and to really top it off the box started malfunctioning and wouldnt load! So all we can do is call it a bad day and move on, either that or cry!
Sunday we had three teams; Starters, Seekers and Hunters
Starters were Macdui, Calluna, Lyriq, Lexi and Chance from Grasshoppers. The mornings racing didnt go great, Lyriq was being somewhat of a pleb and played the "I want to have another go on the box" game and so we struggled to get him to run back DOWN the lane! The other three did great, Lexi really starting to shine, she had a few blips but overall ran really well, even starting to pick up some speed!
Team came fifth overall, not a great result but two of them are brand new starters so we cant really expect too much of them.
Next in were Seekers, these were on a declared time of 20.70, which I stand by and say is about right for the dogs that were running, however, little Miss Barbie dog (Skye) has recently had an injection of rocket fuel and is now running almost a full second faster! We broke out in the morning with a time of 19.51!! After that we had no chance of doing it again as Tes decided she wanted to chase the other lane and so repeatedly ran out, naughty girl!
In the afternoon our first race was against an empty lane and they all finally got it together, Tes stopped running out and of course we once again broke out, this time with a time of 20.07, one more and we would be disqualified! Come the last race we decided to push the changes and see what time they could..... so what happens? They do mid 20's which is exactly what I expected them to do! Blooming dogs aye!
These came away with a fourth which was much better than I expected so well done to them, not an easy day but at least we ended on a good note.
Next up were Hunters, this was a brand new line up of our previous starter dogs; Chance (Collie), Summer (Cocker) and Amber (Collie), with Honey and Kane making sure they could complete all day. I cannot put into words how proud I felt, this was quite a few months of hard work with these guys, dogs who have chase instinct, lack of focus and drive and generally not the "average easy going collies." The only "blips" we had was Amber refusing to go over full height, bless her and also having a couple of "Barbie" moments, (she is going to be contesting Skye for this years awards!) Other than that they all ran paw perfect all day, Chance managed to throw in a 4.63, which is pretty incredible, Summer and Amber did high 5's most of the day so were a lot more consistent than expected, they were all utter super stars. Special mentions go to little Summer being the height dog and so having to run all day, but she wasn't phased one little bit. They came fourth after some excellent racing and managed to take home their first ever Open rosettes, so massive well done to them all! Ryecroft next week where Harry will be joining the line up and hopefully gain his Open dog status
So having the weekend go from dreadful to pretty damn good, it was topped of even more with Inca winning ABC (Anything but Collie) Singles with fastest time of 4.12 and also Jasmine and Inca won pairs with a time of 8.29... NOT too shabby at all!
One VERY happy Team capt