Another great day out for the team which resulted in our taking 1st place in Division 5. The team ran really well together, and almost all our runs were sub 22 seconds. Millie proved to be a little star, running with that true terrier determination and almost as fast as the collies. Another bottle of John's special wine aided the celebrations afterwards!

On Monday 29th May it was the Multibreed and Starter divisions. Hillam doesn't have a multibreed team currently [where all team dogs are of different breeds - only 1 of each and only 1 X breed allowed], but Foster ran in the Starter division B, with a team from Bishop Burton - see how he did in the videos below.

Special mention must be made of Scooby, who you can see running in the Multibreed part 1 video in the last couple of races. He is a rescued Staffy cross owned by Alison and Gaelle Harrison of the Yorkshire Bouncers, and they have worked extremely hard with him to overcome his problems, and it was lovely to see him doing so well in the multibreed divisions.

To view videos

Click here for

Starters A

Click here for

Starters B

Click here for

Multibreed

Click here for

Multibreed part 2

Middlesbrough has proved to be a lucky venue for us once more, as we took 1st place in Division 6, remaining unbeaten all day. The dogs ran extremely well together, and earned enough points for Millie to achieve her 1st landmark award - Flyball Dog. The weather was glorious on the Friday as we arrived and set up our camp, remaining fine until just after the presentation of the rosettes, and the exercise/dog walk area was excellent - what more could we want from a weekend - well, maybe some of this!

	This rather special wine is one of John's creations - and as his dog Millie had achieved Flyball Dog status - we had to celebrate in a special way.
Camping next to us were the Greetland Grasshoppers, with their secret weapon Cas, a red tailed buzzard.

This was the last outdoor tournament for the team this season, and what a wonderful ending it was, two of the dogs, Zak and Tara, have gained their Flyball Dog Intermediate awards, [ 1000 points ] , and at this tournament, Holly has qualified for her Flyball Dog Graduate award [ 5000 points ].

We enjoyed very close racing, and were absolutely delighted to take 1st place in Division 5, collecting on the way around 370 points. Perhaps the most enjoyable race was against the Barking Owlers - they are a great team to run against and the races are usually nail bitingly close - this time was no exception, 5 legs and a really close finish - our turn to win this time, but they are probably out for revenge at Newark!

With only 5 dogs currently available for competition in the club , and shift working reducing that number to 4 for most of the time, we have found that we have developed a very close working relationship within the team this year. The dogs run very well together, and we have knocked a full second off our times over the period, and have ended the season running under the critical 22 seconds most of the time. [ For the non - flyballers reading this - it means the difference between 5 points and 25 points each run. ]

The starter team also enjoyed a good day's racing. Millie and Sep were joined by Dudley, a Lurcher and Jade, a collie, from Doncaster Belle Stars. All 4 dogs ran together very well and were placed 5th. Thanks go to the box loader from Doncaster who did a great job for us.

Millie is now almost 18 months old, and will be making her debut in the team, running as height dog at the indoor tournament at Newark in November

A team bonding session

Zak

Tara

On Saturday, 6th August, the Hillam Hot Spots took part in the tournament on York Racecourse, organised by the Tykes. They were awarded 4th place rosettes, which was very satisfying, as Carole had to run Zak for Robbie, who had a knee injury.

Millie found herself without a starter team, so ran with the Kellington Power Racers starters on the Sunday, and did very well. See a video of her running on their page.

On Sunday, July 24th we went to a Yorkshire Bouncers Tournament at the Eggborough Power Station, the Hot Dogs coming 5th in the 4th Division and the Not so Hot Dogs gaining 3rd place Rosettes in the Starter Division. This was Kellington dog, Millie's 1st rosette, but from the way she ran, it certainly won't be her last. The starter's team was joined by Dianne Halstead's Buddy, who ran with us last time out, and Kay Fisher's little Schnautzer, Uscher, from Blackpool SuperNovas.

To see some videos, click the following links.

If you have difficulty viewing any of these clips on dial up, Right Click and choose "Save Target as" to save to your hard drive 1st, and view from there - download time will depend on your connection. Even with Broadband, unless you have a very fast connection, this will be the best way to view the 2 large videos, which will not stream properly at slower speeds [OK at 1MB speed and above].

Thanks to James Campell from Barney Owlers for videoing the Hot Dog team and to Eric Beechey for videoing the Starters team.

On Sunday May 29th, we went to the Yorkshire Bouncers tournament at Eggborough Power Station, gaining 3rd place in the 5th division, and were especially pleased with some of our times, as we were not running our fastest combination of dogs, but still managed to get a couple of times below the critical 22 seconds. Once again, we enjoyed a very close race with the Barking Owlers, this time just losing - hope we meet them again in our next outing, as we always enjoy racing against them. The weather was wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed our day out.

On Monday May 30th, we entered a starter team at the same venue.

Once again, the weather was beautiful, and we had a very pleasant day out. It was the first time for a while that we had sufficient dogs to enter our own starter team, and we ran Sep [ an older dog who loves flyball, but has never managed to learn that she should always come back over the jumps], Phoenix, who has had a couple of runs with other teams starter teams, and Millie, the little Border/Lakeland terrier from Bird Lane, who has only been doing Flyball for a few weeks. The 4th dog, Dianne Halsted's Buddy, was borrowed, and ran as lead dog.

Phoenix certainly benefitted from running with dogs from her own club, and also from the quieter, more relaxed atmosphere. She ran really well, only being distracted on one leg, and the rest of the time running faultlessly.

Millie did really well for a 1st time out, though she did discover the way into the other team's lane several times. Sue and Carole are thinking of working on the "Catch the dog in the ball bucket " strategy for our next time out. When she did get it right, though, we could see her true potential - she is going to be a very fast height dog as she matures.

To see a video [6.35MB] Click Here

The race is against another local starter team, from the Yorkshire Bouncers

[Sorry, Broadband is best, the Dial Up version does not give good enough quality - if you want to try on Dial Up - Right Click on the link, and choose save target as - to save it to your hard drive first, and it should then stream OK]

On Sunday, 15th May we went to the Tykes tournament held at the Pickering Game Fair,

gaining 2nd place in Division 5, with a fastest time of 21.89.

The weather was perfect, the show was very well organised and the atmosphere was, as usual for a flyball tournament, very friendly and relaxed, but some dogs did find the fact that the flyball parking was adjacent to the Clay Pigeon shooting very distressing indeed, although the rings were far enough away for most of them to forget and enjoy their flyballing.

However, for those badly affected, does the relatively short time spent in the ring or standing by justify the 7 hours or so waiting in the parking/camping area, and being terrified by the sound of the guns? This is something we will have to consider very carefully before entering any more tournaments held at game or country fairs.

On Saturday 7th May we had a most enjoyable and successful day out at the Crazies' tournament at Middlesborough, with the following results.

Beatrice and Phoenix took part in the Starters event, running in a team made up of dogs from various clubs. Although they didn't get a rosette, Phoenix did well, bringing the ball back most of the time, and managing to stay in her own lane all of the time. Altogether we all had a great day out, in a lovely venue, despite the odd heavy shower and loud claps of thunder

Northern Bytes tournament, 30th April, 2005 On 30th April, 2005 Hillam Hot Dogs took part in the tournament held at Eggborough Power Station run by the Northern Bytes from Cheshire. The Hot Dogs were delighted to come 2nd in Division 7, losing only one of their races - and that was to the winners, the Barking Owlers from Leeds, in their final race of the day. For further details and 3 pages of photos, click here Flyball Tournament at Selby College, 5th February, 2005 Although we were not highly placed [ we came 5th in division 3] we had an excellent day out, with some very close racing - losing to the Tykes, another team with strong Kellington connections, by only an eighteenth of a second in the last heat. All the dogs ran very well - most of the errors were handler errors as is usually the case! We were especially pleased with Tara, who despite taking a long time to learn the game in the first place, has now become a very reliable dog - she didn't put a foot wrong all day and thoroughly enjoyed herself, as did we all. These 2 photos of Tara with Ken were taken by James Campbell, of Leeds Owlers   These photos were also taken on the day, by Nicky Collins.

Stan sends Holly off to the Box, as Tara prepares to follow. Carole and Amy, on the far left, are checking the team's times near the gate. Our boxloader at the back is Chris.

Stan and Holly return - Ken releases Tara, and Zak can't wait for his turn.

The Judge checks to see if the teams are ready.

The whole team - Stan and Ken have caught their dogs, Caroline is just grabbing Jenna, and Zak is at the box.

Ken calling Tara back over the jumps, as Jenna runs in to cross over at the gate. Holly has finished, and Zak waits eagerly to bring up the rear.

Robbie using a ball on a rope to catch Zak.

Jenna returning, Zak at the box, and Holly and Tara at the side.

Stan letting Holly go, with Caroline poised ready to send Jenna.   This following set of photos was taken by James Campbell, of Leeds Owlers Many thanks, James. Lining up for the run - back Stan sends lead dog Holly As Jenna adds to the noise levels Caroline calls Jenna back over the jumps Conferring at the start line with Margery, the "ball boy" Robbie sending Zak to crossover with Jenna Caroline getting the ball from Jenna Return to Home Page