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[Photos
from Craig]
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Ryecroft
Farm, July 7th & 8th 2007
We
had 3 teams entered for the Ryecroft Farm
tournament, but sadly, due to the last minute
unavailability of Zak and Zippy, both the
Crusaders and the Sapphire Blues found themselves
short of dogs, resulting in a last minute
re arrangement of the teams. Trixie and Robbie
moved from the Crusaders to the Sapphire Blues,
helping them to a 5th place with a best time
of 20.28 seconds.
The
remaining 2 Crusaders were not deprived of
their flyball however - together with a Cheshire
set dog and Harley, Sandi and Jess ran not
for competition, and so enjoyed their trip
too - fortunately the dogs don't really understand
about places, points and rosettes.
On
the Saturday, the Spitfires made it into the
rosettes, taking 4th place with a best time
of 20.97 seconds.
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The
spitfires ready for the off.
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Angus
on the box
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Coffee
break!
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Team
chat
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Blackpool,
30th June 2007
The
teams were quite badly affected by the weather for
this tournament - John, the captain of the Sapphire
Blues didn't make it at all as flood water was up
to the airbricks on his house, and neither Alison
nor Barbara could get their caravans out of storage
because of the state of the land, meaning that they
had to undertake the journey from the Doncaster area
to Blackpool on 2 consecutive days, fruitless as it
turned out on the Sunday.
The
rain was relentless on the Saturday, necessitating
4 changes of lane positions during the day's racing.
Conditions were not good for the day's racing, which
is putting it mildly, with both the handlers and the
dogs running on ground which resembled a badly worn
goal mouth in mid winter. The keenest dogs made the
best of it, nothing puts them off their flyball, but
those like Sandi, who only does it to please Tony,
showed their distaste quite clearly - Sandi was actively
seeking dry patches of ground to run on, which did
nothing for her times! Despite the conditions the
Crusaders managed a creditable 4th position, with
lead / height dog, Trixie, Tony's other dog running
faultlessly for Dennis who was handling her for the
1st time. His own dog, Jess, who was handled by Carolyn
found this a little confusing, but nevertheless did
her best. GSD Robbie was his perfect calm self - he
may not be the fastest dog in flyball, but not only
is he one of the most handsome and good natured dogs,
he also has to be one of the most consistently reliable
- a real credit to his rescuer Alison. Newcomer to
the team in only her 2nd tournament, Zippy also did
well, running consistently despite the opposing dog
who twice interfered with her - to those who know
her history, a very pleasing result.
The
Sapphire Blues were running in the last division on
each session, and so conditions for them were even
worse - the afternoons sessions were limited to the
best of 3 races, run all three, partly because of
ground conditions and partly because of time lost
as the lights failed to cope with the weather consistently.
Running without captain and lead dog Sasha, the team
only managed 1 win and took 6th place - just completing
with all dogs and handlers remaining upright and without
injury was success in itself.
Overnight
conditions deteriorated even further, with some teams
finding their camping patches under water and their
dog cages flooded. It was impossible for racing to
take place, and so the Sunday racing was called off
- very disappointing for both the competitors - the
Spitfires included - and the tournament organisers,
Red Rose Rockets, who had put a great deal of effort
into organising what should have been a great tournament
in delightful surroundings. Let's hope that the weather
is kind for their September event - they certainly
deserve it.
Fingers crossed, let's hope the weather improves in
time for Ryecroft Farm next weekend.
Cantley
Park Doncaster, 24th June 2007
Weather
wise, this was a really mixed day. The morning was
hot and sultry, and it rained for the afternoons racing.
However,
both the Sapphire Blues and the Crusaders ran well
and managed to gain 2nd place in their respective
divisions, with the Spitfires taking 5th place.
Harley
managed to get a place in the Dog Friendly starters
team and really enjoyed himself, helping the team
to a 5th place and a bag of goodies each.
Photos
from Craig
Leo
on the box
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Scamp
standing by
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Daisy
May's run back
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Sue
loading for Scamp
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Scamp
on the box
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Ryecroft
Farm, Cheshire - 2nd/3rd June 2007
Three
teams travelled to Cheshire for this tournament, with
the Kellington Crusaders taking 5th place in Division
7 with a best time of 25.89 seconds on the Saturday
and Sapphire Blues taking 6th place in Division 2
with a best time of 20.22 on the Sunday. The Spitfires
were our highest placed team of the weekend, taking
3rd place, with a best time of 20.33.
The
European Championships, Guildford, Surrey - 26th -28th
May 2007
We
had been really looking forward to our trip down south,
and duly arrived to set up camp in glorious sunshine.
However, all that changed for the racing - we "enjoyed
" torrential rain for the whole tournament. The
venue was beautiful, but as we were camped quite a
way from the rings we found we didn't get to watch
as many other teams as we might have done - the walk
down in the rain was a little off putting.
The
Sapphire Blues were in Division 5, and enjoyed some
very exciting racing, taking 4th place. It made it
more interesting as we were running against some teams
that we rarely meet - Ball Amazonen from Germany being
one of them.
The
Spitfires in Division 8 also raced against one of
the Continental teams - the Lucky Jumpers from Belgium
and came 5th in their division.
Sutton
Fields, Cheshire - 19th/20th May 2007
The
Spitfires ran on the Saturday at Sutton Fields, but
although they had the 3rd fastest time could only
manage 6th place in Division 6. They did earn enough
points however for Daisy May to qualify for her Flyball
Dog Advanced award [5000 points].
On
the Sunday, the Sapphire Blues did a little better,
taking 5th place in Division 4
Harley
ran with the Doncaster Bellestars Starter team, which
won their division, much to Craig and Tina's delight.
Pics
from our tournament at Drax, May Day Bank Holiday
weekend, 2007
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All
the following photos were taken at our own
tournament, held over the May Day Bank Holiday
weekend. The photographer was Jamie Griffiths.
Jamie is an amateur photographer who's own
special interests include wildlife, flyball
and agility.
You
can visit his own website here
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Video
footage of the teams in action, taken by Caroline
Bradley
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Harley [unfortunately
there's no other starter footage]
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Starter
dog, Harley, in his 1st tournament
The
weather was very kind to us for our tournament, held
over the May 2007 Bank Holiday weekend, remaining
dry throughout. As is always the case for the host
team, it was hard work and problems did occur from
time to time with the lights etc, causing delays,
but despite everything, the racing ran very smoothly
and we were very pleased with the way everything went.
We
had teams running in 3 of Saturday's divisions, the
Crusaders in Division 5, the Spitfires in Division
4 and the Sapphire Blues in Division 2.
First
to run were the Crusaders, who although they were
not placed in the rosettes, had a good day, with 3
of the dogs [Joe, Bugsy and Jess] gaining enough points
to qualify for their Flyball Dog award, [200 points]
and Megan, in her final outing managed to qualify
for her Flyball Dog Graduate award [3000 points]
Next
up were the Spitfires and they had an excellent day.
For the last few outings the dogs have taken a while
to settle, which has in turn made the handlers a bit
jumpy too, so to see them run so well this time was
a real pleasure. This time they really got it all
together, finishing 3rd in their division [Division
4] with some very pleasing times.
The
last Division of the day was Division 2, and this
was where the Sapphire Blues found themselves. The
seed times of the opposition seemed quite scary waiting
for the division to start, but all 5 dogs gave of
their very best, and although they didn't win a rosette,
they did succeed in making the opposition work very
hard and the racing was both close and exciting, and
the times were good too.
Sunday
was the day for our Starter team, which consisted
of Phoenix, Sage, Dibble and Harley. All 4 dogs were
magnificent and they ended up taking 2nd place - they'll
be a force to be reckoned with when they mature into
Division teams - not only that, but they are a true
multibreed bunch - Rottie, Border Collie, Dalmation
and Parson Jack Russell.
Monday
was Multibreed day - far more relaxing than the previous
2 days. Our team consisted of Sasha - Rottweiller,
Rory - Border Collie, Bugsy - Jack Russell Terrier,
Robbie - German Shepherd and Sandi - Crossbreed. Although
they didn't qualify for a rosette, they ran very well
together, enabling Sandi, who prior to this weekend
had only 62 points, to gain enough to qualify for
her Flyball Dog award.
