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Tournament Report

Ball Busters Indoor Tournament, Maidstone - Sunday, 24 January

What a great day this was! The Wimbledon Whizzers were represented by just four dogs this time:

Jed - our fastest dog at the moment, taking the Start position, handled by Caroline;
Bramble - my dog, and currently the most experienced, handled by Flo;
Alibi - the lovable labrador, not as fast as the others but as steady as a rock (and about as solid too!), handled by Jenny;
Soni - the new boy in the team, this being his first ever open tournament, handled by Wendy.

Our box-loader was Lynn - her first time at the sharp-end of the lane at a tournament. Mark, Jess, Chloe, Andrea and Don were there too - all helping in the ring, or standing ring-side and supporting.

We were running on a seed time of 19.36 seconds - which is a bit faster than this group of four dogs were going to run. It put us in Division 3 against the Ball Busters, the Bad Dog Meecos, Shooting Star Moonies, and the Shooting Star Rockets.

Our first race of the morning saw us taking on the Rockets. Although a faster team than us, we managed to hold on to our consistancy, and won the race in the 5th leg.

The next race was against the Bad Dog Meecos, who were running on a declared time. We took the score to 2 legs each - including a superb re-run of Bramble by Flo after an unexpected light. We lost the race in the 5th leg by quit a tight margin.

Our afternoon racing started with the Moonies - we took the first leg by 1/100th of a second, setting our fastest time of the day at 20.25. We just lost the second leg - and then didn't manage to complete on the next two legs.

The last race of the day was another really tight match - this time against the Ball Busters. Again- we took them to 5 legs - losing in the 5th by a small margin.

By the strange way that these things happen, our final placing was actually down to the last race of the division - between the Moonies and the Bad Dogs. The Bad dogs had wo for won every race, and the Moonies had only beaten us. If the Bad Dogs had won, then it would have been a 3-way tie for third place - which would would have put us 3rd! In the end the Bad Dogs team were beaten, breaking the tie, and putting us out of the rosettes in 4th place.

But it didn't matter - the dogs all ran beautifully. Bramble and Alibi coped with the full-height jumps remarkably well - and Jed demonstrating amazing box-turns. Caroline's starts were absolutely superb, getting a perfect start more than once. Lynn was excellent loading the box - keeping cool under pressure, and always making sure that the ball was ready for the 5th dog. But the star of the show had to be Soni - his first time in an open tournament - and he never put a paw wrong. He didn't even flinch when Wendy let him go a tad early and he crossed with Bramble at the first jump.

Well done all of us!

At the presentations, there were a couple of awards for Whizzers dogs:

Jed - Flyball Dog Graduate certificate (3000 points - gained last summer at Caird Park in Dundee)
Bramble - Silver Award (10,000 points - gained in September at Capstone Park in Kent)

By my reckonning, the four dogs racing will have earned 340 points each - which means that Soni would have gained his Flyball Dog title, Alibi would have gained his Flyball Dog Intermediate title, and Jed will be 45 points short of his Flyball Dog Advanced title.

Training

Our next training session is Saturday, 30 January. It is the first session of the new term, so please remember to bring your training fees - £45 for one dog or £60 for more than one dog.

As usual, we'll have the Team training starting at 9:30am - then the Intermediate class at 10:30 and Beginners at 11:30 - but you are most welcome to come earlier and watch or help with the previous classes.

The training dates for the Spring term are:

30 January
6 February
13 February
20 February
27 February
6 March
13 March
20 March
27 March
10 April

Ring Party Training Day

This is open to everyone, although space is limited - it's a full day in Markfield, up in Leicestershire, and it teaches you the essentials about the rules of flyball. It's great fun - you get to meet people from other teams, and they run a starters tournament, so it's not just theory!

The dates are Saturday, 6 March or Sunday 7 March. I am hoping that enough people will be available so that we can hire a minibus to go there, and save on the petrol. Please check your calendars so I can get some numbers together on Saturday.

Future Tournaments

Please - keep these dates clear!

Easter Weekend - the Jets tournament in Stockbridge, Hampshire - Starters on Good Friday, 2 April Open on the Saturday and Sunday and then Multibreed on Bank Holiday Monday.

17-18 April - Mad Mutts tournament at Acremead Kennels, near Abingdon - very likely to be a Starters here too

24-25 April - Cambridgeshire Canines at Woodgreen iAnimal Centre in Huntingdonshire

1-3 May - Mad Mutts at Acremenad again - this time with a Multibreed on the Bank holiday Monday

15-16 May - Wimbledon Whizzers - yes - our own tournament on Wimbledon Common

29-31 May - Bad Dog Racers at Frimley Lodge Park in Surrey - Starters on the Saturday, then Open on the Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday

5-6 June - Mad Mutts at the Hearing Dogs Show in Princes Risborough

12-13 June - Hotshots at Southridge RSPCA in Herts

19-20 June - Barkshire Bandits at the Middlesex Town & Country Show in Uxbridge - BUT we have a conflict - because we have also been asked to do a demo for the Wimbledon Village Fair that weekend too.

2-4 July - European Flyball Championships, Belgium

more dates to come.....