Rainy Days...

Another wet miserable morning here in Lancashire (sigh) so the pups went out to toilet and came straight back in to play in the kitchen and I thought I'd snap a few pics of them, they're now all around 5 months old...
Eabha

thought she'd help with the dishes...

Viggo, starting to look all grown up now

although I don't think he's quite realised that he can't fit in Squirrel's bed any more (bless him lol)



and it all just seemed to be too much for Orlaith...



she had to have another nap...

BBC change their minds again!

Well, the BBC changed their minds and broadcast the piece on the British Champs last night at 7.30pm...there are a few fleeting glances of us (in the pale pink) but it's a nice little piece, shows how fast and exciting the sport is!

You can watch it HERE for the next 7 days on the BBC iplayer...

the flyball story is about 10 mins in to the program.

Scottish Kennel Club

Well, we had a really fun weekend up at Edinburgh, we got so-so results and several 'if only' moments in both the agility and showing but the weather was fab and the company great and it made a nice change to do something a bit different.

I worked all day and Joy and Becca travelled up from Oxford in the afternoon (traffic nightmare!) so we didn't leave 'til after 6pm, the journey took a little over 4 hours (towing the caravan) but when we arrived at the site the grumpy old git on the gate wouldn't let us on, said it was too late! We had to drop the caravan legs and sleep in the carpark 'til it was light enough to move in the morning. Joy and I got up and moved the caravan and left 'sleeping beauty' (Becca) in bed! lol At least it was a lovely sunny day, made us feel a bit better about it all.

I was making my competition agility debut with Bailey and although we got e'd in all our runs I was happy with how we went, just going to be a case of tweaking my timing here and there with him although bizarrely he had the first pole down in every run, something he doesn't normally do in training, I don't know whether it's the tension and excitement causing him to want to race me off the start?? We ran in the Graded 1-3 agility and 1-4 jumping, both were quite trappy courses for novice dogs/handlers, especially with a dog as keen as Bai! lol Joy and Teal had a lovely run in the G6/7 agility which was a testy blast of a course only to be e'd at obstacle 18 as Teal took the jump the wrong side (very frustrating), she also got e'd at 18 in the jumping as she slipped past the jump and also managed to get e'd with Becca at obstacle 19, slipping a weave in the C6/7 jumping (something she never does) but Becca got clears with the lovely one-eyed Wiz in both jumping classes to come home with a 3rd and a 5th in her first G7 classes. Becca also managed to win the YKC with Teal so has now qualified both her and Wiz for Crufts...ooh...which one to take...the dilemma!! lol

Sorry no agility pics...I took my camera but was just rubbish! Never seemed to remember to pick it up.

I had entered Squirrel for the breed on Saturday but the thoughtless little terrier came in season so I couldn't show her! Another £23 down the drain, such is life with dogs! lol

We had a nice if somewhat busy day which we had to finish off by taking all the dogs entered for the breed the next day, down the road to Paul's work (grooming parlour) to bath, dry and trim. I hadn't had time to do any of mine before we left and with the bad weather we'd had at home all week they were pretty filthy, especially Daz who has a coat like sponge!! (it's always at this point that I remember why I don't show her very much!), we did at least manage to make it back just before grumpy closed the gates at midnight! lol

Sunday morning was again a nice day if a little breezy but the ground under the marquess had not dried out enough to use so all the judging was to take place in the big hall (same as last year!)...I did think it was such a shame they had gone to the expense and effort of putting up all these huge marquees only for them to be left empty all weekend. The hall was absolute mayhem with all the rings and grooming areas on top of each other, crates and grooming tables crammed in anywhere and everywhere and all breeds on top of each other. The noise and bustle was complete chaos and we had to get in with 7 dogs and all our gear! I nearly missed my first two classes because of it, with Spark and Dylan and bless them, both boys behaved superbly and went really well, Spark came 2nd in junior and although there were only 2 in his class I was really pleased with how he went and he got lots of nice comments from people. Dyl also came 3rd out of 3 but again he went really well and managed to concentrate and keep his tail nice and low on the move, I thought all the noise and excitement might have got him going but he was fine so that's him now qualified for Crufts next year at least. Eth was in a large and strong Limit dog class (think it may have been the biggest class of the day actually) and although he went really well he didn't get placed.

I forgot to mention that the little girl that has one of Bond and Lori's pups from earlier this year (Erin Logie) was camped opposite us with her parents, Erin was competing in the agility, obedience and junior handling (a real allrounder!) and they had asked whether they could borrow a dog for the junior handling on Sunday so on Sat evening she had a little 5 min practice with Dottie in the camping area and was going to take Dottie in the next day. Erin arrived at the BC ring to collect Dottie 15 mins or so before the junior judging was due to start; I was in the ring with Eth in limit dog and Joy and Becca had gone back to the caravan with Dyl and Spark so Erin took over with Ethan while I went and got Dot out and gave her a quick brush over...I swear Eth is nearly as big as Erin and she just looked so cute with him in that big class of dogs in her pink suit, wish I'd had time to get a pic ;) Anyway, I took Eth back and away she went with Dottie only to return some 20 mins later with a big beaming grin and a 1st rosette! They had won the junior handling class! Not bad considering they just met and testament to Dottie's super temperament and training and Erin's confident and competent handling, was so pleased for them :)

Kitten was next in in puppy bitch, her last puppy class and she did look rather dinky without her coat so I asked Julia to take her in (she just looks smaller than ever next to me!)..poor Julia...Kitten was v naughty, although I could't' help giggling as she kept bouncing off all fours in front of Julia, god knows what she was doing...BAD PUPPY! lol It was a real shame because she got placed 4th (reserve) and I'm sure would have placed higher if she'd behaved herself a bit better. Thanks Julia for your patience with the little minx!

Joy was in the next class (Junior) with Wren who was making her showring debut and she went beautifully to come 5th (VHC) in a very strong class. She then also came 3rd in Novice (or debutant whatever it was called...can't remember). Dazzle was in post grad, she really hasn't been shown much and it showed, she was definitley not comfortable with all the noise and bustle and everyone being so close and just never settled in the ring and backed away when being gone over which was such a shame although she did move out beautifully, I think the best she's ever gone, it was obvious the judge rated her and it did cost her as she was given 3rd place. A nice result and a qualifier for her but a little dissapointing, more ring practice needed for Daz I think so she's more confident out of her comfort zone. Dot went really nicely in Limit bitch and was placed 5th (VHC) which seems to be the story of Dot's life! lol

That was us done so we took all the dogs back to the caravan and had a potter round the stalls then watched the group and BIS judging...we managed to pick the group winners in all 3 groups and my favourite (the Newfoundland) won BIS while Joy's fave (the Basenji) took the reserve so we were pleased all round. We snapped some pics of the dogs back at the caravan afterwards but the light had started to go so they're not the best...

Kitten - Locheil Let's Pretend at Bryning


Dazzle - Bryning Sparkle n' Shine


Spark - Bryning Bright Spark


Wren - Bryning Goldfinch


Dylan - Bryning Truly Magic


Dottie - Locheil Crazy Chic at Bryning


Ethan - Locheil the Future's Bright at bryning

BBC reschedule...

Due to the great success of the British Team at the Olympics the BBC Production Team on 'The One Show' have rescheduled the feature on the Britsh Flyball Champs to Thursday 28th August instead. BBC 1 7pm.

(I mean, as if the Olympics is more important??!! lol)

Photos from the Champs...

...courtesy of Hazell and Emma from Tyne Tailwaggers! (thanks guys!) :))

Too many to upload here so go take a look at the ’Photo Gallery on our flyball team website.

British Champs - Sunday

(scroll down and read Saturday's report first if you haven't already done so...)

Sunday morning we woke to damp grass but blue skies, sunshine and a brisk drying wind (hurray!). Again we had 2 divisions off before we were due to race which was nice. We were first in Division Seven with the Racers and a slightly altered line up on the last time they raced with Mac and Lexie swapping places back so Fi lost her psoition as start dog and we ran Mac - Frost - Faith - Teal. Mac always runs better first and it makes very little difference to Faith what position she runs in so it made more sense to move her back. Gemma ran Mac, Paul ran Frost, Alison ran Fi and I ran Teal (she will only run for me so I don't have much choice! lol)...Hazell (Tyne Tailwaggers) very kindly boxloaded for us and Sam (Rotherham Rockets) did our scribing while Steve (Dolphins) did the line and checked changeovers as usual (so 4 teams in one! lol)...this combination really seems to work well and despite being seeded 5th they finished 3rd with a new fastest time of 19.14secs...I am absolutely convinced this team will go sub 19.00 as Teal grows in confidence every time she runs and Frost's times were off his usual pace so there's def more to give there. I must also mention the Cool K9 Coats we picked up this weekend, Paul and Alison bought one and so did I, these do definitely seem to make a difference to the dogs that tend to suffer with the heat and tire more quickly so hopefully they will have proved a good investment.

Here's the Racers finding shade in the tent at the back of Ring B between races...



Teal and Mac sporting the new 'Cool Coats'




The moment finally arrived that everyone was waiting for...Division One of the British Championships...the ring was completely surrounded by spectators several people deep and the atmopshere was electric! I have never before felt nervous at a flyball tournament but we all were as we waited to go into the ring for our first race. I think it was at that moment that the immense achievement started to dawn on us...we were running in Div One at this huge national event only 5 weeks after forming our new team and running for the first time as Demon Dogz, there are only 5 of us in total and quite often only 4 of us at comps (as this weekend) and we've only trained 3 times in that period. It's really quite unbelieveable!!! I think the nerves were probably made worse by the presence of a BBC film crew from 'The One Show' who were following the top two seeded teams - Live Wires and High Flyers so all the racing was being filmed (eeek!!! Does my bum look big in this??? lol). The racing throughout the division was absolutely fantastic and both the High Flyers and Live Wires managed it hold it together and not blow it on lights with the Moltens running out of their skins to record some fantastic times. We pushed the Bassetts, Wires and Moltens teams close but were pipped in each race...we really didn't run well at all against the High Flyers and lost in 3 straight legs (of course, we told them we let them win because we like them so much lol) but beat the Hampshire Harriers with some good racing.

Demonz Vs Harriers....lining up for the only race we managed to win...



(pic by Sunnyside Photgraphy, sure John won't mind me borrowing it as I'm about to order lots more from the weekend! lol)

We knew we'd come 5th but we didn't care, it really was the taking part that counted and I wouldn't have missed it for the world! First place came down to a 3 way tie between Bassetts, Live Wires and High Flyers who had all run such similar times. It was going to be decided on the average of each teams 3 fastest times of the day so no-one would know the outcome 'til presentation (sure this will make great TV lol). The marquee was packed for presentation and the atmosphere was fantastic, everyone congratulating each other on their performances, it was just so friendly, just as flyball should be! The place totally errupted as the High Flyers we declared the British Champions, they had defeated the defending champions (Live Wires) into 2nd place...a very worthy and popular win I have to say. Sharon's face was just a picture and how she managed to keep it all together with that TV camera right up in her face I will never know!! lol

The piece on the Champs is due to go out on The One Show, BBC 1 at 7pm this Monday (25th August). I don't think we'll feature but the camerawoman did ask if she could place the camera in the puppy pen so they may make an appearance and she did place the camera on the floor at the back of the ring while we were running to capture Lexie's dramatic run out where I place a ball on the floor for her and she runs at it at 100mph...straight into the camera!! lol So maybe Lex will make an appearance too, who knows?

We did however break down on the M6 on the way home, lost all power in the outside lane of the M6 going through Birmigham, waited in the van for 2 hours on the hard shoulder for the AA to send someone to come and pick us up, then waited another hour at the local depot while they decided who was taking us home then swapped onto another vehicle at Stoke meaning we finally made it home at....3.30am!!! What a nightmare! Fortunately it turned out to be an electrical fault on the van that was fairly easily fixed (although quite pricey...eek!) so I picked it up last night and we should be 'good to go' for SKC this coming weekend. Phew!

All in all we had a brilliant weekend and already I can't wait for next year! (maybe without the breakdown on the way home next time!)

British Champs - Saturday

Venue - Holt Farm, Southam, Warwickshire

Well, what can I say about the British Championships?? We had an absolute blast! Great weather, great company, superb venue, lovely happy and relaxed throughout, first class racing and a real carnival atmosphere. in short it was FANTASTIC! Even my extremely irritating head cold/sore throat/tickly cough wasn't enough to dampen my spirits!

The Champs this year was the biggest ever and was held over 3 days, they ran the divisions in reverse order, slowest Friday and fastest Sunday so we weren't actually running 'til Saturday. Gem and I arrived Friday evening with Paul and Alison already there and set up. We had decided that since there was just the 4 of us, rather than taking the caravans down we would share a big team tent and it actually worked really well. I took a spag bol I'd made the night before and we had tea shortly after arriving then headed over to the big Marquee for the Quiz and Disco, it was so lovely to have everyone together from all over the country, dancing, singing and having a ball! I think we made it to bed about 2am and were up at 7am to get the dogs out and sorted before racing started at 8.30am...we did have a division off before Gem had to go run Keston for the Rotherham team in Div 10 then we were in straight afterwards in Div 9 with the Pawz (Pip, Drake, Dottie, Ethan and Spud)...I thought we'd get thrashed in this division as we were in on a seed time of 20.00secs, achieved with Faith and Teal in the team at Chilterns and the divisions were all very tight in seed times (that's what happens when you have 133 teams competing!) but the dogs ran really well and we did some decent times finishing up 4th. The Barkshire Bandits very kindly did our ring party in the morning session of division 8 so we only had to do the afternoon (of what seemed like the longest 7 team division ever!). We just had a lovely relaxing day with plenty of time to sit by the rings between divisions, watch the racing and have a natter. The 8 week old pups that came with us had lots and lots of attention and fussing, great for them to experience all the sights and sounds of a flyball tournament and be handled so much, particularly by all the kids on the circuit, it's always nice to get your pups used to 'dog savy' kids before they head off out into the big wide world ;)

Here's some pics of us just chilling out, spending some time with Steve and B's kids while they were busy racing...

Megan reading to Gemma...



Ben trying to kill me!! lol (aren't little boys lovely????)




Pollaidh doing what Pollaidh does...waiting for someone to throw her ball...



The pups getting more cuddles...




just soaking up the sights and sounds




Kes keeping watch...



Saturday was a big party night, we had a lovely meal of beef and stir fried veg in black bean sauce with noodles (see...camping food can be good!) with a nice bottle of red and then off to the marquee for more partying...then...back to our tent for...flaming Sambuca's!! (medicinal purposes of course...excellent for a sore throat...ha ha)...finally made it to bed about 3.30am listening to the torrential rain that was falling outside (oh dear!!)...what was tomorrow going to have in store?

Flyball Training

Sunday we met up with the Dolphins down on the Wirral who very kindly accomodated us in their team training session (thanks guys!). It was a prefect opportunity for both teams to practice running as close to racing conditions as possible; i.e. two lanes, lights, 'judges' and a completely strange team of dogs to run against. We were absolutely blessed with the weather as Clatterbridge seemed to be a little haven of sunshine amongst the constant miserable drizzle we seem to be enduring at the moment. It was roasting and I was seriously regreting having worn a long sleeved top. We'd gone all togged up expecting cold, wind and rain! lol

We ran the teams in the same format as we had at Eastham just to make sure it wasn't a fluke and that it does actually work and we weren't dissapointed. We also swapped Lex and Mac back with each other to see what difference that made to each team and quite frankly...it made none! lol Still not sure which one will make the 4th dog in the Demonz at the champs yet, in some ways it's much harder to decide when they're running such similar times, you just end up splitting hairs. The Racers continued to run well with Teal 'well up for it' so that was good to see. The revelation of the session was probably when I decided to run Spud for a bit in the Pawz. Spud is semi-retired and although he makes the odd outing he quite often comes to tournaments and never runs a leg, as he had done at both Anglesey and Eastham. Well, it seems that my plan to run Spud over 9" with Teal to give him an easier time was not to his liking as we ran him over 13" in training with the Pawz and he ran brilliantly, sub 5.00secs every leg. Ok, not Div 1 material but certainly not shoddy, especially when you consider that he's coming up 8, has a congential spinal defect and arthritis in both his elbows and wrists! lol If he keeps this performance up I will definitely start running him more, it's always handy to have that fresh 5th dog in reserve, especially when it's a hot day and the dogs are tiring more quickly.

We spent quite a bit of time working with Bridget's young Bryning dog Tearlaidh (a Ghost-Molly son). This boy is fast and has bags and bags of potential but he is a hard headed beast and harnessing that speed and power is another thing all together! He's definitely improving in his focus but there's still a way to go yet before he's completely bombproof I think. An interesting thing we noticed is that when given a long run in where he builds up a real head of steam, he struggles to shorten his stride enough to make the 10ft hurdle gaps so over-jumps each hurdle. This leaves him landing the 2nd hurdle down to the box right in front of hurdle 3 forcing him to take hurdles 3 and 4 in a single jump! It's phenomonal to watch but how to correct this?? Who knows. For the time being it seems a shorter run in is the way to go. I've certainly never seen anything like it before though.

Anyway, that's our last session before the Champs so we'll just have to see how it all goes when we get there. Looking forward to it whatever happens!

Pupdate

A few new snaps of
Spark and Kes’s pups, now 6 half weeks old.

and a pic of Orlaith as she happens to be sat here with me and the camera is handy ;)



Now how cute is she?

Anglesey Flyball Pics

The Equipics photo albums of our teams at Anglesey...

Demonz in Div 2 on Saturday
Racers in Div 4 on Saturday
Pawz in Div 9 on Monday
Pawz in Div 7 on Wednesday (I think these are my favourite set of piccies)
Demonz in Div 1 on Thursday
Racers in Div 4 on Thursday

And some of Fi competing in the Flyagility….
on her way to the flyball lane…and on her way back round the agility section…complete with tennis ball!! lol

British Flyball Championships

The Championships are now only a week away and the running order is out. This is going to be a huge event with 22 divisions of flyball taking place in 2 rings over 3 days! We are fielding all 3 of our regular teams running in divisions One, Seven and Nine...can't wait!!

Anglesey-Wirral Tour

We packed up the van and caravan and ALL the dogs (yes...all of them, including Kes and her 5 week old pups) and headed off over to Anglesey on Thursday evening after work arriving just after 10.30pm...thank god for Paul and Alison who had gone over the previous day and helped us get set up! We were all sat down for a few bevvies by 11.30 when 'Mr Leek' arrived (didn't I say he was banned from the Demon camp after Rotherham??? lol) but we all had a good old natter and hit the hay around 2.30am (well it was a day off after all). Friday we just had a relaxing day...walking the dogs and playing with the pups and waiting (and waiting and waiting) for Trish to arrive. The older pups (Orlaith, Eabha and Viggo) were allowed to come on one proper walk each day with the big dogs and they absolutely loved it! Eabha is a real speed demon and thoroughly enjoyed being able to race the big dogs (no way they were going to lose her...she's like a greyhound!), Viggo we discovered, is a total water babe and we struggled to keep him out of the river...he's already a very strong and accomplished swimmer and little Orlaith-bear...well...she just enjoyed pottering about with me...she is SO like Quinn!!

Saturday was the first day of competition; we had decided to have a bit of a switch round of dogs for Anglesey and swapped Pip and Dottie with each other so started the week running...

Demonz - Dylan, Bailey, Lexie, Mist
Racers - Mac, Frost, Pip, Drake
Pawz - Faith, Teal, Dottie, Ethan, Spud

we had some difficulty settling on the best running order for the Racers and tried swapping Pip first for a while but ended up with Mac going back start dog. These teams ran ok together, Faith just seems to be getting faster and faster over the 9" jumps and is now consistently running 4.5-4.6, putting her in the Pawz also seems to have fired Teal up (they aren't the best of friends and have a real healthy rivalry with each other!). The Demonz won div 2 on Saturday as everyone had expected they would (doesn't always work out like that though!) but only ran a fastest time of 17.95, it does mean we've now had a 1st place with all 3 teams over our first 3 tournaments :) Drake was a little erratic so although we ran a decent time of 19.66 in Div 4 with the Racers, we weren't consistent and ended up 5th....our first time out of the rosettes! The Pawz ran ok in div 9 on Monday but it was quite hot and Dottie certainly wasn't on best form, she didn't adjust to running over the 9" jumps as well as I thought she might, this team finished up 4th with a rather dissapointing time of 21.11...oh well!

Sunday evening Gem and I did some agility training at Ruth Hobday's (next door) with Nat and Orienne. Bailey was his usual fab self but I was very pleased with Fi who was focused and motivated throughout. She definitely seems to work better in a smaller group with less going on (attention span of a gnat!). It was nice to see Nat and Kai working too and of course Orienne with the lovely cocker Murph (son of Drake and Teal).

Tuesday was a day off flyball but they ran a 'Flygility' competition. Basically a short course of agiltiy equipment that ended with a flyball lane, the dogs ahd to complete the course, then the flyball lane and return back over the course again. They only had to carry the ball out of the flyball lane but Gem and I competed with Bailey and Fi who both brought the ball all the way back over the agility equipment too! Equipics were on hand taking photos and while they got some nice shots of Fi I just couldn't get my head round her being in full stretch over an agility jump with a tennis ball in her mouth so didn't buy any! lol Needless to say, Bailey won the Open Flygility (again!!) and Fi ran really well and was placed 4th in the Novice.

Mid-week saw the Pawz running again on Weds (just one day off in between for this lot), we ran the same line up and finished 1st (yippee!!) with a fastest time of 20.55. It was much coooler this day which seemed to suit the dogs better. The Racers ran Thursday, again in div 4 and with the same line up and finished 5th with a fastest time of 20.09 (rrrrubbish!! lol). The Demonz were running in Div 1 against some of the fastest teams in the country but the wet weather seemed to level the playing field with some very unexpected race results which saw consistency win out and we finished up in a very respectable 3rd place with a fastest time of 17.88. I have to add that Lexie had started to come down with some sort of bug and was not very well, I really wasn't too sure about running her at all but she seemed ok, was just totally exhausted at the end of the day.

Friday we packed up camp and moved to Eastham on the Wirral. We were packing up on the 3rd day of rain on Anglesey, trying to get as much as possible done between torrential showers and light drizzle, so were pleased to be heading towards the sunshine and blue skies further East. We got set up and walked over the road to the excellent little chinese takeaway that Gem and I discovered last year 'Swallow House', ordered a banquet and ate far far too much food!! Poor Paul was suffering from a pulled back (overdone it trying to lift caravans out of the mud back on Anglesey!) so was a bit miserable all evening (bless!). I think we all needed to let off some steam after the stresses of the day so we drank lots of cider, vodka and wine! lol Stayed up late (or is that early?) with some of the Dolphins (Trish was rather...erm...merry!! lol) and had a good evening to end our week long holiday.

Saturday we were up bright and early, we just had the Demonz running but were also running dogs for Sam and Andy in the Rotherham Runaways. This team consisted entirely of Sam and Andy's dogs which of course included 3 of their 'Brynings' in the form of Ollie, Keston and Barney. We won the division with a fantastic time of 19.11, not bad for only their second outing together! Last div of the day was Div 1, Sam boxloaded for us as Paul was still suffering with his back and we had a slightly altered Demonz lineup as Lexie still wasn't on top form so we moved Mac in to cover her... Dylan, Bailey, Mist, Mac. It was a very warm day at the end of a very long week and this seemed to take it's toll as Dylan started dropping his ball before crossing the line giving us light after light. We tried various different things...swapping him last, hiding his tug-toy, changing the running order...we did also wonder whether it was Mac putting him off but nothing made any difference and we lost all our morning races. Very frustrating. By the afternoon it had cooled off and Dylan came out and ran fine, when we thought back to other times he's done this it's always been the end of a long day or when it's very hot so have concluded that all the other things had no relevance and we're just going to have to work on keeping him cool and rested between races in future...silly boy!! We ended up 5th (out of the rosettes again!! lol) but ran a decent fastest time of 17.68 which was encouraging. We enjoyed the evening sunshine and had a team BBQ then hit the showers and off to bed for an early night!

Sunday morning arrived and while they were calling for our paperwork we were still having a little team conference about trying something new (oops...sorry Bridget!). I quite fancied trying a little experiment but it was going to be just that...we had no idea whether it would work so it was a gamble the whole team needed to be happy to take...after the previous day's racing I think we were all quite carefree and decided to give it a go so we moved Faith and Teal up into the Racers, swapping them with Pip and Drake, on the basis that Fi was running so much faster over 9" jumps and hopefully Frost and Lex would too that we could afford to run the slower height dog and still run a faster team. It all hinged on how Teal would run (you never quite know what mood she'll be in!). I have also been thinking that Ethan runs better over higher jumps and Pip, Dottie and Drake don't seem to change whether running 9 or 13" so the Pawz should be better off too.

Well...the Racers went in first and what do you know....it worked!! Faith went start dog with Alison (a position they both seem to have made their own now) followed by Frost and then Lexie...the 3 of them running around the mid 4 seconds and Teal going in last running mid 5's and the team were achieving consistent sub 19.50 times and finished up 2nd! Teal was really fired up, she seems to relish running with her arch-rival Faith and the noisy duo of Frost and Lex. The Pawz also ran really well in Div 7, fast and consistent times...20.49 was their fastest and they won the division too! I think both teams have more to give but we'll have to give some thought about what we do with Mac and Lex...swap them back or leave them where they are?

I also really enjoyed judging Div 2 on the Sunday, some excellent close racing in this division and really nice to see the Ramsey lot over from the Isle of Man too. Not sure about the ring party though (the ones in pink that is!! lol).

All in all we had a brilliant 10 days, good weather (most of the time!), great venues, great racing and great company! Can't wait for the British Championships in 2 weeks time!

just a quickie...

Back from our hols, had a brilliant time, lots of results to update when I get round to it but I am terribly ashamed to say that I took a grand total of ZERO photos while away.