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!)
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