7 Sep 2007 - 0.01

 

Saturday

A bit of a squeeze with the parking, but we all got in and prepared for a days racing. I hadn't bought Jet and Tia to Blackpool today and had just come to run Emerys, to help out with passing and the board, (oh yeah and to write the race report!). Suddenly I went from having a leisurely day running one dog to running two; being a little busy I forgot to remember all the details for the report! Whoops! Well hopefully you'll agree that I remembered the most important details (0.01) apologies if I miss some things out. What I do remember is that some of our team took a trip to Blackpool Victoria rather than doing flyball....

Panic!
Panic set in when my Dad pete's face went a bright shade of red. "I'm fine", he exclaimed as he almost fainted. On closer inspection by our first aid commander Daniella she establishes her diagnosis. "I'm afraid Pete you were so focused on Believing to Achieve that you've gone and fallen in a hole." By which point his ankle was the size of a football.

Now I can tell that you are slightly concerned when reading this. I hear you. We're loosing focus. All this flapping about over the ankle and nobody's thought who's going to race Moses!

Well I'm glad you brought that up because I have to admit I was thinking the exact same thing (great minds do think alike). Well after running Emerys in the Surfers earlier this morning I had already studied the terrain of this flyball battlefield..........erm I mean............ lane. In a moment of madness I leant my car to the injured (as anyone would have done) and stepped up to race. After which I had my own little panic as Phil told me Moses was start dog!! Eeeek!!

Now having not raced Moses as Start before today, the first couple of starts were a bit off. As I recall a 0.06 then a 0.04. And then. Well that was it, I'd cracked it, by the third leg we were there, 0.01. I couldn't wait to see Dad's face. I was thrilled. It is unfortunate that my celebration was on the condition of someone else's misfortune however I think Dad would have wanted Moses to do well.

After having a rest at Blackpool Vic the travellers returned and were jubilant in Moses' success. Oh and Dad had some new crutches! (I thought to myself..........
.............. how interesting? how much rest does one sprained ankle need?........... how many competitions could Moses and I take on the world!.............) I was snapped out of my thoughts by the rest of the team calling me back into the ring to race.

The Rollercoasters did extremely well and finished 1st out of six teams. Their fastest time of the day was 21.78.

The Surfers and Piers were in the same division as each other. Not always easy with more dogs than handlers but this we are perfecting to a fine art. After running three multibreed teams at Mottram last month all in the same division, this was easy. Surfers and Piers finished 3rd and 4th in their division sometimes pushing the competition to five legs. Fastest times were Surfers : 24.23 and Piers : 25.06.

A fantastic days racing I think!

The icing on the cake was when the awards were presented. After going home to get changed for her Birthday meal Helen was whipped back to Penny Farm by her family to receive Dexter's 200 point Flyball Dog Award.

This was closely followed by Trudi's 1000 point Flyball Dog Intermediate Award.

Well Done to both of you.


Sunday
(Thank you to Sandra for this part as I wasn't there on Sunday)

This was going to be a bit of a hectic day for most of us. No Muriel so that left Sandra to pick up the balls. The racing was very exciting Coasters ran three races in the morning and won them all. When racing the Surfing Dolphins, Derek got a light, he tried to stop Bonny quickly and she did a superb acrobatic roll, got up and ran back up the lane still carrying her tuggy. Obviously sensible dog that she is she realised she could not carry both tuggy and ball so deposited it quite decoratively on the third jump and came back with her ball. Unfortunately, we did not win the leg but got 9 out of 10 for artistic merit! At one point, Carolyn who was on the line, told Kathryn to "back off a bit" but it didn't work out like that and nearly gave Carolyn heart failure, a clasp of hands on head and a collective intake of breath by the team, but Leo flew down and back with no light. PHEW what a super pass!

Rapidz needed a box loader with a high voice for Nina, the white Spanish whirling dervish! Up stepped Ken ? did they say high voice? However, he managed a superb falsetto call and Nina just loved it and ran really well. Don?t know whether Ken?s voice will recover in time for Sutton Fields though. Some of the team did ring party and others helped Rapidz in picking up balls and were on the line for them, so it was quite a busy time. Just around midday, Pete and Jo arrived, Pete on crutches and Jo raring to go. She went into the ring and helped Sandra to guard Bonny and pick up the balls, which was much needed and really appreciated.

Coasters did very well again in the afternoon winning all their races. On one leg the Doncaster team took rather a long time out to discuss tactics and judge Howard was not impressed but Jo explained to him that they were having a "POW WOW!" This set everyone laughing and lightened the mood quite beautifully.

Coasters came in a superb first place with a fastest time of 19.68. They are doing 19's for fun now just like a well oiled machine and a joy to watch, our Jess Quincy Bonny and Leo