The Kennel Club Olympia Large Agility Stakes

Venue: The Royal Show, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
Date: Saturday, 1-4 July 2007
Judge: Dave Deauville

Olympia is certainly the place everyone in the agility world wants to be at Christmas and that makes these Semi finals an extremely important event with a very tense atmosphere amongst the competitors especially as you can have the best Grade 7 handlers in the UK competing there. One little mistake and your chances of going to Olympia go up in a puff of smoke unless, of course, you have qualified for one of the other six semi finals! 

From an organising point of view, it was a very tense time as well as the weather had been horrendous prior to the show but on the first day of the show, the Sunday, the weather wasn't bad in the morning but rained during the afternoon semi. The forecast for the following three days, however, was dire. Unfortunately, they didn't get it wrong because that is what it was rain, rain and more rain!  We were lucky that the arena we were in held up quite well. I was very pleased to note that whatever the weather, there were no slips and slides and no one could say that the weather ruined their chances of getting to Olympia.

If the weather that wasn't bad enough, on the third night of this four day event the Royal Show announced that the fourth (and last) day of the show would be cancelled. Some of the areas of the showground had turned into a complete quagmire. Fortunately, the horse events were in the same position as us. Their events were qualifiers for the Horse of the Year Show etc so with a bit of swift negotiation with the management of the show, we were allowed to let all our competitors into the showground for the day even though general public had been excluded. We found a pristine paddock next to where our caravans were parked and ran our last Royal Semi-final in sunshine! As they say, all is well that ends well.  

Thank you
I'd like to thank my magnificent bunch of helpers. Roger and Pauline Churchill, Pauline and Colin Barr, Rob Hunter, Liz and Daniel from Premier and of course our judge Dave Deaville. Not only did he do some lovely courses that would suit a variety of standards but he is a really nice guy to work with and I discovered that I was the only person in agility that didn't know he was a master cheese maker! Cheese and biscuits after the meals were just fantastic and I bought a bag of the strongest mature cheddar I have ever tasted home with me.

Judge's Report from Dave Deaville

It was an honour and privilege to be invited to judge at this years Royal Show. I set off to Stoneleigh with high hopes of good competition, good company and good weather. Ah well, two out of three ain't bad!

Sunday
The warm up run included a four jump combination reminiscent of past Barbour Clockwatchers competitions for some of our more experienced handlers. It was won by Ann-Marie Froggatt with Scud with a fast and controlled round.

The afternoon Semi was interrupted after only two runs by a very heavy shower, which was especially unfortunate for Lesley Hildrew who was on the line when it started. Her clear after the resumption was one of ten on the course but today not quick enough for her. Greg Derrett ran early and set a testing time for the others to follow only to be knocked down soon after by Lee Windeatt's superb run by three hundredths. Pat Brown followed immediately with a clear that tied with Greg's. Hannah Banks, Karen Laker, Gemma Hanekom and Ian Dobison posted clears that were just off the leading times. Dave Alderson's run did challenge and resulted in 2nd place. With two dogs left and the rain falling, Natasha Wise posted a lovely clear only for both electronic and manual timing to fail. She showed nerves of steel to run for time clear again and pick up the coveted 5th place. The first four were separated by .03 of a second – it was that close in the end.

Monday
Combinations again in the morning run which was won hands down by Mark Douglas and Cories Ruby Tuesday. Sadly he could not repeat this in the afternoon. The Semi final was a more challenging course and five eliminations in the first six dogs showed it was going to a nail biter. In fact, five faults from Dawn Weaver was leading until the twelfth dog when Chris Cole stepped up to produce a clear of real quality and control that won the event. As with buses, the second clear followed immediately from an ecstatic Alan Wildman. Further clears by Leah Gardner (2^nd) and Jackie Gardner (4^th), the only handler having qualified two dogs for the same semi at these four heats, left Hege Hurdwell to run last knowing a clear would put her through. The drama continued as she collected five faults but still pipped poor Dawn by a second for the fifth place to earn her ticket to Olympia.

Tuesday
As Monday drew to a close, it brought yet more heavy rain. The ring was now starting to resemble a paddy field. Course plans were revised to reflect the conditions and the morning run was a blast with John Ward coming home the first of the eleven clears with Waggerland Lxsie. The morning jinx did not affect John who was also one of twelve clears in the semi-final. The top three semi places all ran together with Dawn Weaver making up for Mondays disappointment to pip Toni Dawkins and Rob Davies to win. There was heartbreak for Paul Oldfield running second who was clear with only two to go only to pull his dog back over the start jump for an elimination. There were some great attempts to beat Dawn's time with Brad Moyler going closest. With eight dogs to go John Ward was in fifth place and try as they might those last dogs could not dislodge him.

Wednesday
So the drama continued with the unprecedented cancellation of the last day of the Royal show. Dave Ray managed to arrange for the heat to go ahead and frantic phone calls were made to the twenty competitors to inform them of the new arrangements. We moved the ring out of the mud bath to an unspoilt area nearby and this gave the opportunity to put up Olympia sized courses. The invitation run was a big open course.

Alyson Martin ran first for a lovely clear and held on to win with ten other clears following her. She also followed John Wards example of a clear in the semi. David Munnings set the early pace in the semi with the first clear only to have a second taken off his time by Lauren Langman. Seventh to run was Laura Derrett who had a superb fluent run to take the lead. Simon Peachey was clear but just off the pace today. Ian Jackson put in a typical hard running round to go third only to see Alyson and Stuart Harmes shave fractions off his time. Thankfully for Ian, he held on to fifth place to complete the twenty finalists.

Despite the vagaries of the British weather the four days were an exciting experience which have left some wonderful memories. Many thanks again to Dave Ray and the team for inviting me to be part of such a special event. Congratulations to the twenty finalists and good luck to you all at Olympia.

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