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Country
casual
When
Ian and Rosemary Stowers were invited to organise a series of dog agility competitions at the
Living Heritage Country Shows during 2004, they looked upon this as a good opportunity to bring
'everyday agility' to the general public. It was also a great opportunity to give the regular
Open show competitor a chance to chill out a for a change and enjoy a Country Show combined
with their favourite hobby and a whole lot with less stress.
Eastern Counties Country Show (Weather) Report
Ipswich 11-12th March 2006
It was a bit of a roller coaster few days.
We 'mislaid' the cups to the hurdles, the rosettes couldn’t be delivered to our home address
before we departed for the show on Tuesday and when Sylvia Marcham and I (Rosemary) went to get
some petrol from Tesco’s garage the van keys were locked inside the side door of the van. We
didn't have a duplicate set of keys. They were with Ian at Crufts!
All was well by Friday evening when the cups
turned up, the rosettes were delivered and I then had a sense of relative calm. I knew then
that everything was going to be okay.
We had a mixture of weather ranging from:
rain, wind, sunshine, blizzards - three on Saturday during the Knock-Out - and snow. We also
had three nights of frost resulting in the gas cookers and gas cylinders freezing up in the
marquee and at competitor’s caravans. It could have been more but I lost count! We then had a
thaw and I was singing 'Rain drops keep falling on my head' as the ice thawed from inside the
marquee. It did get a bit warmer on the Sunday.
I have to say that it was good fun in spite
of the weather.
I would also like to thank all those
competitors who volunteered their help at the show – we really do appreciate all your help.
Personally I am disappointed at the people who came to the show - and who also go to other
shows - who didn’t offer their help. It should not be left to the minority of very kind people
who put in the work at shows just to keep the shows running for those who don’t offer their
help! Without help from everyone at Agility shows they just would not happen.
Orchard
Events Easter Class Clarification
Rosemary and Ian Stowers are getting calls
from people, many of whom are new this year to competitions, who are not sure what classes they
are eligible to enter at the Orchard Events Easter Show.
'As you can see from the schedule below,'
explained Rosemary and Ian, 'we are trying to encourage new agility people into the sport by
giving them the most classes to enter. We wish everyone good luck in their competitions.'
To clear up an earlier error and to clarify
other classes on the schedule, here is what you can enter at the show
SIze |
Level |
No.
Classes
per Day |
Day |
Class
Numbers |
LARGE |
Elementary handlers and
dogs |
7 |
Sunday |
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 17 |
|
|
|
Monday |
20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25,
36 |
|
Starter handlers and dogs |
5 |
Sunday |
3, 4, 5, 6, 17 |
|
|
|
Monday |
22, 23, 24, 25, 36 |
|
Novice handlers with new
dogs |
4 |
Sunday |
4, 5, 6, 17 |
|
|
|
Monday |
22, 24, 25, 36 |
|
Novice handlers with the dog that won
them out of Starters |
3 |
Sunday |
5, 6, 17 |
|
|
|
Monday |
24, 25, 36 |
SMALL |
Starter handlers and
dogs |
5 |
Sunday |
9, 11, 13, 15, 19 |
|
|
|
Monday |
28, 30, 32, 34, 38 |
|
Novice dogs |
4 |
Sunday |
11, 13, 15, 19 |
|
|
|
Monday |
30, 32, 34, 38 |
MEDIUM |
Starter handlers and
dogs |
5 |
Sunday |
10, 12, 14, 16, 18 |
|
|
|
Monday |
29, 31, 33, 35, 37 |
|
Novice dogs |
4 |
Sunday |
12, 14, 16, 18 |
|
|
|
Monday |
31, 33, 35, 37 |
Special Classes are for dogs which
have not entered any other agility classes at the show. The class may contain weave poles.
Flyball and Cleverdogs competitions
are also at the same venue.
Please call Ian or Rosemary Stowers on
mobile: 07802 359815 for any other queries.
Finalists with Judge Lee Broadhurst
The Arden
Grange Elementary/Starter Final
The Arden Grange Complete Dog Food
Elementary/Starter Final took place on the 24 September 2005 at the Paws in the Park Show,
Dorset.
The agility course was set, suitable
for a national final competition and was very ably judged by Lee Broadhurst with Debbie
scribing for him.
The competitors were the ones who had
been placed throughout the year at the various venues where Orchard Events Agility shows took
place and were the best of the 2,837 who entered those particular qualifying classes.
The weather was very kind to us and
ideal for Agility, dry, sunny and not too hot for the dogs. The standard of handlers and dogs
was excellent and those who were good enough to be placed had to work extremely well to achieve
that goal.
The presentations were attended by
Arden Grange show Manager Chris Mellor along with the judge Lee Broadhurst who awarded the
engraved glass trophies and 15kg sacks of Arden Grange food.
The final placings were:-
Place |
Handler |
Dog |
1 |
Ann Dormer |
Moulson |
2 |
Sheila Pepper |
Schui |
3 |
Sue Gosham |
Bud |
Congratulations to all those who
qualified for the final and especially well done to the three in the picture.
Finalists with Judges Lee & Debbie Broadhurst
The Our
Dogs Newspaper Knockout Final
The Our Dogs Newspaper Knockout
final also took place on the 24th September 2005 in the Main Arena at the Paws in
the Park Show.
The Knockout course set by the Judges
Lee and Debbie Broadhurst was a traditional circular knockout course starting and finishing in
the centre with two pipe tunnels and two half sets of weaves at each end of the oval the only
addition to the 12 sets of hurdles.
The competitors were the ones who had
been place throughout the year at the various venues where Orchard Events Agility shows took
place and were the best of the 480 who entered those particular qualifying classes.
Circular Knockouts are not for the
faint hearted and having a dog that will go on over hurdles and weave regardless of handlers
heavy breathing is a definite advantage. The Knockout was very exciting to watch and very much
enjoyed by all those watching around the Main Arena.
Our Dogs representative Mrs
Penney along with the judges Lee and Debbie Broadhurst presented the trophies.
The final placings were:-
Place |
Handler |
Dog |
1 |
Chris Lye |
Shep |
2 |
Sheila Pepper
|
Schui |
3 |
Sarah Crouch |
Tally |
4 |
Mary Hatch |
Buzby |
Congratulations to all those who
qualified for the final and especially well done to the four in the picture.
Organisers Ian and
Rosemary Stowers said, 'The
Orchard Events Agility Shows have been very well attended during 2005 and we do have to limit
the numbers to keep the entries to a level where we only run two rings at the same time due to
allocated space but are relaxing that rule for the Easter Show at Old Warden Park this year.'
Thank you
Our grateful thanks to all those who have contributed to the shows during 2005, we
cannot take the shows to all the different counties promoting Dog Agility to the general public
without your help and we trust that when you wear your ‘T’ shirts you think back to some very
enjoyable weekends.
Also without the judges the classes
can’t take place so our grateful thanks to them also. We need to find many judges all over the
country to judge at our shows and it is nice if starter people see a face local to them, so, if
you can be one of our judges please give us a call.
Sandringham
Camping Apologies
We
would like to thank all our judges, camping stewards and helpers at our Orchard Events Agility
show which was held at the Sandringham Country Show last weekend. Without all their voluntary
help we could not run these shows, which are organised for everyone so that they can enjoy a
more relaxed agility show without the pressure of an 'open' show environment.
Friday proved to be quite a challenge when the heavens opened up when we had thunder and
lightening, just as competitors started to arrive at the camping area. We thank everyone for
their patience and understanding in this respect.
Due to lack of understanding of our camping area needs on the part of the organisers of the
Country Show, we were unable to site all our Agility people in the agility camping area, for
which we apologise, but this was out of our control!
On a more unpleasant note, to the person who gained 'free' access to the agility camping
area on a friend’s camping pass and who was quite blatantly bragging about it in the queues -
yes, they were overheard by two individual Club members in two different queues - it has been
noted who that person is! We hope they feel ashamed of what they did and we hope they now have
a conscience, because they deprived someone else of a camping slot, who actually paid for
their camping pitch and who subsequently had to camp in the overflow camping area. They
will be watched in the future. Anyone who feels that they have gained free camping on the back
of a friend’s camping pass should not feel proud of themselves. We will now be asking the
Country Show organisers to ensure that this sort of thing will not happen again.
It’s nice to know that 99% of the people who attend our shows are good, honest people who
wouldn’t even dream about trying to get one over on the organisers.
Once again, thanks to everyone, especially the lovely competitors who all mucked in each day.
We hope they liked their freebie tee shirts, which we gave to all our helpers.
More Agility
at Country Shows in 2005
It
is fair to say that the shows were very nice to organise. We made many new friends and renewed
old acquaintances that we had not seen for a year or two. It is one thing to organise a show at
club level where everybody is on hand to do their bit, but we were always ‘playing away’ and
relied totally on the people local to the show to chip in and help us do it. They certainly did
us proud on every occasion, and hopefully it made their time with us all the more enjoyable.
From north to
south
We took the shows from Yorkshire to Dorset and popped into Kent to complete the
triangle plus a few others in between; 7 shows in all. We were really impressed with the
welcome that we got from each new area and venue. The most common comment during the show was
how much people enjoyed an agility show like the ones they used to go to!
Many of our judges were local to the
area, which we believe helps agility newcomers when they first start to compete.
Better in 2005
This year we have the same venues plus an extra event at the Canford Arena, Dorset.
The Agility class format seemed
to work well last year, so remains the same this year, i.e. no running orders needed hence late
closing date. Classes will run starting from Elementary, running through Starters and finally
Novice. The Mini/Midi classes will fit into that format. For example in Ring 1 the order of
classes will run: Elementary Agility (24″
hurdles
), Starters Agility (24″
hurdles), Xtra Special Agility (Midi equipment) Mini/Midi
Starters Agility (starting with Midi dogs) Mini/Midi Open Agility (starting with Mini dogs) and
finally Novice Agility (30″).
We have made the shows limited this year, just as a controlling factor so that we don’t get too
many for the shows to become too big. Two rings is the maximum for us.
We will be keeping the same classes for
all the venues, so even if the schedule isn’t available, you can still make your plans knowing
what the classes will be.
We are looking for people who would
like to judge for us this year. The shows are run as any Open show, but with some flexibility,
so we believe it is a good starting place for those who are thinking of taking on Judging, but
find the Open shows a bit too daunting. We would also like experienced judges who feel that
they can support many newcomers to the sport. So, if you would like to judge for us, we will
make you most welcome and do our best to make your day a very enjoyable one.
So that’s what the Orchard Events
Agility at Country Shows is all about. We do our best to promote the sport we love to the
general public and give competitors the chance to add a little extra to the weekend.
Thank you
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the judges for their very fine work
in helping us. We would also like to thank the many people who helped run the rings - we
obviously can’t run the shows on our own. There are only two of us, so we totally rely on
people to join in to keep things moving for everybody. We do have some stalwart friends who in
spite of being forced to consume gallons of booze, stay up late and endure endless BBQs, still
stick with us at all the shows and do many of the vital things that need to be done.
We are very fortunate to have our 2004
sponsor Premier Rosettes, who supply us with beautiful rosettes, as many of you will vouch for
if you were fortunate enough to win one. Our thanks to Lionel Thatcher, MD of Premier
Rosettes.
RVA Agility Equipment is a new sponsor
this year who has very generously sponsored two sets of equipment for all the shows, bar one,
for 2005, which means that we can run two rings at each show and we will not have to pester
those other Clubs this year to help us, but we are very grateful for your co-operation last
year. We are very grateful to Ray and Val Amps and RVA for their support.
We would like to thank everybody who
came to us last year and helped and that if you came and just competed, that you also enjoyed
the whole show and look forward to seeing many of you again during 2005.
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