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The winning Northern Area Team
Click on image to enlarge
Image by kind permission of Peter Aubrey
The following link takes you to Peter Aubrey's web site which contains lots of pictures he took on the day.
http://www.blackbeckimages.co.uk/
| Held at Winster, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria | Sunday 19 June 2011 | |
| 1st | Northern | 293 |
| 2nd | Hants and South West | 268 |
| 3rd | Midland | 252 |
| 4th | Border Counties and Cotswold | 245 |
| Top Individual | Mrs J Dimmock with Jagdens Griffin at Lyanmoreshot | 109 |
| Runner Up | Mr D Hope with Calderhay Allie | 107 |
| Best Newcomer | Mr I Ford with Tayfordwoods Special Envoy | 101 |
| Best Individual in Host Area Team | Mr D Hope with Calderhay Allie | 107 |
The 2011 Inter-Area Finals was hosted by the Northern Area at Winster, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria by kind permission of Mr Brian Scowcroft. Teams of 3 dogs and handlers from each of the nine "Areas" of United Retriever Club competed. The judges were Heather Bradley, Jayne Coley and Nicola Rudgard. The weather forecast promised rain, not infrequent in the Lake Distirict and everyone was prepared for the worst; however the heavy rain of early morning gave way to light drizzle and by lunchtime the rain had stopped.
There were six challenging tests set out on magnificent rolling moorland ground, with two tests making use of typical lakeland stone walls, something some of the southern teams had not experienced before. The day was superbly organised with teams commenting on the friendly atmosphere and there were even requests to hold the Area Finals every year on this ground, as it offered so much.
In all the tests, the three team members sat up together and each was presented with a retrieve, sometimes a blind, sometimes a mark and in four tests, memory marks. The judges told them which dog had to make each retrieve, but if a team member was struggling the other handlers could give verbal assistance, particularly useful where marking was a problem.
Although there were failures on the two tests which made use of the stone walls, surprisingly most failures were notched up on the walk up where all the retrieves were marks, albeit long ones over difficult ground. Another test, which involved long testing marked retrieves, produced the second largest number of failures. Although some handlers were practically having heart attacks at the water test, there were very few failures, despite the dummies drifting in among weeds and lily pads and becoming very difficult to for competitors to mark.
With six retrieves for each dog, by mid-afternoon the test was completed without needing any run offs between teams or for the individual places. Everyone then repaired to a nearby hotel for a meal and the presentation of the awards by Iris Wright, the Chairman of the United Retriever Club. The day was sponsored by Dodson and Horrel, Kentdale Landrover Kendal and Quest Gundog Training Equipment.
The host for the Area Finals 2012 will be the Southern Area.