Thank you so much to our lovely hosts who also kindly did the presentations. A great day was had with some challenging exercises in the walk-up as the scent was not very good in the beet. We had a good card of 26 dogs.
Thankyou to our two judges Roy Tomlinson and Peter Abbs. Also grateful thanks to our sponsors Skinner's dog food and Sporting Saint fo the goody bags to the award winners.
RESULTS:
1st Place for the Cresthaven Cup without dropping a single mark which is outstanding was
Overthwarts Bilton -LRD Keith Foster
2nd for the Pathfinder Cup was Garrethall Topaz -LRB Liz Ingram
3rd for the Crosspath Cup was Southgreen Vincent -LRD Christine Thurlbourn
4th Place Birdsgreen Moses of Rowansbourne -LRD Alan Ward
3 Certificates of Merit were also awarded
Hanwoodgold Breeze -GRB Lesley Crompton
Websend Olifants River -LRB Tom Lowe
Lannakers Quest of Tofts -LRD Glynis Hillier
Royanne Cup for the Best Essex Entry went to the winner Overthwarts Bilton
and the Oysterbed Cup for Judge's Choice went to Southgreen Vincent
We returned to Garnons Farm by kind invitation of the Dobell family who always make us very welcome.
The beet was quite wet as there had been a lot of heavy rain during the night, but despite the odd bit of drizzle and cloudy sky we mainly kept dry, and it was very humid. The scenting conditions were not great for the dogs, so marking and handling skills were needed.
Test one was a four dog walk-up with alternative marks for all the dogs the first mark being in front of you and then after all dogs had done this the second was a mark in front crossing the line.
Test two was again a four dog walk up which consisted of a mark across the line with a memory in front on your own side, these were again alternated and it sounds far too complicated when written!
After lunch the final test was a single blind retrieve across the line, with a single shot from a blank shotgun cartridge, this certainly fired the dogs up! The blinds had already been placed out at equal distance so it was fair for all the competitors, the steadier dogs achieved this better than the faster dogs who ran too deep and then had to be handled back to the area.
Our worthy winner was Keith Foster who did not drop a single point all day, a fantastic achievement.
The day finished with a raffle, plenty of banter and the customary tea and scrumptious cakes! Followed by the awards, which were presented by the hosts.
