Official results online

Friday 23rd
Saturday 24th
Sunday 25th

SUNDAY 25th

MINI INDIVIDUAL AGILITY
A fairly flowing british style agility course except for a tunnel under the number 6 dog walk with a choice of tunnel entrance at the end of the dog walk. The weave entry required a push, pull or turn off the dog walk but was nothing we might not see back home often enough. Josep Boix the judge has shown a liking for a long run home with a turn at the end and repeated the formula again here. He has also shown no mercy on the seesaw and here faulted a number of dogs who would be given the benefit of the doubt by most UK judges. This was an important factor as competitors were looking for the last ounce of speed to beat the tight 40 second course time. At least he got 15 of the 66 runners clear within the time whereas in Friday´s jumping course there were only 4.

The name of the game for those looking to move up the placings was to go clear in or very near the course time and hope that those already ahead on you on time faults then failed to do so. Ronnie McAleese running 20th after all the dogs eliminated in round 1 worked his turns well, but from the comfort of the press box it looked like Rory was never quite given his head as would be needed to move up the placings. A turn before the weaves led to a missed entry and they then couldn´t make up the time lost in correcting it. A nice run for home though and 5 faults in 47.76.

By the time that Dave Alderson, in 13th place with Libby, stepped up to the mark we had had one of the star runs from Sissy the white Italian poodle in 35.68 but with a missed dog walk. Libby has been competitive with her on speed in this event so we wondered if something special was in store. Unfortunately it was not to be this year as Libby in common with several other dogs found the tunnel much more attractive than the dog walk. They´ve looked good out here though, so lets hope they make it to Switzerland next year.

This year Switzerland had two in the top 5 coming in to this round and were boosted by the success of their small dog team yesterday. Connie Schmid with her sheltie had only a fraction of a time fault coming in to this and added another fraction coming home clear in 40.49 to take the lead. Up stepped Martin Eberle with another little white poodle. This one went like the proverbial off the shovel storming home with the round of the class, clear in 35.71 running all contacts except the seesaw where she shot to the end and waited for it to drop. The German and Dutch runners to follow couldn´t cope with that pace, both picking up time faults to end up outside the top 3. Angelina Katutis of Russia running last with her little Sheltie had run a stunning jumping round and had a 2.22 second advantage over Martin. She needed to go clear in better than 37.93 to win. With much slower contacts it seemed at half way that she might not make it. However a good weave and final run for home just brought her in with a time of 37.63. A great finale.

1st Angelina Katutis and Barbary´s Sky Paynery (Rus)
2nd Martin Eberle and Pebbles (Swi)
3rd Connie Schmid and Dream Girl (Swi)
4th Natasja Kelders Ebben and Djoura (Hol) (1994 champion)

MIDI INDIVIDUAL AGILITY
A really good flowing but challenging course with another tight but achievable course time of 41 seconds. 7 dogs ended up clear in the time. The start was a real blast round two sides of the arena, finishing with a sharp reverse to approach the weaves from the wrong direction asking the dog to wrap itself round the first pole. Hardly anyone had a problem with this though it would have drawn grumbles from competitors back home. The trick was having a dog that would find the entrance for itself rather than wasting precious time handling the dog in. The same tunnel under dog walk combination as for the small dogs but this time not until number 14.

Mami Horaguchi of Japan was holding the lead when Hannah Mitchell stepped up. She knew that if she could get Gem round clear and tight her natural speed would be inside the time and they would put pressure on those following. Hannah ran like you´ve never seen her run before round the outside to nail the turn into the weaves which Gem picked up like a star. A fast but controlled A frame drew applause and Hannah kept her tight round the next handling section. Then disaster, the same tunnel trap that got Dave Alderson and Libby drew Gem in like a magnet and the game was up bar Hannah´s acknowledgement to the Brit supporters who had cheered her on.

What might have been looked like the story when dog after dog picked up faults or lost time, leaving Mami still in the lead with 9 to run. Then Silvia Trkman of Slovenia got close to the course time with her second pyrenean sheepdog, "Lo" to take the lead, followed after a couple more runs by Ivo Tielens of Belgium with his sheltie Yipke. Disappointingly Ivo has slimmed down this year and is no longer a double for Hercule Poirot.

Two dogs later another Belgian sheltie runner Gert Danckaers with Ytosca nipped ahead of Ivo and 5 faults each from Sweden and Czech left them certain of two spots on the podium.

There was no doubt at all about the winner though. Holding a 1 second advantage from the jumping Silvia Trkman with "La" (Simply the Best) simply blistered round with full speed running contacts that even the blind could see were nailed on. Clear in 35.91, 1.4 seconds faster than anyone else and 3.3 seconds faster than Gert to win by over 4 seconds overall. Truly a class apart and a privelege to watch. Could any of our midi / medium dogs not at these championships live with her? On jumping yes, the very fastest few are on a par and might well do it on a technical course, but on agility no way at all. A fully deserved world champion who sets the standard we should aspire to in the new medium dog championship classes next year.

STANDARD INDIVIDUAL FINAL
Judge Bernd Hueppe set a technically demanding course with obstacle discrimination tests aplenty but with a course time of 45 seconds that would be recognisably fair in a UK Senior / Advanced competition. Features were a long 3 jump lead out to an obvious seesaw and a less obvious dog walk which was obstacle 4. This was followed by a tight turn into a handling section that ended in the dog walk and a jump being a trap either side of the intended seesaw. The hardest section then followed, a nasty turn into weaves that you needed to get the other side of, but with the spread as a trap straight on, then a wrong end of tunnel choice after a wall, a turn off the spread to the A frame and another tight turn to the less obvious of two jumps and a long jump into nowhere flanked by tunnel and jump traps. Turning tightly off the long jump brought you into the jump, tyre, tunnel, jump series of turns where much time could be won and lost.

Past world champions had a hard time. Olivier Adyns, Mikko Aaltonen eliminated and Jenny Damm and Christelle Bouillot with 15 and 10 faults. The French hard running style was generally unsuccessful this year at dealing with the tight turns and traps, whereas last year they had looked good.

Nicola was first of the GB 6 to run with Cody who was eliminated in the jumping. A nice controlled clear in 39.44 (anything under 40 was good) kept her on the leader board for a while. Greg Derrett pulled off the run we all knew he had in him, a superb clear in 34.29 seconds, fastest of the day. Unfortunatelywith faults rom the jumping he was already out of the reckoning. Ann Marie Froggatt was going very nicely with Scud but tried too tight a turn onto the seesaw to avoid the pull of the dog walk and was eliminated over the jump instead. Plenty others went there as well!

Coming to our top 3 who were clear from the jumping, Asa Emanuelsson of Sweden was leading with 36.48 and a combined time of 69.86. Toni Dawkins has not been having much fun with the dogwalk / seesaw discriminations in training and unfortunately Kite ran past the dog walk then touched the seesaw for an E. Even the other supporters groaned as Toni and Kite are much admired for their style, especially the independent contacts (which she showed off as she completed the course).

Michaela Brandsetter of Austria took the lead with a combined time of 68.03 which Nicola and Spec (who started on the same time) couldn´t quite match. Nic´s run of 36.39 (68.26 combined) was trademark smooth and assured,.
Perhaps she lost a little time on the dog walk and after the long jump but that really is quibbling. Two competitive clean runs with Spc and one with her baby showed that normal service is fully in place from the Garrett world championship machine.

Jordi Grau and Linda Mecklenburg failed, leaving three to run. Your reporter lost all sense of impartiality (well all sense actually) as David Munnings took Billy round for his fourth faultless round of these championships in 35.43 to grab the lead with a combined time of 67.13. Any congratulations this pair get are more than deserved, they worked their socks off and made a difficult course look straightforward. The Spanish and Belgians around the press box were full of praise, which I was happy to accept on David´s behalf!

Two Germans to run. Florian Cerny looked nervous and not always in complete control, but his dog Lass was blisteringly quick and got round clear in 35.15 to just pip David with an overall time of 66.82. Sylvia Vaanholt has looked a class act all championships with Gill and she did the business in a more assured manner, never looking like faulting in 34.79 to get a combined time of 66.42 and first place.

So, 3rd for David and 5th for Nicola overall and 1st, 6th and 9th for Greg, David and Nicola in the Agility. Not a bad final competition and very well deserved rewards for the GB team who have performed well without quite getting the rewards it sometimes looked they might.

Some people may ask why we aren´t more successful. One simple fact is that the standard of handling is getting better in every country, our dogs are not intrinsically better than other country´s dogs and on course styles that we are not used to day in and day out we aren´t necessarily going to win. Those that did well really had to work hard and those that come next year will have to work harder.

So congratulations to David and Billy once again, what a year for them with their first Championship ticket and a podium finish in their first World Championships. The rest of us can only dream!

Having just dipped out from a triumphal run round the ring with flags waving (never mind that it was 2 - 1 to the Germans this time) it is time to rejoin the celebrations, bye!