Our reporters at the world championships send in there news and reviews as they happen

Official results online

Friday 23rd
Saturday 24th
Sunday 25th

FRIDAY 23rd

MINI IND JUMPING Course time 32 secs., too tight for the majority of handlers, only 4 clears. For GB Dave Alderson , running 43 out of 66, picked up 1.77 time faults putting him into a very respectable 13th place with his poodle, Libby.(33.77) Ronnie McAleese with a big (and vocal) fan club handled nicely but fell foul of the frame tyre ( as many had done in the training session) and had a run by at 18. Time 42.09.
Angelina Katutis (Russia) did outstanding round with a time of 29.68 with her Sheltie, one of only 4 clears. Last years Champion from Holland lies second in a time of 31.65.
Surface proving problematic with slipping on tight turns, but nothing new there! Poorer than last year is the general concensus. Judging very strict on handler touching dog.

Midi- Hannah Mitchell to run 26th.

MIDI IND JUMPING Hannah Mitchell our only entrant with her poodle ran 26th and put in a good looking round coming in 17th in 33.84. A couple of wide turns cost her a much better place as Gem was working impressively on the carpet. Some problems with the electronic timing for some competitors, so just like being at home!

Leader is the 2003 champion Silvia Trkman with La (Pyrennean Sheepdog "Simply the Best") in 29.94, with Radovan Liska and his Sheltie from Czech Republic 2nd and Martina Ericsson from Sweden with her Pumi 3rd. Again only a handful inside the 32 second course time. Hannah is about 3 seconds off a podium finish with most of the people above her also being on 33 and a bit seconds so all to play for in the Agility.

2004 champion Johan Renders from Belgium had to withdraw when his terrier pulled up lame in the weaves.

Large dog course going up now and looks like an evil weave entry!

LARGE DOG IND JUMPING Great results for GB overall on a course marked by a 3 jump lead out into a right angle weave entry and some tight turns that caused a lot of slipping on the carpet. Ann Marie Froggatt picked up 5 for a dropped pole but finished in a creditable 34.19 seconds. Nicola Garrett´s Cody showed his inexperience getting eliminated by missing out the frame tyre. Perhaps the first time he´s seen one was training yesterday. Nic made up for it with a faultless round with Spec in 31.87, leaving her in 6th place at the end. David Munnings absolutely nailed his weave entry and all the turns to clock 31.70 and 3rd place. Greg had the weave entry under control but just pushed GT round to the wrong side, a shame as she was looking superb in training and handled the surface well. Then Toni Dawkins had a lovely round with Kite, 9th in 32.28, brilliant on the surface and excellent weave entry and turns but just not quite the speed down the long finish straight of some.

Course time at 35 seconds was well judged, though the teams were initially told that it would be 30 seconds which would have meant no clears at all!

This competition is really well set up for the final agility round. Sylvia Vaanholt of Germany is leading in 31.63, then Florian Cerny, also of Germany in 31.67. Then David then Linda Mecklenburg of the US in 31.74. With Nic only two tenths off the lead and Toni only another 4 tenths behind we´re looking forward to an exciting finish on Sunday.

The handlers come out at one end of the arena, directly facing the colourful and noisy GB supporters at the other end. Nervous though the handlers are they do take the time to breathe in the atmosphere and acknowledge the support. More like a football match than Agility at times. Small and Medium dog team agility still to come today. Not sure the supporters´voices will stand it!

Should add that last year´s champion Christelle Bouillot with Phidjy is in touch in 12th with 32.43 with past champion Jenny Damm and Lotus in 13th with 32.69. 2003 champion Mikko Aaltonen and Aqua missed the weave entry but then put in a stunning run as if on grass to clock 33.56. Big cheer from the Spanish for Jordi Grau (never been near Newcastle aparrently) who is in 5th, just 2 hundredths ahead of Nic.

MINI TEAM AGILITY A fair course but with some difficult obstacle discrimination, in particular a tunnel trap after the dog walk, a tyre or weave choice and a "wrong end" tunnel choice following a sharp turn off the weaves. Belgium ran first and set the pace with 3 clears all well within the 42 second course time. Nobody else could match this until Spain running 14th who were just a little slower but with a very enthusiastically received triple clear. GB ran 16th and Ronnie McAleese and Rory held it together with a couple of wide turns to clock 42.1, only a tenth of a fault, and much excitement from their fan club. Dawn Weaver and Dreamer were a little tentative to start with but got better as they went on for an excellent clear in 39.06. Dave Alderson set Libby off and they were looking great with a fast dog walk when disaster struck and Libby chose the tunnel trap rather than the long jump. Poor Dave, who had earlier had such a good run in the individual event. But with 9 of the 20 teams collecting an E, he wasn´t alone and this super young dog looks a good bet for the future.

Looks like it will be between Belgium and Spain for the overall title, with Switzerland, Russia and Germany waiting for any mistake.

It is ten past 6 in the evening and the medium team agility is still to come. We´ll all be ready for the Tapas bars by then!

Correction. Course time 45 seconds so Ronnie was officially clear, well done the man!

Also means that Finland and Luxembourg have only 5 faults as well.

MIDI TEAM AGILITYAnother course with plenty of obstacle discrimination. In particular a nasty tunnel trap after the dogwalk and a difficult turn to the seesaw where the weaves are much more obvious. A slightly tighter course time of 43 seconds prevented Japan from posting 3 clears running second, but a few time faults stil left them in third place. The standard of handling from Japan has really improved over the last couple of years.

GB ran 9th and Lorraine Drew judged it perfectly with Ted, coming home in 42.74. Hannah Mitchell was working Gem like a demon and storming through until Gem picked up the weaves rather than the seesaw and Hannah just failed to prevent her from running between the first two poles for an E. Bernadette Bay ran a super clear with Zen in 36.09, one of the fastest runs of the day despite one little twiddle early on. This dog will do well at the Worlds in future. So no joy for either small or medium teams this year.

The US were the next team to get close, with a few more time faults than Japan ending up in 4th. Finland ran the only triple clear without time faults to lead after the Agility and Russia put in three steady clears with just 1.5 time faults to be second. 12 of the 22 teams had at least one E, giving an idea of how challenging the course was.