Well done to both teams that ran at Portway.  The weather wasn't the best but the racing was superb.

The Pounding Herts did their absolute best on Saturday and 1st place came down to a three way tie which, I'm really proud to say, they won - as they had run the fastest time of 22.58 in that division.  Boris, Sampson, Charlie, Jess and Merc were great and none of them went wrong all day.  It was just amazing, and they had some real close races.

 

It's great to see that they are now able to give other teams a race, and the team work and team spirit was just so good. In fact, team spirit was so good that in the very first race of the day they decided to take it in turn to get a light (handler error, I may add, not dog) so that they could share the blame.  I must say, though, that was the only race they lost all day.  The dogs were perfect throughout and, with the first race forgotten, everybody went through the rest of the races errorless. They were fantastic.

The Leaping Herts did a great job on Sunday too and managed to get a new seed time of 20.03. They too had a three way tie but this time for 4th place. We weren't so lucky on this occaision and came 5th, as one of the other teams beat us on time. The dogs again were great and, once Quiz got over his "running for the first time outside jitters", they were flawless. The division was tough and we were beaten on speed in most races, but boy did we give them a race to the finish as it went down to 100ths of a second on several occasions!

 

It was a new team format for the dogs and the handlers had to work out the new change overs with different dogs. Steve got given the lights and did a really good job.  Breeze's change-over with Gus left hearts in mouths on a few occasions but no light appeared - and left even the line judges wondering if the lights were working, It was Ebony's first tournament since maternity leave, plus Quiz and Bruno were wonderful and all gave 100% at all times.

Like to say thank you to Wendy and Vanessa for boxloading, to Harry for keeping the balls in order and for being such a great helper if any running around was required, and to Chris for running the line on Sunday.  Some of those decisions you had to make were tough, but you did a great job. Also thanks to Sue T for coming on Saturday and freezing just to help out. All help is really appreciated - hopefully that's what makes us the friendly team we are.

So we all set off nice and early on a bitterly cold morning and arrived as usual at a very cold Newark.  However this time we didn't have the wind and rain, just frost bite.

 

The divisions had changed and the poor Pounding Herts had been pushed back to 6th seed in Div 5.  And if that wasn't bad enough we found High Velocity were seeded 1st in our divison. Just knew we wouldn't beat them.  But we did ourselves proud, and put them to a close race - and we were absolutely over the moon when we recorded a 22.99. Yes, you're reading right: the Pounding Herts got a 22.99. We were really pleased, and it didn't matter that we had lost the race - we had got an amazing time. They carried on throughout the day, and would you believe they even beat that time and got a 22.96. They won a race and came 5th overall, which was really good as they were seeded 6th. Again the dogs all did their very best and the handlers were great as usual.

 

The Leaping Herts had been pushed a seeding down in their division too and were now seeded 5th instead of 4th. We had some very good races, and some of them were very close indeed. We recorded a new seed time of 20.22 as well, so again the dogs and handlers proved themselves. The Leaping Herts came 4th which again was better than expected, so another triumph to the "Racing Herts" in general.

 

I'd like to say a special thank you to Chris Musk, who noticed that when Bruno had a hard ball he ran better than when he had a soft ball as he tended to chomp on it coming down the lane. He informed Vanessa, who then made sure she only loaded hard balls in the box for Bruno. A great team effort again, so thanks Chris for seeing it, and to Vanessa for making sure he only had the hard balls. Not easy when all hell's going on and you can't hear a word anyone is saying.

 

Well done to everyone who went - it was a great team effort.

Want to say well done to all those that went to Maidstone yesterday. I think it's a fairly tough venue – loud and not the best exercise area there is – and it's very obvious that some of the dogs do too.

The Pounding Herts came 6th in Div 4 but did win one of their races. Unfortunately they were mostly beaten on time. However the dogs all tried their best and team spirit was great as usual.

The Leaping Herts came 1st in Div 2 and I must say that was only due to one specific dog: QUIZ !!! He was a star. He didn't like it at all in the morning so we just used him on the warm ups. He ran out the lane most of the time and even out the hall he hated it that much. However Louise didn't moan at him and just kept practising on the warm ups, and eventually by the afternoon he suddenly realised what he was supposed to do.

On our last race we were two nil down and were being beaten on time. Quiz had done a perfect run back and two perfect run ups in the warm up, so I decided to try him and see what happened. We won the next three races – it was fantastic. Quiz was the hero of the day. Even the judge said to me at presentation the black lab came good at the end. Well done Louise I bet your still smiling :-)

While I'm on the subject of well dones: Wendy was the box loader for Pounding Herts and, as we are used to on Thursdays at training, she was great. It was her first time as box loader at a tournament and she took it all in her stride. Thanks to Harry too for ball collecting, and to Charlie for taking the dog times and Vanessa for box loading the Leaping Herts. Not an easy task sometimes, as we tend to swap dogs in and out and don't always remember to tell her, but she's never moaned. Thanks to Chris for keeping the change-overs in order with the Leaping Herts – one day I'll get the lights right :-)

Last but not lease thanks to all those that ran dogs at what I think is a difficult venue. It's not a venue some of us like, and with no ring partying it did seam like a long day, but team spirit carried on.

What a great result with both teams coming home with rosettes. Pounding Herts came 4th which was wonderful seeing as Jess and Charlie had never run in an open tournament before and I must say both were absolutely fantastic.

Leaping Herts came 3rd which again was brilliant as they had to go down to four dogs in the afternoon due to poor Heather having to be in two places at once (well that's husbands for you) and also it was Gus's first open tournament too. He was great and poor Steve had to learn the art of flyball with speed as on one race he had to go behind Breeze and she fumbled the ball so unfortunately Gus was let go a bit early. As neither he nor Breeze seem to be phased by anything they collided in mid lane and Gus ran over her as if she wasn't there. Breeze just rolled over and carried on down the lane as if nothing had happened. I'm glad to say the pair of them were fine afterwards and Breeze is still fine now the adrenalin has stopped pumping. Hopefully Gus is too.

The weather was cold but the spirits were good and I personally like the venue so that helps too.

Harry was an excellent ball boy for the day and was there every time. Well done.

Also congratulations to Spencer who was awarded his Flyball Dog certificate too. Kept Charlie smiling all the way home.

Well done to everyone who attended the Newark tournament on Saturday.

The Pounding Herts did really well and although they only had four dogs in their team (Spencer, Boris, Sampson, Max) they never gave in and came 5th with a new seed time of 24.18. Well done to Charlie who had the joyous task of working the lights but getting a 0.01 start (as near perfect as you can get) what can I say but well done and keep it up. The lights are not an easy thing to have to judge but neither is getting a decent change over when the dogs are starting to tire so well done to all those in that team.

The Leaping Herts (Dusty, Breeze, Fynn, Bruno, Merc) came a very well deserved 1st and again none of the dogs gave in winning all their races. The dogs all worked well together and thankfully Dusty took over the lights from Breeze and did really well. Dusty was also awarded her flyball dog certificate and this will be given out to Julie/Dusty on Thursday after training.

The weather was freezing and then when it warmed up it rained so we had it all that day so I would like to say thanks to everyone who travelled to Newark. I personally liked the venue and would appreciate other peoples thoughts on it too.

Nuneaton Kestrels (2) - 21.61 - Won

White Rose Wagtails (3) - 20.84 - Won

Travelling Dogsbodies (4) - 21.86 - Won

Freewheelers 4 Need Speed (5) - 21.05 - Won

Killa Bytes (6) - 21.29 - Won

Pounding Herts: Div. 5, Seeded 5th, Finished 5th

Gofour Yellowbellies (1) - 24.19 - Lost

Wellingborough Red Bulls (2) - 24.41 - Lost

Kiveton Catapultz (3) - 24.18 - Lost

Nuneaton Cyclones (4) - 25.37 - Lost

Five Jays Fireballs (6) - 26.02 - Won