Midsummer Madness Sat/Sun 27/28th July - (Report by Anne Alderman)

Firstly, a big thank you to Pat and Ray for putting up with us for another week end! And thanks to everyone for all the 'general' help over the week end. Things run so much more smoothly when everyone offers, without being nagged! All our members turned up for at least one day, so thank you for supporting it.

So…………Friday

Robert & Kay, Marion & Robbie, Hilary & I, started the afternoon by trying to lay out the flyball lanes (Which after ??hours, we thought we had it about right, but somehow were still inches out!) and we also set up the Flyball+Agility course. The remaining campers turned up during the course of the evening, and about 8pm, our Fish and Chips arrived, still hot, from W/B. We finished off with a Shooting Stars Quiz. Teams seemed to have difficulty with the questions - e.g. Peacocks can be heard ejecting large audible farts in stately homes around the UK. True or False. Well, it's pretty obviously false, as their farts are inaudible to humans!! The impressions, well…………..and as for songs from the club singer, when you hear it second time round, it's obvious what is being sung!! General knowledge, from the Dove from Above scored pretty well, as did the quick fire final round. Results:

Saturday

After a short practice, we got underway with pairs Flyball+Agility. We tried, as far as possible, to pair up dogs, which have never competed in F+A, with those that have. Everyone had 3 chances to record their best time. And the final results were very close.

We then went onto record each dogs singles times (results will be in garage), which would be used as a guide for Sundays handicapped Team Racing, as well as a seeding list for the singles shoot-out. We had 10 dogs recording under 5 secs, of which 2 were ABC's, 2 starters, and 1 veteran! The complete starters raced to feet, and the pups done a retrieve, with no jumps (I was impressed and surprised, all of them went up the 51 feet to a static ball!)

The final event of the day was a pick 'n' mix pairs. It was a straight knock out, so the lower places were finalised on fastest times. The top four places were as the knock out.

We got the B-B-Q's under way, and man of the 'match' was Dave. An excellent B-B-Q chef. We will try and book him again next year! Thank you Dave. The view of your bum must have been stunning, as everyone sat in a semi circle looking on. Pat produced some lovely puddings. And the overall spread of food provided was great. Well done to all of us!

And as if we hadn't done enough, those of us with stamina went on to have an evening of line dancing with Berit. I'm not sure how we really got on with the first and last dances. We all thoroughly enjoyed the Salsa, but missed Andy's added rendition from last year. By the end of it we were almost expert. Watch out Measham, here we come! Exhausted, we sat down quietly (!) while the dogs played, and the 'young lads' wrecked the joint! Last year, I seem to remember Dave brought the subject up of his inside leg measurement. This year, he went behind the green house with a hula-hoop, and had some excellent fun (in the dark, out of sight). What was he up to? Answers on a postcard please! Kay showed us her hula hooping skills, around the waist, and Chris managed a trick with it as well. My skills with it are best left untold, although I did manage to skip! Dave managed to get red wine all over his BA poloshirt and felt, and then blamed poor young Beau! I knew that Dave was trouble!

Sunday

Looking bleary eyed, the campers were all keen and ready to start the handicap teams. We had the usual Hotdogs, Allsorts, Doggy Mixtures, and finally the starters as the Jelly Babies. Teams had to submit a time, and the team closest to that time, won. As long as they didn't go faster! It was a little easier for Hotdogs and Allsorts as they race together regularly. This was confirmed when Allsorts submitted a 22.40, and recorded a 22.40! And Hotdogs submitted a 20.00, and recorded 19.91. Not bad! Although a little time consuming (more due to lack of handlers etc!) it was good fun. The challenge was being able to guess your time, rather than straight racing to beat the opposition.

After a long lunch break, due to the warm weather (!) we started of with a time trial, for the fastest box. Apparently under 2 secs is very good. The starters raced 'to feet' and the puppies done a retrieve with no jumps. Full results in the garage, but places went to:

And finally, to round the week end off, another pick 'n' mix pairs. This time a double elimination knock out, so no times were recorded.

Although tiring, I 'm sure everyone enjoyed themselves. I was particularly impressed with our new starters. They all ran extremely well, and progressed more during this weekend than the past couple of months training.

And I think all of us who know what problems Rachel has with Ollie, we would like to give both of them a BIG WELL DONE, and CONGRATULATIONS on winning the ABC. A lot of hard work has gone into Ollie. There is still a lot of work to do, but what a big improvement he has made.

Thanks to all for supporting us over the weekend.