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CSJ Novice Agility Final 2005 Once again we were kindly invited to hold the final of what has become a very popular competition, at Malvern Autumn Show. The show is a celebration of all things botanical….and set with a fabulous backdrop of the rolling Malvern Hills it is a most beautiful setting for our event even though the credit cards do take a bashing with some of the rather unusual stalls …Every year I marvel at how on earth people get those huge plants home in one piece! Our Judge this year was the very experienced Charlie Wyatt. The main arena at Malvern is rather large and even our esteemed judge Charlie Wyatt had a challenge on his hands to use the space available! Charlie set a nice flowing course for our morning invitation event, There were some great partnerships present at the final, and we were assured of some excellent displays of speed and handling ..and we weren’t disappointed

The sun crept above the great hills and gave us the most glorious day …the now familiar black tee shirts always worry me with the event planned for late September, but this year it was more like a summers’ day!

The morning event produced 14 superb clear rounds… demonstrating the superb standard of handler and dogs from the 28 that had got through to the final….with some really exciting agility.
Lisa Adamson took the top spot with her very young and promising merle Borderstorm Who Dares Wins…Well done Lisa he certainly showed his ability on the big course.
2nd Becca Middleton with moonlight Maverick 3 rd Andrea Weldrand and Andrays Border Lass.

Charlie had set a nice course for our final that required a little more handling than the warm up event, including a fast weave entry which caught out some of our finalists however it was to be a bogey fence and perhaps a few nerves that was to catch most of our handlers out.

The crowd swelled .. This was certainly the biggest crowd I have seen at Malvern with people as far back as we could see.even the jazz band paused and declined to compete with stuarts dulcet tones on the mike!

Running first was Wendy Fairlamb .. Picking up 5f.followed by Sue Wyatt…with a memorable round in a very good time of 32.78 unfortunately picking up 5 on the dog walk. Next to go and perhaps the biggest ‘if only ‘ in the competition was Sharon eldridge and canen chip. This was a stunning round and had us all holding our breath right up until the 18 th obstacle …only to roll a pole 32.69 would have been hard to beat!

Several rounds were to follow with jump number 7 becoming the bogey fence…. and the weave entry causing a few problems. and certainly nerves playing their part the tension swelled as no clear rounds were recorded with handler number 9 on the line.. Hannah Cook nursed her little dog round this course with sheer determination! It paid off and with our first clear of the final..Hannah left the ring jubilant. Some good runs followed however that bogey fence continued to taunt our finalists and again no clears for several dogs….Jackie Gardiner and Tom Boy picked up 5 at the weaves..as did Robin cope and Denise Wilkinson and Bob Sharpe..Yvonne Croxford gave a good performance with maddie just being caught by the bogey jump…she was not alone!

Dave Hutchinson and Meg step forward with a determined smile…to produce our second clear of the competition..A great run for Dave and Meg, which was to take them into the lead with a polished performance! 34.72 Lisa trying to repeat her mornings performance put in an impressive time but ..not to be…

There were only a few runners to go and it was all still to play for; Lez Briars and She’s a Canny Lass picked up 5 on the dog walk…but still in the places.. with only two runs to go Julia Weeks must have felt the pressure…I have to say It didn’t show and Julia handled the pressure admirably, putting in a superb performance which snatched the top spot …taking the lead with a time of 34.53 Julia was a picture…! Well follow that! Collette having travelled all the way from Scotland held the unenviable task of running last….Sadly rolling the first pole she continued to put in a really nice run which secured her 8 th place at the presentation.

Congratulations to the winners and to all who took part in the event. Thank you once again to CSJ for their generous support within Agility and to Charlie Wyatt this years judge, the ring party who work so hard to make the event a success and to Malvern for once again being our hosts.