13/08/2024
Finally feeling back to normal after an extremely busy Champs this year, what with taking three Open and two Foundation teams, up at sparrows fart doing lights every day, thank you Helene Burningham for your help, and then Judging a division of Foundation - it was absolutely fantastic, but come Monday morning I did feel a bit broken.
All our dogs ran their socks off this weekend, starting with speed trials on Thursday - all three teams met their targets, with Kingfishers and Kestrels bang on what we wanted, Kites struggled a little to get a time but luckily managed to secure one time very close to what we wanted, if a little short of what we hoped for, then breaking their seed time immediately in their first open race on Sunday, when the weather was a little cooler.
Friday was the turn of our fabulous foundations, they have worked so hard all winter and throughout the season, Kookies are our development dogs, all of them exceeded our expectations and proved that hard work does pay off - they placed sixth. Kubs are our pre-open team some of these dogs have gone through such a transition this year and are frankly unrecognisable from 12 months ago, a near perfect performance, but competition was high so finished fourth.
We went with high hopes for our open teams this year, and they didn't disappoint either, starting with Kingfishers on Saturday, seeded bottom of division 24 and beating every team to sweep the top spot - our first divisional win at Champs, we had previously won at the Flyball Festival, but without that elusive shield it just didn't feel the same.
First up Sunday morning was Kites, with some awesome racing, close crosses and some amazing reruns we won all three races in the morning, we knew that the afternoon session was going to be tough and it was a two way tie for first, but having lost to the other team we took a solid second place - only beaten by a faster team.
Second up Kestrels, on paper our fastest team, they had a lot to live up to and the pressure and nevers were clear, but when they settled, they showed just how good they have become, two members of this team have never been to Champs before and this was their first year in open - they also managed to pull off a very respectable second place - getting lots of compliments for the quality of their racing.
I am so proud of all these guys, the support they show for each other, always there rings side cheering on the teams, supporting them both inside and outside the ring whenever possible - well done to you all - you were truly awesome 👌.
And finally well done to all the other teams from our circuit, you were awesome too, some great racing, great wins and placings and showing the rest of the Flyball world that us Southern Softies can bring home the trophies 🏆 😀 👍
