AREA FINALS 2014 | United Retriever Club

The winning Hants and SW Team

Position	Area	Points
1st	Hants and South West	274
2nd	Border Counties and Cotswold	273
3rd	Lincolnshire	257
4th	Essex	238
Top Individual	Gill Yates with LR B, Lubbecke Royal Sapphire	97
Runner Up	Simon Hagain with LR B, Skeviot Emerald	93
Best Newcomer	Simon Hagain with LR B, Skeviot Emerald	93
Best Individual in Host Area Team	Mary-Jane Opie with LR B, FT Ch Decies Dodge by Studebaker	87

The 2014 Inter-Area Finals was hosted by the Bucks Area at Windsor Great Park, by kind permission of The Crown Estate and the assistance of Mr Peter Clayton. Teams of 3 dogs and handlers from each of the nine Areas of the United Retriever Club competed. The judges were Lady Venetia Hugh-Smith, Phil Allen and John Stubbs.

Windsor Great Park needs no introduction to the gundog world as it is the venue for training classes, field trials including the Retriever Championship and working tests, most notably the Windsor Charity Team Test held annually in April. For those of us who have been fortunate to attend some of these events, a day at Windsor is always special and this year we were introduced to ground in the Deer Park, that many were not familiar with. It provided undulating woodland, parkland and water for Barbara Kuen the Chief Steward and her team to set five interesting tests, without resorting to gimmicks.

Teams went to four of the tests as a threesome, with varied retrieves making for interest for handlers and spectators. In the morning John judged a blind and two marks across the pond. Phil judged a marked retrieve for each dog, with dummies difficult to mark among the trees. On open parkland Venetia judged three blinds, two up into the wood and the third longest retrieve on the parkland beyond a small copse.

After a short break for light refreshments, Phil and John joined forces in the parkland on a walk up, with each dog having a long marked retrieve across the line followed by a remembered mark thrown as the dog returned with its first retrieve. Few dogs acknowledged the second dummy so it effectively became a blind, depending on the accuracy of the handler’s marking. Meanwhile Venetia presided over what was the trickiest test of the day. This was the only test where the dogs went under the judge one at a time and consisted of a difficult mark in woodland, through bracken, up a hill and falling over the horizon, followed by a shorter blind. It was the mark that caused the problems, with dogs losing their mark as they went through the bracken then down into a ditch. It was noticeable that dogs who tried to go round the bracken, on the whole fared worse than those who took the direct route. With seven retrieves for each dog, by mid-afternoon the test was completed without needing any run offs between teams or for the individual places.

We then drove across the Park to the York Club for the traditional meal and presentations. Peter Clayton, the Windsor Head Keeper, who had spent the day with us presented the awards, Doug Leake the Bucks Area Chairman presided over a magnificent raffle and to make a change from a hog roast we enjoyed a venison roast, with the venison coming from the Royal Estate.

The day was generously sponsored by Skinners Dog Foods and photographs of the event can be viewed on Mark Lord’s (the photographer at the event) website www.thesportingpicture.co.uk where prints can viewed and purchased. Some of his pictures are also shown in the Area Finals 2014 gallery.

The host Area for 2015 Area Finals is the Essex Area.

IMAGES TO FOLLOW SHORTLY BY KIND PERMISSION OF MARK LORD