Area Finals 2016 | United Retriever Club

AREA FINALS 2016

Skinners Logo

Firedog and Skinners sponsors of the 2016 Area Finals organised by the
Hampshire and South West Area of The United Retriever Club

The Judges were

Mr Robert Atkinson (Left)
Mrs Judy Rainey
Mr Graham Stanley

THE RESULTS

1st - Essex

2nd - Southern

3rd - Northern

4th - Midlands

Atherbram Cup for the highest scoring individual - Heather Walton (Bucks)

Shooting Times Trophy for the runner up - Sara Gadd (Essex)

HW Froud Trophy for the highest scoring handler running in the Area Finals for the first time – A. N. Appleton (Northern)

Castleton Trophy for the highest placed Host Area team member - Julie Kelvie

The 2016 Area Finals was hosted by the Hampshire and South West Area on the 26th June at Bisterne Manor near Ringwood, Hampshire, by kind invitation of Mr Hallam and Mrs Lal Mills and by kind permission of the Keeper Mr Rupert Brewer, who was hugely supportive before the event and throughout the day, allowing us exclusive use of ground which had never been used before for a working test. The judges were Robert Atkinson, Judy Rainey and Graham Stanley. It was particularly appropriate that Graham Stanley was able to judge as he has served the URC for many years as General Secretary and this was our first opportunity to welcome him at a major club event, since he retired earlier in the year.

Dave England the Chief Steward and Ken Green met up with the judges the week before the test to set and run through their ideas for the tests. The helpers and committee met a few days later to go through the tests and assign roles. The Area is extremely lucky and grateful to have such tremendous support, with enough helpers to either do a morning or afternoon shift on the day, leaving them free to watch some of the tests.

There were 6 tests in all, with the emphasis being on team work, all stamped with an unexpected twist which is Dave’s hallmark, utilising rough pasture, water and woodland to great effect. The first three tests all involved two retrieves for each team member, there was a walk up judged by Robert Atkinson, with two marks for each dog, one being a remembered mark in the rough pasture which caused a few problems for some of the dogs. The other two tests were in woodland, Judy Rainey judged a mark followed by a blind, where you sent your dog in the direction of the mark, stopped it and turned it into the woodland for the blind, here the team sat up together at a junction, so each dog faced down a different track. Graham judged an individual walk up with a mark into bracken, followed by a blind along a track and over a fence. The running rabbit which preceded the first mark was so fast that the Gun kept missing it and the dogs were smart enough not to be caught out; however the main bunkers here were caused by some dogs not wanting to jump and also wanting to peel off the track and hunt the cover.

Can you identify these dogs?

After a short break, although the second group of three tests involved just one retrieve for each dog, they were all very tricky. Robert had the whole team sat up together some distance away from a shallow pond. In turn each dog had a marked retrieve across the pond, problems arose as the dogs were faced with a bank of rushes on the far side of the pond which caused many to lose their mark. Judy judged an individual blind with a distraction in the rough pasture; although few dogs were pulled by the distraction, it was easy to lose sight of your dog on its way to the blind, causing handler panic. The third test was a fitting climax to the day and again was a team test, it involved a duck drive at the river, accompanied by duck calls, distractions thrown into the water and kept a large group of spectators thoroughly entertained. After the drive each dog had to swim across the river to pick a blind from the vicinity of a conveniently placed bush. The handlers had to decide the order in which they would send their dogs and which bush they were picking from. What made this test particularly challenging was the river was flowing very quickly and although the dogs made good speed across to the far bank ignoring the distractions in the water, they found it hard work fighting the current on the return journey. It became obvious that some dogs who really struggled had never met conditions like this before, while others took it in their stride.

The River Sky Web

The River Avon, very atmospheric (photo F Wright)

When the marks were added up, several individual run offs were needed, with all the judges working together, after which we drove a short distance to the Village Hall for the traditional meal, this year for the first time we enjoyed fish and chips, followed by locally grown fresh strawberries and cream. The day concluded with the awards ceremony and the drawing of the raffle. Our thanks go to Skinners Dog Foods and Firedog for their generous sponsorship.

Suzanne Hickling, the Hants Area Secretary would like to thank everyone enough for their support & team spirit throughout the day, it was lovely to see so many new faces! My congratulations go not only to the winners, but also to those who entered into the spirit of the day and made it so enjoyable for competitors and spectators alike. My only regret was I didn’t get to see the home team run, as I (as well as other duties) was too busy making new friends and chatting – sorry!

The images used are by kind permission of Sarah Smith, who took all the pictures. You can see all her pictures if you follow the following link http://www.purbeckpaws.co.uk/Gundogs/URC-InterFinals-2016-Bisterne/

The host Area for 2017 Area Finals is the Lincolnshire Area.

Click here for the AREA FINAL SCORE SHEET

Ist Plave Team Web