2022 events - 2nd update for wash warriors

After Jubilee weekend the18th June saw us travel north again to attend the Live Wires competition at a venue we hadn't been to before. Saturday saw us running Wash Warriors and Pegasus Warriors. Wash (Millie, Bonnie, Stan, Storm and Ash) were seeded 3rd in div 1 and were way out of our league!! We came 3rd - no surprise there - but the dogs ran well and put in 4 sub 20 times. Pegasus (Badger, Indie, Zarah, Rolo, Bessie and Zola) were in div 3 and seeded 2nd. They held their place coming 2nd running really well with 13 wins out of 18 heats. Sunday saw us running Wash again - this time without Ash - and were seeded 2nd in div 2 but only managed 3rd place, however again posted 4 sub 20 times. Vikings ran with Ash, Myst, Jack and Charly maintaining their 3rd place seed. It was a lovely weekend and we raced teams that we usually don't see, being the other side of the country.

Our next outing was to Newark running the Wash team on 25th June. Millie, Bonnie, Stan, Storm and Ash ran as a run up to the Crufts qualifier and we were seeded 3rd in division 3, however managed to pull a win out of the bag posing multiple sub 20 times with a best of 19.21s. Zarah ran with Pegasus for the day and Luna and Indie took part in a pc slot.

2nd and 3rd of July saw us at Statfold, which was a BFA held tournament by our old friends Nuneaton flyball team. This was attended primarily as they were holding a Crufts qualifier event which we were trying out for. However we decided to run a couple of teams there too so Saturday saw Vikings run (Myst, Indie, Zarah, Jack, Charly and Bessie). They were in div 5 and seeded third managing a respectable 4th place after a really rough start in the first race. We also ran our Wash team (Millie, Bonnie, Stan, Storm and Ash) in the crufts qualifier coming home in 4th place. We really missed out due to too many bad crosses (just trying too hard!). However it was fun and something we hadn't done before. Sunday, Wash Wariors ran again seeded 3rd in Division 4 and managing to win the division. The dogs ran really well (a shame they didn't do that the day before) however didn't manage to post a sub 20 time so nothing lost in the end as that sort of time wouldn't have done well at Crufts!!

Unfortunately this weekend was to prove a sad one in the end as Millie had collapsed at the end of the Sunday racing and on the Monday we had to take her to the vet. The result was that we had to put her to sleep - a very sad day for all of us as we had lost our wonderful flyball girl - a past European champion (running with Cambs Canines) and so devoted to her job. Writing this in retrospect it has taken a long time to get over this and to this day we still miss her terribly as she was so dominant in the household. However, we know this was the right decision to make for her and everyone else including the other dogs in the household.

Although we had lost heart a bit after the loss of Millie our event was held 23rd/24th July. We were amazed that this event filled with 13 clubs attending over the weekend. We ran Pegasus Warriors on the Saturday coming 2nd in the division. Wash and Viking ran on Sunday gaining a 3rd and 2nd place respectively. Luna and Milly ran singles with a real win for them both as they did really well.

The UKFL champs loomed next - being held over 13-15th August. As we were in the middle of the heat wave we were really not looking forward to it very much especially as we were running outside and the heat had been so bad we were concerned about the dogs. However in true Brit style we all turned up and set up camp for the weekend. Due to the heat being expected to hit over 30 during the middle of the day and afternoon racing started at 6am to try to get as much done as possible. The first day we ran Wash, Vikings and Pegasus, racing started early (although trouble occurred with the lights which delayed the event) and due to the heat racing stopped at lunch time with arrangements being made to finish the races inside after indoors had finished there. Wash managed a 2nd place as did Pegasus, with Vikings managing 4th in their division. Saturday was a rest day for us with just the puppies (Jessie and Eddie) running in pc slots. Sunday was Multibreed day with Indian and Highland Warriors running with Bessie joining Louise's Fire Wyrms team. A decision had been made not to start early so racing started at 8am, but with the heat picking up again racing ceased at noon and the option was to finish racing again indoors later in the day. We withdrew our 2 teams as our dogs were suffering with the heat whilst Bessie continued with Fire Wyrms who came 2nd in their division. Various events happened this weekend which have influenced our continuance of racing but Wash Warriors will continue to train and race in the future.