Easter 2023 Ardingley - waggy wagtails 7/8/9 april.

Easter weekend saw the team travel to Ardingley in East Sussex for Waggies tournament. It was our first trip here and Chris, Julia and Tina arrived first to set up on Thursday. The run up to Easter had been wet and the ground was a bit soggy but weather forecast was pretty good for the weekend so we had high hopes. We were joined late in the evening by Jemma, Ash, Tine and Dean helping them set up in the dark.

Gem, Martin and Claire arrived bright and early on Friday morning, which was bright and sunny although still chilly, well in time to race Pip and Stan with Indie, Bessie and Zarah in the main Wash Warriors team. We were seeded top of the division but the team didn't start well!! We lost the first 2 races to Ball Busters Bandits and Underdogs Unleashed. Claire couldn't get her crosses right with Stan as he was well up for the day and had a number of early crosses, then he decided to spit the ball (just on the line). However we logged 2 sub 20 times and made Underdogs work for their win only losing 2-3. The next race against Be Right Back in a Flash we pulled it together and wone 3-1 gaining 2 further sub 20 second times. The afternoon results were good too, beating Kennet Kestrels 3-0 and Sussex Meteors 3-1. We also logged 5 more sub 20 times with a new seed time of 19.15secs. From the apalling start we were pleased with how the dogs all ran as they are gelling together well as a team. The dogs best times were as follows: Indie 4.33, Stan 4.96, Zarah 4.68, Pip 4.42 and Bessie 4.26. Presentation brought us all a great surprise as there was a 4 way tie for the top place and Wash had the fastest time of the division so we ended up winning the division. A very satisfying end to the day which we celebrated with Pizza which Julia and Ash went to collect (only realising the next day that we forgot to take the water out of the dog bowls in the van and Jemma had to dry the dog beds out!!) - however - well done to all.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny again and it was Viking Warriors turn today with Blue, Bonnie, Jack, Flo and Charly. The team were seeded 5th out of 6 teams so we didn't have high expectations today however we started well beating Ramsden Snatch and Grab 3-0. Suffering Jets beat us 3-2 and the last race of the morning we won 3-0 against Fourpaws on the Move. The afternoon races also went well with us beating Flea Sprayz 3-0 but Underdogs Untamed gave us a run for our money with us only beating them 3-2. The team weren't particulary fast but we did put in a 21.50 as our fastest time. Fastest times for the dogs were as follows: Blue 4.25 (a new pb), Bonnie 4.84, Jack 6.03, Flo 4.95 ( I think another pb) and Charly 5.56. So with 4 wins out of 5 we had done well and at presentation we came a very respectable 2nd place in the division. Well done again.

Tina had her second overseen judging session to requalify as a full judge. She did have a rough division where everything possible that could go wrong did. She also had 2 tied races - which is almost unheard of in the same division. However, she did a grand job and was advised that she could 'go it alone' again. Celebrations this evening were with the first BBQ of the season, cooked by Chris (whilst we were at presentation) and Ash finished off. Tine, Dean, Gem and Martin took themselves off later in the evening to the live band that was playing at the VW event going on at the same venue. Martin was dancing in his onesie!!

Sunday dawned very misty, a very different start to the last 2 days and it was foundation day with Eddie and Lottie (her first tournament) in Soushi Warriors and Jessie, Mabel and Maggie in Brave Warriors.

Brave Warriors were led by Jessie who ran almost paw perfect with 10 clear runs out of 12. Mabel and Maggie ran really well down and back but needed to work on bringing the ball back!! By the end of the day we had them all running clear runs. The team came 6th (last) but we were really pleased with them.

Soushi Warriors only had 2 dogs. Claire was working with Eddie free running him and brought a lot of comments from onlookers who found it amazing. He really enjoyed himself and had tallied up 8 clear runs along with 2 sub 4 times (3.81 and 3.80). Lottie was in for her first foundation tournament and didnt she do well... Apart from a couple of reruns she tallied up 10 clear runs along with a fastest time of 4.21 on the last heat of the day. Even though this team only had 2 dogs they still managed to come 3rd in the division... so we know these dogs are going to be awesome in the future.