Thursday, December 03, 2009
The IGL Retriever Championship
2009
AT
The Blankney Estates
Metheringham Heath
Lincolnshire
by the kind invitation of
The Parker Family
on
Monday 30th Nov
Tuesday 1st Dec
Wednesday 2nd Dec
Judges ; Mrs Heather Bradley, Mr Hugh Patterson, Mr John Stubbs and Mrs Janet Webb.
Steward of the beat; Mr Terry Stoddard
Chief Steward; Mr Philip Wainwright
This
is my account of the Championships only as seen through my eyes over
the three days therefore will not be an in depth report but a short
review of what I saw and some of my thoughts.
Petwood Hotel, Woodhouse Spa
Sunday ; We
arrived at the hotel headquarters on Sunday afternoon and while
checking in I bumped into Noel Bailey, last years winner,and I asked
what he thought his chances were of winning this year, after telling me
how well his dog was running and what a fantastic year he has had, he
very sportingly said it was someone elses turn to win ( typical Noel ).
As the evening drew on I met many of the competitors and spoke of the
three days to come but much of the topic of conversation was about the
weather as it had been forcast very bad for day one but should be
better for days two and three. So after a few drinks it was early to
bed.
Monday ; Up at 6am to take my own dogs out and the first
surprise - it wasnt raining ! Then a quick breakfast about 6.30am with
Jeannine and Paul from Paul Fench Video who were there for the filming
of the championships. Then load up for a short journey to the ground
were I pulled up to find a large stubble field were we had to park and
then another surprise - it was dry underfoot !
After getting my
gear on it was time to have a walk round before the start and wish good
luck to all competitors. This year I had quite a few personal friends
who had qualified and so I needed to make sure I wished them the best,
one in particular Gordon Hodgson, who after trying for many years had
qualfied for the first time - his attitude was that he had already
fullfilled his dream by getting there .
At the pre-trial briefing
we were all introduced to the judges and guns and given some
alterations to the running card - 56 dogs had qualified but
unfortunately one was not able to run. A quick look through the
programme showed that 32 of the dogs running were Field Trial Champions.
Introductions
and instructions now given it was time to get down to business. A short
walk through a wood brought us to a field of mustard which had been
topped ( cut shorter ). The line was made accross half the field with
Heather Bradley & Hugh Patterson on the left ( the two H's ) and
John Stubbs & Janet Webb ( the two J's ) on the right. Dogs in line
were 1 - Mr I Glaister,2 - Mr R T Yeoman,3 - Mr S J Hore & 4 - Mr J
W Halstead. I was lucky enough to be in the line at the end on the left
- the shout was given to walk on, only a few strides later and the
first bird was up "bang" "bang" - missed !! This just reminded
everybody that it wasnt just the dogs & handlers that were under
pressure but also the guns.
Another few strides and another bird
up and this time it was a possitive result - first dog sent. The
Championship was up and running. I will not bore you with every
retrieve but it was clear that dogs needed a good mark and early scent
was not good so dogs struggled to get to the fall were at risk , even
last years Champion paid the price in the first round with a bird down
on the right ( not this year Noel ! ) Then everything started to flow
with plenty of birds and the guns in confident mood we were getting
through the card at great pace.
At the end of the first field we crossed onto another field of mustard sown over fodderbeet which again showed plenty of birds.
It
was now around mid day and as I looked up to the sky and it didnt look
good, there were large rainclouds coming in but after a chat with a
gamekeeper in line he ashured me it wouldnt bother us, thankfully he
was right !
It was now getting late almost 2pm and we hadnt stopped
for dinner, the guns were getting ready for a break and runners started
to play a part in procedings both with competitors and the flow of the
trial. Time for a break but not until first round dogs were done. At
last we returned to base for dinner - not long for a break then back
into the field for the second round. We started to cross retrieve now
and again good marking was very important if you wanted to progress any
further. We finished the day just before 4pm with quite a few of the
second round dogs through - back to the hotel.
Tuesday ; Early
start again with another surprise from the weather, there had been a
heavy frost overnight so it was a mass vehicle defrost before we could
set off.
There was approx 30 dogs starting today and we were
starting in sugarbeet where apparently there would be quite a few Hares
shot and they were not wrong. Moving into the third round we were on
two retrieves again - up to now there had been some really good dog
work but nothing that really set he Champonship alight , then it
happened competitor no 9 Phil Parkin with his yellow dog Twixwood
Shooting Star of Fernshot was in line on the left when a cock bird was
shot just right of the centre, as it hit the ground it was up and
running and Phil was told to send is dog. The dog didnt make the fall
straight away and all the time the bird was getting further away
infront - but that didnt matter to Shooting Star because as he made the
fall he locked onto the line and worked his way 30 plus yards onto the
bird which must have thought it was safe and tucked in. The way this
dog worked in line was seen by everyone in the line and in the gallery
- it was a pleasure to watch , but the drama was not over yet as he
returned at pace with a lively cockbird it looked like he stood on the
birds tail which flipped him over in a 360 degree somersault and he
lost his grip on the bird , in a flash he recaptured the bird and
returned to Phil at which point the gallery erupted wth applause. For
many , including myself this was the retrieve of the Champonships -
pure brilliance by the dog and total confidence in the dog by Phil.
Tuesday ended early at about 1pm and there were only 12 dogs called back for the last day.
Back
to the hotel and I spoke to Phil to congratulate him on the retrieve
and asked him what went through his mind as he saw the dog working on
the line and he answered very phylosophically " I knew I was out if he
didnt pick the bird so I let him get on with it ".
Wednesday ; I
woke up on Wednesday morning to the sound of rain falling ( great ) we
had already had two good weather days so I suppose another was too much
to ask for, but as it happens after a wet start the rain stopped and
the sky started to clear for another dry day.
There were only 12 dog
left for the start of the final day and one of the dogs first in line
was Phil Parkin with his yellow dog who was on the left with no 8 Mr T
Brain and his lab bitch Rockside May. A woodcock was shot over over on
the right and number 8 was sent. Mr Brain worked hard but couldnt get
his dog right on the fall , he was called up and Phil was sent - again
Shooting Star showed his metal and picked the bird after Phil worked to
get him in the area, at this point you had to think that two or more
retrieves like that and maybe he could win , but even before the
thought had time to sink in a cockbird was lightly hit right over the
right hand side of the line - Phil was sent straight away but even as
the dog was on his way it was plain to see the cockbird making his
escape into the wild blue yonder, Phil tried his hardest to put his dog
onto the line and at the point it looked like Shooting Star has started
to follow the bird it wasnt to be as Phil was called up and that was
the cruel end of his Champonship.While this ws going on there were
other dogs going pretty much unoticed Including No 4 John Halstead, no
5 Jamie Bettinson, No 14 Sandra Halstead, No 17 Lynn Mitchell, No 24
John Halstead, No 32 Mr Carville, No 34 Mr S Richardson,
No 36 Mr Wayne Mitchell, No 4 Mrs Hankey, and No 34 Miss A Clarke.
It
was soon clear that John Halstead was giving a masterclass in dog
handling and where his dogs had not marked a fall he took over and
refused to let the dog get out of the area until finding the game.
Dogs
were now being eliminated on almost every retrieve and again the cruel
world of trailling reared its head when two hen pheasants were shot by
the end gun on the left right in front of me. The first dog was sent
which picked the furthest bird just out of sight of the handler then no
43 Miss A Clarke with her lab bitch Garron Point Liffy was sent for the
second , This little dog just ran over the first bird on the wrong side
of the wind and got into the area of the second birds fall where it
worked every square inch of the area time and again , with Annette not
able to see her dog she just kept telling it to hunt and it did
everything asked of it until it was called up ( what a shame )
The
day finished with a drive and again John Halstead showed how to handle
a dog in cover making it look easy with both dogs and his mother Sandra
got in on the act with some very nice dogwork and also keeping his
chances alive No 5 Jamie Bettinson was putting in a good performance
with consistantly good retrieves.
But unfortunately the day finished
with another kind of drama as a gentleman in the gallery collapsed and
had to be taken to hospital my best wishes go out to him and I hope he
recovers well.
So thats it another Championship comes to an end - but who had won ???
After
talking to lots of people whilst walking back to base most people
called it right with John Halstead taking first and second with a
display of dogwork well worthy of a winner.
At the awards as they
read the results in reverse order it was all too much for Nina Johns
wife as she broke down in tears and after receiving his awards John was
found to be speechless - probably for the first time !!!
Well done John and all the other award winners - and not forgetting all the other competitors , you are all winners !!!!!!!
A full list of Results has already been posted.
Just
to finish I would like to say that the hospitality shown by the Parker
Family who were our hosts was second to none and the work the keeper
and estate staff put in can not go unmentioned.
And finally Thank
you to Philip and Chris Wainwright along with other organising comittee
for putting on a fantastic Centenary Champonships
Thank you all !!!!!!