Our agility marathon weekend
We're back from WAO! Feels like we're back from a marathon. I ran 43 runs this weekend. Meaning I did 43 of warm ups, 43 cool downs and 43 runs with 4 different dogs who need 4 different handling strategies... And oh, I tried to do my best to keep the puppy amused as well... I guess you can guess I'm a bit tired π
We won enough placements for the whole backpack of rosettes and had even more great runs with one tiny stupid mistake, so I'm actually really happy with our performance, despite our best runs were all in different categories so final results were not as good as they could be with better placement of the good runs.
I'm not sure my track of those 43 runs is completely right, but I think La ran everything clean BUT 2 eliminations, one in Biathlon and one in Pentathlon, so definitely not a good placement of off courses, both caused by me, getting used to distances we're certainly NOT used to - distances La saw for the 1st time in her 12 years of running agility π
Bu, my always-clean dog, knocked almost all walls and also some spreads - maybe they're of different dimensions at WAO as in FCI as she never had this problem before and here, she knocked MANY of those two and none of others, so I think they didn't fit into her maths, mastered to perfection, on how to jump that or another thing. AND, she also had one very bad placed off course that costed us 1st place in Team overall (we still finished 3rd, but would win big time without that off course) - on the 2nd to last obstacle after the most perfect run on a very difficult course, caused by me panicking about DW-tunnel discrimination that she is perfect at, calling her name rather as saying dog-walk at least once, huh...
Bi had plenty of brilliant runs as well and set many best times, but she also knocked some walls and a couple of bars... She also got called for AF that was done and her last run was brilliant, only that I forgot to handle the last 2 obstacles (in my defence: that was my 42nd run that weekend) and got us off course on another course that she would certainly win. That was our only off course the whole weekend, she sure was listening perfectly and was actually 2nd in Pentathlon until the very last run and had the best time from all in combined Pentathlon, finishing on 5th place with that additional fault for AF that was done...
Le did great in team part and definitely helped big time that our team placed so high, but she had some unexpected mistakes in individual part, including TWO popping out of weaves (both in the main ring, both with an easy entry and both set in the same direction, so maybe something with background colours?) what is VERY strange... Β We also ruined our see-saws and start line stays AGAIN - both were perfect the 1st day, but then slowly started to fall apart...Β She did have best time in every run though where she didn't pop out of weaves π and no off courses at all - and she ran MANY runs as she qualified for everything and ran all team runs for her category. And oh, Bu and Le both won Snooker - not bad at all given it was our very 1st time running Snooker! π
So all in all, I'm really happy with this weekend - even more so because of meeting so many of my on line students from all around the world and seeing them doing sooo GREAT! Special congratulations to Nicky&Brahma from Argentina and Karen&Puzzle from England for all the winning they did - RC rock! And of course, to all my team mates - Manca, NuΕ‘a, MaruΕ‘a and Kris, for all the great runs! Given we were just 5 there, there is no doubt Slovenia gathered by far the most wins per person this weekend π
Congratulations on your great weekend and doing so well with such a huge volume of runs. 43 is mind boggling as I have trouble enough with just 6 in a weekend. It sure sounds like you had lots of fun so congratulations again to you.
Of course I have a question. When you say you have not seen those distances before, I am assuming you are referring to total length of course. Is this correct or are you referring to distance between obstacles? Just curious.
I was referring to distances between obstacles. We usually see 22 obstacles and here it was mostly 19, but distances were huge. I have no idea of total length of courses not at WAO and not in FCI though, I never check that -- or standard time… -- who cares right? π
Congratulations!!!! That’s an amazing number of runs! Well done! And such a cute picture above! π
I tried to read through the rules of “Snooker”, but stopped, because it was too complicated. Haha π
Do you have videos?
Yes, I started and stopped many times as well, I hate reading rules π -- but then Graduates from US helped me get the point -- you can find it somewhere in the class π It’s really fun!
Oh cool, thank you! I’m going to read through the comments! π
I would be happy to help with questions about snooker. π
That would be great! π
I tried to find it, but I couldn’t. Do you know on which page it was? Otherwise you could tell me (in short?) how snooker looks like? π
I found it. Graduates Only class page 104. It starts with a post from me about my dog’s first super Q. I can post an example of a starters course if you are interested beyond the discussion in GO. π
Thank you! See you in GO! π
I really can’t imagine even physically doing that many warmups and runs, never mind all the mental work, plus the travel, etc. What in the world will you do when To starts competing? Because La certainly looks like she has no intention of quitting!
I hope you’ll post video!
Oh, on a day of a travel, we only had a training after (Thursday) and for a way back, 8 runs first (Sunday) π But no, seriously, if we normally had so many runs per day, I wouldn’t have so many dogs! We normally have 2 runs per dog per day and normally just 1 day, sometimes 2, so it’s cool to have 8 runs per day and 10 would be fine as well. But at WAO, with 17 runs the first day, it was really too much, neither me or my dogs every did so much agility before and I was getting really sore, had to do quite some jogging before every run for a warm up and really made quite some kilometres by the end!
Silvia, that was MORE than a marathon, it was an ULTRAmarathon!!! I can only imagine a little bit how you had to feel…. its a little bit like USDAA trials here where there are sometimes 5 or 6 runs a day (for one dog)… the most I’ve ever run in a day is 2 dogs, and I was SO tired by the end of the day, physically and mentally…. and I feel like its worse in outdoor trials, I don’t know why, maybe less sitting…. but congratulations on KILLING IT!!! I was unable to watch the lifestream because of work, but i have the video on demand and can watch now!!! The Snooker wins are quite an accomplishment!!! Question for you…. how did you like Peggy Hammond’s courses? I have run her courses a lot over here in USDAA….
I liked the courses of the Italian judge the most as they were the most challenging/interesting. I didn’t like his inability to see RC though, he called Bi on AF and one of my students on a DW and both were hits… I also liked running Peggy’s courses as they were different as what we normally see and Le sure loved to just run and forgot all about the turns π I was most impressed by how she could judge Snooker and Gambler half of the day… I would DIE calling those numbers out for hours!
I’m glad you liked Peggy’s courses. She is one of my favorite judges. She worked really hard with snooker and gamblers. And that relay course she designed was amazing. I know she was thrilled to see you run your dogs. π
I agree! I don’t know how our US judges can keep their wits about when they judge Snooker and Gamblers:) I would fail after the second dog! Peggy is one of my favorite USDAA judges too, Gail, and she is super nice:) And I like her Snooker course designs:)))
I know! And then I complain about 43 runs and she had to judge more as I want to know! π The courses were easier as we’re used to, but definitely not as boring as I normally think of US courses π
Congratulations! And what a crazy crazy amount of runs for you!
Bu sure looks a little like ‘Are we finished working for now?’ in the picture π
No, Bu is “are we finished taking pictures with those two nut heads?” Bi was really tired by the end, but Bu can keep going for ever. She doesn’t like any social events like taking photos with other dogs though!
Haha! Even funnier!
WOW what a weekend !!! huge congratulations !!!!! can’t wait for the VIDEOS :)))
Congrats Silvia, that’s really an amazing performance, you are the Six Million Dollar Woman of agility !!! π
Silvia.. I think that La deserves a winning pic too!! π no many dogs with that age are able to do what she did.!!! π
Yes, she was running great! She would run all clean if I focused a bit more on her runs, but with so many runs, it was hard… She needs some more help now as she doesn’t hear well anymore so I need to help her more.
Wow amazing!! Congratulations on an awesome weekend π You really are a super woman, you have even commented on the online courses, unbelievable !!
Looking forward to your videos π hope you have a chance to rest at some stage, although I image you never stay still for long π
CONGRATULATIONS Silvia!!! And you should win an extra rosette for your marathon day of responding to posts!!!! π
Yes Kelly, this is true!!!! Thanks Silvia!!!! One big award for you!!!!!! and I love Bi’s face and EARS!!!!! She is sooo cute <3<3<3
π It was a nice change to just sit behind the computer though rather as running around! π