It's not often you come away from a single competition as a Club and have multiple reasons to feel on cloud nine! But for our open and foundation teams, the Jets competition at Highbridge Farm was a dream - with Kennet Flyball Club bringing home first place in all 3 divisions we entered! What a weekend!
Our Kennet Kubs team are new to flyball over the last year, and for some, this was their first competition. Of course, most of the dogs took their races in their stride while their handlers blossomed from slightly nervous to fully engaged in the days racing. Maya has already competed in foundations, and she was a force all afternoon, with her handler getting into an impressive groove with her starts! But for Aswell, Dave and Poppy, this was their first foundation race - and wow, did they show us some form! It's so exciting to see everything come together in those few seconds of racing! For little Raven, the new world and all its intensity proved a bit too much of a leap from the safety of our training sessions, so we just made use of the opportunity for her to get used to the surroundings and to acclimatise her to the racing environment. The whole Kubs team did the Club very very proud and got a well deserved first place.
Next up, our Kennet Kookies foundation team are a little more experienced, and are now working on building up teamwork and box-work - and these guys did not put a single paw wrong - race after race after race. Luna as start dog led the team into the race, followed by a very dependable Jimbo, with Ripley as third dog followed very speedily by Toby. The only thing preventing them from reaching that holy grail of 100% clean races was a food temptation that proved just too much for our puggle Ripley - even though it was outside the ring, the drifting smell of one our own team member's lunch (!) set her on a little deviation. But the team was utterly solid throughout all their other races and got a well deserved first place!
With foundation racing completed on Saturday, and our open team not competing until Sunday, there was undoubtedly a little pressure on Kennet Kestrels! We are always a little worried about the heat during our summer competitions, so were glad that the day was overcast - but the humidity was unrelenting. Our team was full though, so with 6 dogs, we had a bit of flexibility - and we definitely used it to ensure that our dogs were able to safely race and put our speed or stamina into the right races during the course of the day. Our first race in - with Kizzy, Bracken, Cassi and Luna, went without a hitch and we won in 3 legs. But in the second race - with Kizzy, Cassi, Dory and Buzz - a dog from the other team ran over to our side on all but the last leg, which meant that Dory and Buzz didn't get to complete their runs properly. They were unfazed, but Buzz was primed each time and found it difficult having to stand down and not having a chance to race. He was getting so over-excited that he was struggling with the heat and so we decided to give him a break. Our wins continued, and we went into the final race of the day - with Bracken, Cassi, Luna and Dory - and again won in 3 straight legs.
It was quite a weekend!