July 12th
This
is the first time Raby Castle has hosted a tournament and it saw us running just
one team, The Hot Shots. The
running area was located in the deer park so we had a terrific exercise area, the
one drawback being an abundance of deer poo, thanks Charlie! The Hot Shots are starting to gel and we actually picked up
some points this time as dogs and handlers improved on their changeovers.
By the end of the day we were enjoying some good racing and even won two
races in the final heat. Amber and Pete seem to be competing with Kate and Gin for the
title of flyball dancing dog much to the amusement of our judge Andy Short.
Amber’s antics have prompted Pete to write an ‘Ode to Amber’.
Sue B
and Richard had decided to come along and watch the tournament only to find that
Stan had entered Bracken into the Lomond Raiders starter team. Bracken did really well for his first tournament and helped
to win some of the races. He had
Daisy’s blue lane problem a few times so we formed ‘The Hillam Wall’ to
encourage him back down the lane. This
was also Sue’s first tournament and the next day she discovered her legs were covered in bruises from handling Bracken, she
says she will wear shin pads the next time. 
Sue and
Bracken finished in the rosettes with a third place, 
far higher than the Hot
Shots who finished last.