Epworth - 12/13th April 2025

Our first outdoor and camping competition of the year and what a weekend this turned out to be. The weather held and although travel was a little slow on Friday due to congestion on A17 Chris, Julia and Tina arrived around 2ish to beautiful sunshine to set up camp, shortly followed by Ash. The weather was a glorious 21 degrees during the afternoon. Tina and Dean arrived next with Jemma and the new 'caravanners' - Gem and Martin arriving after dark.

Saturday dawned bright and the sun came out again although there was a chilly breeze at times there were definitly no jumper opportunities. This proved to be a busy day as we had all 3 open teams racing today. Wash consisted of Lottie, Blue, Bessie and Eddie: Aztec were Jessie, Stan, Pip, Mabel and Indie with Vikings - Maggie, Flo, Bonnie, Zarah and Charly.

Tina started the day judging division 1 so the rest of the team had a bit of a break until the second division.

Aztec were up first in division 7 (seeded 2) and won all 3 of their morning races. North Lincs Need to Scream took us to 5 heats with us winning 3-2, but we beat Shawcross Against all Odds and Hazelmuttz in 3 straight heats each. The afternoon session badly as Teen (running Lottie) had seriously hurt her back and could hardly walk so wouldn't be able to handle her dog for the final 2 races. Tina gladly stepped in and had a wonderful time running her so the results followed on from the morning with Doghouse Rock and Roll taking us to 5 heats, which we won and by this time Brigg Muttley Monsters had gone down to 3 dogs so we went all day not losing a race giving us a divisional win. Jessie and Pip shared starts and Indie returned to racing after having had her litter of pups in November last year. We didn't break any records and our fastest recorded time of the day was 19.24secs but the dogs ran consistently well together again, especially on the return to outdoor racing considering we havn't had any outdoor training yet.

Wash were up next in division 3 (seeded 1). Monster Danger were our first opponents who took us to 4 heats which we won 3-1, Brazil Mutts were next and took us to 5 heats which we took 3-2, Brigg Muttley Mischief we beat 3-0. So we took all 3 races in the morning. The afternoon races were against Coventry who took us to 5 heats which we won 3-2 and Tailwind we beat 3-0 so again this team didn't drop a race all day. Again no records but the team hit 17 seconds 6 times throughout the day and recorded a fastest time of 17.22 secs. Lottie is still not box turning properly (although we know she can) in race conditions so we know she can speed up and Blue was nursing a split stopper pad. Bessie was really really pleased to get back to racing and she let us know it! Eddie was a super star at anchor not faltering all day and amazing the judges with his brilliant recall when Claire let him go before Bessie fumbled the ball and also completing an immediate rerun on a sixpence when required. It's taken time but now he's loving it again and the 2 years getting him back to this position has been well worth the wait. This team took 1st place in their division.

Viking Warriors were last up with Bonnie and Charly sharing a spot in this team as the 2 'oldies'. They were in division 10 and seeded 1st. Eclipse on Fire were our first opposition who took us to 4 heats and although we lost the first heat we won the next 3. Ravensdale Wrens took us to 4 heats and we won the first, broke out on the 2nd and lost the next 2 - so we lost that race. Shawcross Happy Tails were easier and we took all 3 heats off them. So at the end of the morning session we were on 2 wins (as were a number of out opposition). In the afternoon Doncaster Southern Stars took us to 4 heats which we took 3-1 and we took all 3 off Trigger Happy so ended the day on 4 wins and yet another divisional win. Vikings recorded a fastest time of 20.51 secs during the day (which was the break out time) but yet again all the dogs ran consistently well together for their first race outdoors.

Chris ran Charly on the last 3 heats of his races as we have decided that at 11 1/2 years old it is time to retire him from Flyball. He has had an amazing career gaining 17500 points with UKFL and 11500+ with BFA starting his racing at 12 months old in the old BFA Starters on 13th December 2014, going into open at 18 months old and competing for 10 years. Time to hang your paws up Charly and relax a little xxxxx.

Our 1st BBQ of the season was then partaken in by all the team, thanks to Chris for starting the BBQ off and Ash for finishing the cooking. Needless to say we were all exhausted and an early night was had by all.

Sunday dawned clear but the day was much colder and jumpers and coats were needed by all today. Today was quieter although we were ring party for the 2nd open division - Dean took lights, Julia scribe and Jemma box.

Jovi was up next for his first session in a foundation division. He was on his own as Wren had come into season so the aim was for him to concentrate on Dean and we would see how he coped with dogs in another lane. We held him back each time until the opposition had completed due to his 'keen interest' in what was going on next to him. His run backs were very good, going to Dean each time and catching the tug without a problem. When his turn came to complete a run he went down and box turned, taking the ball was a bit hit and miss but he did manage to carry it over 2 jumps and nearly completed 3. The first 3 'races' he managed really well by which time his brain had become overcharged and the 4th race he was too interested in one of the collies next door. However he managed the day really well and for the first time in the ring was a superstar. He even got his own rosette for his efforts and so didn't need to steal any from either Lottie or Dean (for boxloading) this time!!!

The newby caravanners (Martin and Gem & of course Finn) seemed to enjoy their luxary and said they were definitely warmer than tenting it!! We really are starting Finn off early as at less than 3 months old he has already been in the ring (albeit in a pram) and ball collected (with a bucket on his pram). Can we get him any points do you think???

We are all now looking forward to our next outing at Molten's competion at Naseby in 2 weeks time by which time we hope to have had a training session outside!!