PAL National Agility Challenge - Team Finals 2000
Written by Richard Barville, FLAGS team captain.
Submitted by Kaye Brotherwood,  (Perth, Australia)

On the morning of sat 26^th Aug, the hopes and fears of some of the best in the Australian ANKC agility world were about to be realized – but not necessarily to everybody’s satisfaction.  Some would have their wildest hopes and dreams come true and others would have their worst fears enacted in front of a large crowd.  The GSDA FLAGS faced their greatest challenge, we were about to try and win the national title for the 4^th consecutive year – on home ground for a change after successful visits to Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide in the three preceding years.  This was the chance to show all our supporters how we could perform when it counted.

The occasion was the Final of the PAL National Agility Challenge for teams.  This year it was WA’s turn to host the event, which was the culmination of numerous run-offs and selection trials in each of the competing States around Australia.  Over 80 teams of 4 dogs had originally entered and had now been whittled down to the final 6 teams; 1 each from ACT, SA, NSW, VIC, QLD and of course WA.

For WA to win would be ‘a big ask’, because the preliminary rounds had shown that there were some fast dogs in several of the other states, and ACT, QLD & SA were all faster than us, with VIC just a couple of seconds away.  It looked as though the Canberra team should beat us by 20 seconds!

The host club was Cloverdale Canine Companions and their ground at the Gerry Archer stadium was to be the venue for 4 days of agility activity; the regular Thurs eve training, a welcome barbeque and training session for the visiting interstate teams on Friday, the main event, the team finals competition on Saturday, and a double header trial on the Sunday.  The weather forecast was not too promising, but we were hopeful that the rains would not intrude too much.

As the interstate people arrived at the ground on Saturday morning they were able to see it in daylight for the first time.  The Cloverdale club was bustling with activity and organized enthusiasm as the ring and ropes were set under the control of the chief steward, Eric Herson.  During the next hour, the bunting and PAL hoardings were placed, the tents erected and each team organized it’s little camp.  Luke Didsman (the national organizer), wife Chris, and Helen White were busy with all the administration activities that are required.  Many other club members (and members of other clubs) were all helping out.  Everything was going together smoothly.

All the dogs were being walked around and each competitor was preoccupied with their own little pre-trial routines to prepare themselves and their dogs.  The tension was starting to mount and the nerves were starting to stretch.  The weather was looking good and the supporters had started to arrive.  The ‘official’ photographer had been taking team photos, the sound system was tested and then it was time to walk the course.  Everybody had been waiting to get inside the ropes and check out what the course would be like.  The judge was Cindy Didsman and her course was challenging and fair.  There was an interesting handler challenge/discrimination test right after the tyre at the start, as the entrance to obstacle 2 (the weavers) also had the outlet from obstacle 13 (the flexi-tunnel) right next door!  After the weavers;  the broad jump, the A frame and the spread followed around in an anti-clockwise circle, ending on the table.  This should have given the right hand handlers some advantages over the left hand people who had to run further round the outside of the loop.  Next was a brush jump, the soft tunnel and the dog-walk going around in a clockwise direction before doubling back over the triple & 2 bar jumps in an anti clock curve, then into the flexi-tunnel and through the tire to finish – 14 obstacles in all.

Our team had all followed our usual preparations leading up to this event, but it felt strange not having to travel interstate and stay together.  If it is done the right way, there is much that can be gained from traveling away as a team and to be honest, we were missing that this year.  Of course, we were not superstitious, but we were all doing the same things that we had done since that first trip to Canberra.  Wayne had his lucky horse brass, which we all shared around, Mark had a shave, and I wore my ‘lucky’ tee shirt and bought a new pair of shoe laces.  (In previous years I had always bought new trainers, but this year I was hoping just the laces would do the trick!)

The other things that we were relying on were our knowledge of what was needed to win and the experience of coping with the pressure on the day.  We were hoping that some of the ‘faster’ individuals still had something to learn about running as a team

And so it came down to the start time, this was when we would see what everybody was made of.  As is usual here, the running order would be large, medium then small, and after a break, the 2^nd round would reverse the order and be small, medium & large.  There were 11 large, 11 medium and 2 small dogs and our team of shepherds were of course all large, so we would be able to set a target then wait and see what would be needed in the second round.  There were 8 or 9 BCs in the medium height group and they obviously would pose a problem if they could get clear rounds.

Running number one, Mark Jovic with Cougar was the first to face the gate steward Frank Fitzpatrick, and the crowd hushed as he went to the line.  And by now it was a crowd!  Lots of the WA agility community had turned up to cheer us on and to see how some of the best dogs from interstate would perform.  There were also quite a few from off the street as advance publicity (organized by Gary Gleeson and Kay Brotherwood) had ensured some useful media coverage.

Mark ran Cougar well, he was clear with a total time of 40.12 seconds.  Wayne Martin at number four was next with Shar and although they missed the up-colour on the dog walk, had a time 46.21 sec.  I was next at number eight with Della who did a super clear round in 35.91 sec.  Last but one of the big dogs was Mark again with Leisha, running at number ten.  His clear round of 38.23 sec was to prove good enough to give us a lead of about 7 seconds at the halfway point. We had 3 clear rounds and only one fault between us.  Because the medium dog handlers had seen that our team time was pretty fast, they thought they had better try to go faster.  That was where they went wrong as they all had faults for knocked jumps, missed colours, or obstacles out of order!  The pressure had got to them and they were not thinking clearly!

So, at the end of the first round, the times were:

1^st  WA 160.47,  2^nd  NSW 167.24,  3^rd  QLD 168.04,  4^th  SA 179.05,     5^th  VIC 184.25,   6^th  ACT 196.62

When the second round got under way after a short lunch break, (I couldn’t eat a thing!) the others had no choice but to try to go even faster, and risk more faults!  All the teams did well; they all improved their times (except NSW who went slower), ACT by 46 secs!  VIC by 24 secs and QLD by 13secs.  But it was not enough!  So when it came to the large dogs turn, we knew what we had to do.  We would have to be a bit faster this round, but not by much, and we couldn’t afford any mistakes otherwise our lead would slip away.  We had to at least match QLD’s time.  This was the first year that we had a clear lead at halfway, we were used to coming from behind as the others faltered!

The crowd had swelled even more, it seemed like hundreds of spectators, channel 7 was there, channel 31 was coming, and each dog got a tumultuous ovation at the completion of it’s round.  The atmosphere was tremendous and the excitement was building to a climax.

Mark and Cougar went first in the large dogs with a super clear round of 37.39 secs, Wayne and Shar improved their time but had another fault on the same up-colour on the dogwalk, so they ended up with 43.49 sec.  I was next with Della, and the main thing was not to make any more errors.  We managed a clear round in 35.85 sec, so the team was still on track.  Last came Mark with Leisha.  They ran around calmly and clear in 38.4 secs.  That was it; there was no more we could do.  We again had 3 clear rounds & only 1 fault, and it seemed that that was going to be enough to win!   There was an anxious wait while the official results were worked-out, but at last came the announcement (in reverse order):

6^th  SA 352.70,  5^th  ACT 347.35,  4^th  VIC 344.64,  3^rd  NSW 338.15,    2^nd  QLD (a big shout, as it was now clear who would win) 323.14 sec,  then,   1^st  WA 315.60 secs – THE WINNERS!!

So, we had done it, we had now won the national final for 4 years in a row, and to win the 4^th on home ground in front of our own agility community was the icing on the cake.

For those that are interested, here are the 2^nd round results, which show what might have been for a couple of other teams, if they had been more experienced:

1^st ACT 150.73, 2^nd QLD 155.10, 3^rd WA 155.13, 4^th VIC 160.39, 5^th NSW 170.91, 6^th SA 173.65

As can be seen from the results, it was a close thing, with all the teams within about 30 seconds of each other.  There had been no disqualifications or any other dramas to spoil the occasion.  Everything had gone smoothly; even the weather had cooperated to ensure an enjoyable day for all involved.  In fact, looking back on it all at the end of the day as we packed away our tent, our biggest challenge had been in the early morning when we had to erect that tent without any instructions!  Once we had mastered that everything else was easy!!

(Richard Barville, FLAGS team captain.)