Part three... and final
In Laura's last blog as an Agility Team GB squad member, she shares her experience of the Performance Weekend.
Part 3 – Performance Weekend
So here is Part 3 – The final part to my Squad Day blog posts and, I must say, what a way to finish. An absolutely amazing weekend of which I was honoured and privileged to be a part of.
Performance weekend started on the Friday, so I set off Thursday evening to the hotel I had booked. Just Jade and myself – girlies together. It was very hard to say goodbye to Grace and Graham but it wasn’t going to be for long. We checked into the hotel around 2100, chilled out, slept and woke up fresh for the Friday events.
The Friday had the whole squad split into groups, with my group being first on in the morning, so I got to the Nottingham Trent University (NTU) early, had my photo taken and cracked on. Vet/Physio check was first up, and we got the all clear and happy, yay. I handed in my fitness plan for Jade which explained what I would do if she should be picked for a team. Next stop – handler fitness.
I was a little worried about this part as I had trapped my sciatic nerve shortly after squad day 2 and so I had not prepared as much as I would have liked. I was pleased with my results from the different tests and managed to improve from Squad Day 2 (phew). I think I should point out here that the Coaching Team members who undertake the fitness for both dogs and humans are amazing. They are very approachable and happy to discuss areas of concern if you have any and really put you at ease. A real asset, especially if you’re not an overtly confident person like myself.
After that we had a practice session as per FCI set up. We split our team into two groups, and had 30 seconds per dog on each course. This was interesting and definitely a new experience to be practicing with time of the essence to ensure you don’t go over into one of your other groups allotted time. Great fun. I think as a new person, this was made easier due to one person making the decision to split our group into two. Obviously, they had previous experience of what would work well and this went seamlessly. Thanks Dave.
Once all that had been completed, we were done for the day. Time to relax before the weekends runs. I went for lunch with Lucie, Paul and Annette – we found a lovely pub and had a great time relaxing, putting the world to rights and building on friendships. Jade and I then went back to the hotel, I FaceTime’d Grace and Graham, heard all about their days, relaxed and went to bed early.
So, on to Saturday. Day 1 of competition runs. I woke up, spoke to Grace and Graham on the phone, told them I loved them and started the day. We got to NTU around 0800. We had a briefing from Mark and our Judge for the weekend, Seppo Savikko (Finland). As per FCI guidelines each height category had 8 minutes to walk the course which we did, and then the competition began. Everyone appeared in good spirits and ready for the day. There was a warm up section at one end of the arena partitioned off from the course which was great to help with getting our dogs and us ready to compete.
The first run was a jumping run, a lovely flowy course with some technicality required. I was nervous, for some reason (can’t think why) more so than normal. I could feel my nerves increasing the closer it got to my turn. I ran the run and unfortunately didn’t connect with Jade after the long jump, sent her into the tunnel instead of over a jump and so were E’d. I finished the run, went to cool jade down before popping her away where I took stock. I was frustrated that I had let myself become so nervous that it effected our performance. Jade did exactly what I had asked, I let her down. I evaluated my warm up routine and preparation and tweaked this for the Agility round. I was not going to be disheartened, I just needed to do better.
All of the heights ran the course and then the Agility course was set up. The same format started over again, 8 minutes course walking and then competition began again. I am pleased to say that my tweaked warm up and self-preparation routine had a positive effect. I got Jade around the whole course clear, with 5 faults for a cheeky missed dog walk – cheeky pops. But I was pleased, on the start line I felt a lot more in control. The agility ran and I was so pleased to be able to actually watch a lot of the Squad Dogs from all heights, it was brilliant to watch, there are so many amazing partnerships.
Once the jumping and agility rounds had finished the coaching team tallied up the results into a running order for the “final” of the day. Jade and I were running order 40 (ish). This was an agility round. We all walked the course and proceeded to run the course. Jade and I went clear in this round and came 7th, so pleased with this considering all the competition around. Well done has to go to Sian Illingworth (large) who won this round with an amazing run.
Once everyone had completed their runs, Saturday was finished and we could all go home. I was exhausted. Not so much physically but mentally. Jade and I went back to the hotel & had some food. I then rang Graham and Grace to say goodnight to Grace, who had been at a friends birthday party. She was extremely tired, really beside herself and crying for me to come home. This killed me, I felt so bad that I was unable to be there for her. I asked Graham to come off the phone as I was not helping her, to get her settled and let me know when she was asleep. I considered driving home to see her and coming back the next day but that was silly, by the time I had got home, she would’ve been asleep. Graham text half an hour later and she was settled asleep in bed. Right then, Grace was asleep and fine, brush off the emotions of guilt, worry etc. and carry on. Jade and I went to bed to prepare for Sunday.
We got to NTU early on Sunday as Sunday involved not just Squad dogs but a number of G6-7 dogs from all heights to compete alongside to try and make development squad. I decided not to ring or speak to Grace that morning, I didn’t want her to get upset, but I also knew If I did, it could affect my performance during the day and I would be going home that evening anyway so would see her then. I spoke with Graham, everything was fine so onwards with the day.
The format followed the same as Saturday. A briefing from Mark and Seppo, 8 minutes course walking per height and competition started. As per Saturday, jumping was first. Jade and I warmed up and had our run. Again, amazing courses to be able to run, they were flowing and required skill from both dogs and handlers. The dogs path seemed the main focus in these courses which was brilliant. Jade ran well, however didn’t initially see a blind tunnel entrance (unusual for her), maybe I should’ve driven her more into it, hindsight is a wonderful thing. This then briefly unfocused me and I pulled her off the next tunnel entrance by layering a jump… I never layer (oops), which resulted in a 5R and some time lost. But we continued for the rest of the course which she did beautifully, so I was pleased with how she was working considering how our training in preparation for this weekend had been impaired by the weather.
I left the jumping run happy, but again, I needed to do better – I also left the jumping runs in a worse state then I had started. I had tweaked my left quad, not sure how and not sure what I had done, all I knew was that it really hurt. I iced it and made sure I stretched and cooled down well, knowing full well I had one more run to do and did not want this to jeopardise my run. After the jumping round came the final for the ‘win on spot’ for EO’s. The finalists for this were picked from squad day 2. So pleased I got to watch this, the competition was fierce, with everyone really pushing. A really interestingly put together course for this final. Well done to the winners of this, truly inspirational to watch and well deserved places.
After the final, we had lunch while the last course of the day was set up, the Agility round. Again, the same format, 8 mins per height to walk and then the competition began. Larges were last with this round and so it was nice to be able to watch the other heights attack the course. Again we prepared, warmed up, I warmed myself up more than usual as my leg continued to hurt and we gave it our best shot. We went clear, yay, well done pops! Once we were over the finish line, I was in agony, hobbled out of the arena, cooled jade down and found Lucie’s ice pack for my leg (thanks Lucie). I went back into the arena to see how the agility was progressing and it was very nearly over. Out of around 100 dogs, Jade came 16th, and out of the squad dogs who went clear we were 5thor 6th. I was so happy with this. I’m under no illusion that Jade is the fastest dog out there but she is consistent (any mess-ups are mine) and she tries her best. There are some amazing dogs and handlers out there, not just on the squad but as Sunday showed the G6-7 dogs from all heights.
Once the larges finished, this closed the Performance Weekend. So, I said my goodbyes and thank yous and drove home where I gave Grace a big hug and a kiss (even though she was asleep), she didn’t even wake up. Takes after her father J.
Upon reflection, the Performance Weekend alongside Squad Day 1 and 2 have been amazing events, ones I will never forget being a part of. The coaching team put so much effort into the running of it, and they all ran seamlessly – so well organised. Thank you everyone for this, I do not envy you having to choose your teams, with so many fabulous dogs and handlers to choose from. The courses set over the weekend were brilliant and loved every minute of running them. The weekend has left me exhausted, but in a good way. It has given me a lot to take home to think about and also be proud of.
This leads me to finally say, well done to each and every one of you, whether you went clear, got faults or were E’d – Everyone looked amazing and you are all an inspiration to watch.
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