Agility Dog Association of Australia Ltd

From the Chairman...July 2005

Currently its hard to keep pace with the flurry of ADAA Agility happening both North and South; Training Camps, Competitions and Grand Prix Fever. The Queensland camp is happening this weekend with over 60 participants and should be a really great weekend with the varied program that has been designed. The 2nd ADAA Training camp in NSW takes place at the end of July, and entries close in 2 weeks time, so be sure to make your selections, complete your forms and send back in time. We hope it will be as enjoyable for the NSW camp participants to have tuition by the visiting Queensland instructors as it will be for the Instructors to meet the many new Agility Handlers in NSW and for the NSW old hands who usually carry the instructing load to have a weekend off to enjoy training with their own dogs.

The Points Tally for the Medallion Stakes is creeping upwards with 5 rounds completed so far in NSW and 4 in Queensland. Several dogs are already in the medal tally and have to hold their edge to progress to the next medal level. In addition there are many sitting just out of medallion range; so with another round or 2 to go may earn themselves a medal. If you haven’t checked where you stand, hop onto the website and check your points. The culmination of this new ADAA event will be the Medallion Stakes Invitation event at Uralla where the top 10 dogs from each height class from each state will compete to find the Medallion Stakes winners.

Talking of Grand Prix, 12th July is the close of early Bird entries. All entries received by that date will go in the draw for the Early Bird Prize; so finalise your teams and get your entries posted. If not in the teams there is no excuse, fill in the forms and pop them in the postbox today. Entries close completely on 12th August in order to give us time for the catalogue printing, ordering and printing of the shirts and ordering the great ADAA gift that comes in the welcome bag. So whether it’s your 1st or your 4th Grand Prix everyone should have fun. The prize pool has grown incredibly this year, the Saturday night Steeplechase promises lots of fun. Have you seen the Steeplechase Update; 10 new prize categories have been added, so the winner and runner up take the money but every other dog participating at Uralla has a chance in one of the new prize categories as do the spectators. Mad Max, Brave Heart, Twister, Every Which Way But Loose, to name but a few the fun part being that the judging criteria for these prizes will be predefined but not pre-announced, so we will leave you guessing. Don’t forget the Fancy Dress Competition for the Sunday Dinner, non-compulsory so everyone can have a great evening. Now in-between all this fun is the serious Agility; the Challenge events, Starter and Intermediate Events, The Medallion Stakes. The Grand Prix Sub-Committee is working very hard to ensure that it is going to be a great Grand Prix. Don’t forget if you or your club wish to sponsor one or more events, to include this with your entry and if you have any non-competiting assistants coming please let us know when they are willing to assist It will certainly help the smooth running of the rings if we have some dedicated assistants.

Keep an eye on the forthcoming schedules, as I believe a Steeplechase is on the cards in both states to whet your appetite. It is fantastic to see a steady line up of ADAA competitions in both states, with several of the NSW ones aimed as fund raising events for the purchase of a second set of electronic timing equipment. How is the tally going?? Are We There yet will soon be the popular question as you climb towards the target figure. What a boon the Timing Gear is turning out to be, and how sad is it when it tells you that you missed an advanced card by 0.18 seconds as happened to me at a recent competition. I must mention a recent Queensland Competition run by WAAG; they decided we needed a Triple Header (1 competition on Saturday Afternoon/ Evening, followed by a very festive night among the campers, then another competition on the Sunday Morning and finishing with a 3rd starting late that same afternoon). Thank heavens the next day was a holiday to recuperate, to say I was exhausted would have been the understatement of the year.

Finally end of June is the end of the membership year for many who did not take the new 3-year option last year, so download a membership form and renew immediately as you may not compete if you are not a financial member. If you are unsure, or have a query then please email admin@adaa.com.au or phone the ADAA mobile on 0423 138 914.

Marion

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