Agility Dog Association of Australia Ltd

ADAA and Australia at the IFCS 2010 World Agility Championships
(14-16 May 2010, England)

Visit the WAC 2010 website

Fundraising for Team Australia at WAC 2010

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Updated 22/04/2010 - Congratulations to Kate Bartels for becoming a Team Member. This makes the Aussie team as follows:

Team Captain – Cathy Slot
Team Coach – Maria Thiry

Team Handlers – Large Dog
Denise Crook
Kriszty Cumming
Joanne Lewohl
Elsina Meyer
Sharyn Palmer
Natalie Kirkwood

Team Handlers – Small Dogs
Nicole Ford
Ian Weston
Lisa Henshaw
Siegfried Clever
Tracey Harrison-Hill
Kate Bartels

Team Reserve – Large Dogs - Amanda Pacher

In addition we have selected host dogs for the Aussie team:

Toy Dogs
Honeyvale White Diamond ‘Buckra’ (Beverly Horrobin)
Lady of Luss ‘Megan’ (Jean Young)
Echo (Amy Lawson)

Mini Dogs
Tippy tipex tippy tiptoes ‘Tip’ (Heather Lee)
Bear (Chris Baldwin)
Fudge (Amy Lawson)

Midi Dogs
Kal (Ros Etheridge)
Shaka (Nancy Faris)
Flynns Little Sweetheart ‘Meg’ (Bob Sharpe)

Maxi Dogs
Dodger (Lucie Hinchley)
The Hogwarts Express ‘Robert’  (Virginia Harry)
Cascades Fantastic Mr Sox ‘Sox’ (Thelma Wigginton)

Team arrangements are well under way, with flights and accommodation booked plus access to practice venues, once the team arrives. We’ve heard that the organisers have already had a dry run to make sure that everything goes according to plan. Team clothing is on order and Team Members in each location have completed a number of training sessions with borrowed dogs. One of the most important things will be for the Team Members to form a relationship with their host dog so the host dog owners have kindly provided answers to a long list of questions compiled to help our team

Not only will Team Members get the opportunity to compete on the world stage, it also looks like some of them will also get to compete with dogs at competition(s) in the UK. That too, will be an awesome experience. It’s great to see that we have over 20 people travelling to the UK to support the team (plus a few local Aussies coming along and joining in).
 
The team continues to work hard raising funds to cover some of the costs of the trip. They couldn’t have done this without great support from lots of other members from all around Australia. Thank you to PADS for use of their grounds, SunCoast FunDogs for running the fundraising Open/Advanced competition at the end of January and ADCQ for use of their grounds and equipment for the workshops and competition in April. Thanks also to PADS and BADC for donating using of their grounds/equipment for Team Training sessions. Thank you to Lynda Orton-Hill for donating her time while she was in Australia to run a Mental Preparation Workshop in Victoria and to Yunde Canine Enterprises for holding a WAC Fundraising raffle during the workshops (prize of a cool coat donated by Silver Eagle Clothing – great supporters of ADAA and our members). Thanks also to Amanda Pacher for accommodating a huge amount of bottled water for longer than we ever thought was going to be required, Leanne Davis for hosting a training day at her place and Parramatta International Canine Sports Inc and Nicola Read for their guest instructor night.

Thank you to all of our sponsors/donors for the WAC, including:

Agility Dog Club of Queensland Inc
Allison Britton
Anne Trubshaw
Bearded Collie Club of NSW
Caltex
Clean Run Productions
Comfee Creatures
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Eden Hill Dog Fellowship
Eric Broadbent Vet
Hendersons Country Meats
House of Carpets Caboolture
Jim Hull/Lisa Henshaw
Julianne Hoey
Lynda Orton-Hill
Mrs Palmer
Pawfect Stitch
Pet Barn Morayfield
Pine Agility Dog Sports Club
Prestige Pets
Rob & Jan Giger
Silver Eagle Clothing
SunCoast FunDogs Agility Club Inc
The Brisbane Pet Motel
Vets All Natural
Wayne Stutz
Yunde Canine Enterprises

It really is such an amazing thing to see so many people/groups so gracious and generous.

Cheers
Cathy Slot
Australian Team Captain WAC 2010
 

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Updated 25/10/09 - WAC TEAM - On behalf of the ADAA Board, I would like to congratulate the following who have been extended an invitation to be Australian Team Handlers competing at the IFCS World Agility Championships to be held in the UK May 2010 (www.wac2010.com). Those who applied for the team represented an exceptionally strong field and we thank all of the nominees (whether or not they have been offered a position at this point) for their contribution.

Mini/Toy:

Nicole Ford
Ian Weston
Stacy Richards
Lisa Henshaw
Siegfried Clever
Tracey Harrison Hill
Kate Bartels (First Reserve)

Maxi/Midi:

Denise Crook
Kriszty Cumming
Jo Lewohl
Elsina Meyer
Sharyn Palmer
Natalie Kirkwood
Nicola Read (First Reserve)
Amanda Pacher (Second Reserve)

The Board is also delighted to advise that Maria Thiry has been offered the position of Australian Team Coach.

The Board (excluding those who had submitted a nomination as Coach and/or Team Handler) made the decision on Team composition and selection of Team Coach. The first four handlers in each group gained their Team Handler offer based entirely on points/rankings. Because the first four in each height category were considered to have made up a strong team, we then selected the wildcards (and reserves) also directly from points. In the one situation where that was equal, it was on the basis of meeting the requirements of the selection document as responded to in the applicant EOI's and ADAA records. Selection for the position of Team Coach was based on the WAC Selection Criteria, as documented.

I would also like to take this opportunity thank nominees and members who have organised (and supported) the Team fundraising efforts so far. To date, completed activities have raised nearly $13,000 towards the team's costs. Of course, we still have a long way to go to reach our target and are looking forward to our activities at the World Dog Games next week (of which a donation is being made to the ADAA, which the Board has approved be directed towards WAC the
fundraising effort, from each ticket sale).

Once again, I am sure you will join me in congratulating everyone who tried out for the Australian Team (Handlers and Coaches) whether or not they have received an offer to be a part of the team.

Cheers

Cathy Slot
Australian Team Captain WAC 2010

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ADAA has been an official member of the IFCS (International Federation of Cynological Sports) since 2002 and since that time, Australia has had a high profile within the Federation in an official capacity. The IFCS World Agility Championships held in Ingelmunster, Belgium in May 2008 saw Australia competing for the first time - view the WAC 2008 Team Report.  For WAC 2010 ADAA has been offered a full complement of host dogs so that we can send a team of up to 12 Handlers to compete.

The venue and dates for the IFCS World Agility Championships 2010 have been set and will be in England (Clevedon - Hand Equestrian Centre) between 14-16 May 2010.

The first of the WAC Selection competitions has now been held (view the selection results (PDF 17 kb)). This was part of the ADAA Macksville Double Header weekend held 6 to 7 June 2009 (view the Macksville results (PDF 22kb)).  24 out of the 29 handlers who nominated for the Australian Team participated in the event and there were some phenomenal runs and camaraderie over the weekend. There were also quite a few locals who came along and watched during the two days of competing and from the comments they made to me, were very impressed with what they saw.  View also the WDG Try Out results (13 kb PDF).

The weather in the lead up to the event included flooding of the grounds no less than three times so alternative grounds had been organised in case the grounds were found to be unworkable. They certainly weren’t optimal (heavy equipment wasn’t able to come onto the grounds to flatten out the divots from the horses the previous weekend, as that would have done more damage than it solved) however useable areas were found to put up the rings for Saturday under lights (the alternative field was a day-time only venue). With the exception of a couple of small areas, the grounds were as good as, if not better, on Sunday than they were on Saturday and other than a few drops of rain, the impending clouds and lightning diverged around Macksville prior to the competition getting started.

Special thanks to the WAC Selection Judges Steve Drinkwater and Mal Williams for setting great courses that gave everyone the opportunity to shine. I’ve included the courses below however due to the ground conditions some of them may have been slightly changed due to the reduced areas available. Saturday’s WAC Selection events were Snooker and Advanced Jumping.

Snooker was judged by Steve Drinkwater with a Benchmark of 45 points.

Advanced Jumping was judged by Mal Williams.

Sunday’s events were Advanced Agility and Gamblers. Advanced Agility was judged by Steve Drinkwater.

Gamblers was judged by Mal Williams with a benchmark of 54 points and included an optional Joker for the handler.

Full results for the WAC selection events are also available - download as PDF (17 kb)

40 members (including WAC contenders who didn’t have to depart at the conclusion of proceedings on Sunday) made the trip to the local Star Hotel on Sunday night and that proved to be a real hit with everyone. Great company and great food.

Thanks to Loyd Barker for transporting the equipment and Julia Barnett for single-handed undertaking all of the administration duties for the whole weekend, including posting all results for competitors to check as each day progressed. Finally congratulations to everyone who came along and pitched in with equipment setup/break down and contributed to the stewarding/scribing over the weekend.

Our WAC 2010 Nominees

WAC 2010 Selection Information (PDF 94kb)

View the WAC 2008 Team Report

Fundraising for Team Australia at WAC 2010

Visit the WAC 2010 website

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