We had an early start on what turned out to be a sunny Sunday morning, we all headed across the Pennines to the Livewire tournament in Cheshire. Well that was all the team apart from James, Julie, Brooke and Murph who were only staying 10 minutes away so we got an extra hour an half in bed....hee hee!!!.

Barking Owlers Division 5

Meg, Buffy, Little Archie, Kim and Jess

The team were the first division of the day with an early kick off of 8.15, Jo and Craig were stressing as they slept in and thought they wouldn't arrive of time but they did….phew...which was a good job really as they had Meg and Jess in tow. Makes a change as it was James and Julie the week before at Middlesbrough, only they were heading up to Newcastle instead!!!

They were up against a very tough division on a seed time of 20.36, we were racing teams that on paper had achieved faster times and in one case a sub 20 second time. This did not deter the team at all as they lined up ready to race against  The Northern Bytes....they did great and went on to win the race 3-0. Next up was Dog House Smash 'n' Grab, it turned out to be a very exciting heat taking each team to 2 legs apiece. They were raring to go as they lines up for the deciding leg, Jo hit the lights spot on with Meg, a superb change over from Andrea and Buffy took them into the lead, Kim came through on another superb change from Leanne taking the lead that little bit more......then came Jess our little rocket anchor dog, unfortunately her all too keen dad, Craig, got a little bit excited and let her go a bit too early causing us to get a light, we lost the race. Never mind this is what happens in flyball although poor Craig received a lot of jibes from his team mates and in fact the rest of the club for that matter....LOL. Never mind Craig I am sue you will redeem yourself at Newark. They went onto beat the Wakefield Wizards in their next race taking them 2-0 up before the break between racing. 

 The afternoon racing started with the toughest of them all facing the Greedy Grasshoppers who had previously done a time of 19.47 at Middlesbrough. The team were all fired up and really raring to go on this one. They did a sterling job and took the Greedy's to a 2-2 tie with the 5th leg being the decider...unfortunate for the Greedy's they managed to get a light on one of the changeovers so we won the race, but it was a great one and quite nail biting at times. Our last race of the day was against Molten Metals, we should have won the race but due to lights and misfortune it wasn't to be...BUT....not only did the team come a triumphant 2nd they also smashed their P.B with a new time of 20.11. It was celebration all round as the magic 19 seconds is getting all that nearer...watch out at Newark this team is going to be a real force to be reckoned with especially with our new secret weapon.....ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

A big well done must go to Little Archie our Miniature Schnauzer, although he is a very fast little dog for his size this division was a tough one for him so he didn’t get as many runs as I (Julie) as team captain would have liked him to have, I want to say a huge thank you to June and Richard for supporting the team as you did and wanting them to go all out and win, you stand for what a true team player is all about, it was a long way to come for the little runs he did but you both and L.A are a credit to the club.  

 Barney Owlers Division 1

Norah, Brooke, Murph, George, Poppy and Stripe.

The Barneys also had a very tough day ahead of them but never phased we went out and gave it our all. We had Poppy joining us again as we want to try and get her confidence up running in the team and also to cover Murph should he have a loopy moment, we also had a guest to the team in young Stripe one of our up and coming dogs. He has recently graduated from our starter team and needed a bit of experience over the bigger jumps and as Barney's had room to accommodate him we thought it would be nice for him to have a go.

Our first race of the day was against Cheshire Chasers, we had some good racing but they just piped us to the post and took the win away from us. We went onto have some cracking racing against the Marnicks (as we always do) taking it to 5 legs but loosing out due to lights!!!. Poppy and Stripe both had some great races showing what they are made of never putting a paw wrong...way to go guys you did great.

We didn't win at the end of the day, not that we were bothered as we had had such a great day...and....we also smashed our P.B with a new recorded time of 18.02 seconds by Norah, Brooke, Murph and George. We were all over the moon, I am sure 17 seconds is just round the corner guys we have all worked hard for it especially our pups, hats off to them.

Jet our Golden retriever x Collie joined Doncaster's Pow Wow team in the starters and she came away with a 1st place rosette, she was flying all day long just as her name suggests she is going to be one of our future stars of the club.

Kim and Poppy also did the club very proud by winning the pairs tournament in the ABC category, well done guys, you were great.

Kim also collected her Flyball Dog Advance certificate which I know mum Leanne was very proud to receive, well done girls you are a terrific partnership...Leanne you make my heart skip a beat with those amazing change over’s!!!

So as you can see the Owlers had a truly fantastic day with so many achievements both personal and at club level, well done to you all, you deserve to be proud.

Next outing will be at Nuneaton’s Tournament on the 9th & 10th June.....