After recent disappointment in sport for Britain, it seems that a turnaround has occurred thanks to a completely different kind of sporting team.

British hopefuls might have got no further than the quarter finals at Wimbledon and the home nations embarrassingly flopped in the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2008, but Britain tasted success on 19^th and 20^th July in Germany. As well as Lewis Hamilton’s four-wheeled win at the German Grand Prix, there was also four-legged success for Britain’s dogs.

After making it through a tough qualifying series, the best of British strutted their stuff to represent the Kennel Club for the first time at the European Open Championships for dog agility. The 30-strong team of dogs (and their handlers) were pitched against 650 dogs from 30 other European countries in a bid to take the coveted European Agility Championship title.

Overall the young British team achieved a number of great results in a variety of different categories. Leah Gardner and Herbie, a Working Sheepdog, gained a silver medal in the individual championships for large dogs, whilst Bernadette Bay and Hex, a Shetland Sheepdog, picked up a bronze medal in the individual championships for small dogs. Marc Saunders and Dash, a Working Sheepdog, also came a creditable 6^th in the final for large dogs.

There was further bronze medal success in the large team championships, with the team made up of Anthony Clarke (age 16) with Maggie, a Collie/Belgian Shepherd cross, Lee Gibson (age 23) with Jack, a Border Collie, Katie Mitchell (age 18) with Rocky, a Border Collie, and Marc Saunders (age 24) with Dash, a Working Sheepdog.

To add to the roll of honour, Andy Sandercock and Ten, a Border Collie won the individual medium jumping round, whilst Nigel Staines and Zico, an Australian Kelpie, came 4^th in the individual large agility round.

This was the first time that the Kennel Club has sponsored a team to enter the prestigious competition. Caroline Kisko, spokesperson for the Kennel Club, said: “We are very proud of the team’s results at the European Open Championships for agility. The team achieved great success and we were happy that the dogs were able to turn around a summer of sporting woes and bring home some medals for Britain.”

Yet more action is set to come this summer when British hopefuls compete at the Kennel Club’s International Agility Festival in Peterborough, on 8^th-10^th August, which is the largest agility show in the world. The International Agility Festival welcomes dogs from all over the world and the winners will qualify to compete at Crufts next year.

Date:

Last updated on:

Categories:

Agility 

This article has been read 1584 times.