Results from the 2007 International Agility Festival

If you would like to purchase any of the agility presentation photos, please contact Zoe Tharmasingam on 020 7518 1013 or email zoe.tharmasingam@thekennelclub.org.uk for details.

The 2007 International Agility Festival is a huge success

Probably the biggest Agility dog show ever staged in the UK, the Kennel Club International Agility Festival sponsored by Arden Grange, took place from 10th - 12th August 2007 at the East of England Showground in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.  Over 2,000 dogs took part, competing in classes from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening and with over 12,000 entries and 16 competition rings to manage, the show required amazing levels of co-ordination and hard work. 

The Festival saw significantly more competitors from overseas making the trip to the UK to take part, with over 22 countries represented in the Nations Cup competition.  A strong contingent of competitors from Spain made it to the Festival despite being delayed at Calais with some Pet Passport irregularities.  At one point it was feared that their dogs would not make it to the showground to take part and, with typical agility camaraderie, UK competitors rallied round with offers to lend dogs to the Spanish competitors for their classes.  The Spaniards were reunited with their dogs in time for competition and went on to win the Nations Cup for Small dogs.

The event basked in glorious sunshine for the entire weekend.  With over 600 caravans on site, the Festival, bedecked with the flags of all the nations taking part, enjoyed a carnival atmosphere. The ice cream vendors saw long queues forming and Kookaburra Coffee sold out of cold drinks on Saturday and sold as many iced coffees in two days as are normally sold in two months, as the sun beamed down.

The Festival also attracted considerable interest in the local area with approximately 500 members of the public coming to take in the best that dog agility has to offer.  Anglia TV spent several hours filming and regular bulletins on the show appeared on TV throughout the weekend.  They were particularly interested in the colourful Nations Cup which saw national teams all wearing bibs displaying their national flags, sponsored by dogfriendly.co.uk.

The Kennel Club trialled a brand new computerised scoring system at the Festival – a first for agility in the UK.  IT company, I-Mast Technologies Ltd used a Wi-Fi network and provided PCs in rings to record results.  The first day of competition saw a few teething problems, as the difficulties of working in the middle of a rural showground made themselves known, but as the weekend went on the benefits of this innovation were being seen with results being finalised much more quickly and all results being posted on awards boards.  All the results from the competition are available here.  With over 100 ‘hits’ to the results web page on the morning after the Festival, the new service certainly appears to be a hit with agility enthusiasts.

A further innovation at the Festival saw the most successful competitors in the KC Starters Cup and KC Novice Cup all qualifying for Crufts for the first time.  Crufts places for the top overseas competitors in the British Open competition were also available, and Debbie Deuchar handed out special invitations to Crufts with rosettes for the lucky finalists.

A special presentation area, crowned with the trade stand of event sponsor Arden Grange and a Kennel Club pavilion showcasing the impressive array of crystal trophies, saw appreciative crowds gathering throughout the day to cheer those who had excelled in their classes.  Winners of the Finals won crystal trophies and will have their names engraved onto the perpetual trophies held at the Kennel Club, and each received bags of Arden Grange dog food. 

The Kennel Club Roadshow stand was also in attendance and saw brisk trade, with a raffle raising over £195 for the Charitable Trust.  The raffle prizes had been donated by every one of the twenty trade stands in attendance at the Festival. Further funds were raised with the sale of 400 dog pull toys which had kindly been donated to the Kennel Club Roadshow by Pedigree. 

A microchipping service was offered by Pet ID, which saw many interested customers given the opportunity to permanently identify their dogs with the Kennel Club’s pet microchipping database, Petlog. Agility measuring was also on offer, and many people travelled from across the country to take advantage of this service and to enjoy the Festival itself.

International Agility Festival 2007 Classes and Crufts Qualifiers information

International Agility Festival 2007 General Information (including accommodation details, trade stand application form)

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