Monday 19 October 2009

Retrieving Weekend at Nagambie





































WGAA (Vic) held its New Event “The WGAA Retrieving Challenge” at Nagambie on the 3rd & 4th October for all those interested in Retrieving and for all those wanting to take part in a new event. It was a great weekend.

On Saturday members took part in Retrieving training in good conditions. The club explained the format for running the new event, showing the types of retrieves, and equipment to be used.

The night had the usual campfire providing warmth and the usual stories; a good night was had by all.

On Sunday we were met with drizzle and damp conditions, and due to daylight saving lost an hour of early morning light.

Setting of the runs was delayed due to hiccups and equipment malfunction, but eventually due to the persistence and perseverance of all the WGAA Retrieving stalwarts we got the show on the road.

We had 12 competitors who braved the conditions to compete, with a good range of gundog breeds.

Competitors entered their choice of grade to compete in and teams were drawn, and it was off to the runs.

The Retrieving Challenge has 3 stations where the runs are set, offering retrieving of quail, rabbit and duck. 12 set runs covering the 3 grades, using the same distances and format from trial site to trial site.

The first station is quail retrieving, the dogs and handlers are given (1) single mark, (2) double marks, (3) two bird and (4) double fall retrieves.

The second station is rabbit retrieving, where (5) double mark, (6) triple mark, (7) single blind and (8) double blind retrieves are set.

The third station is water, where duck retrieving takes place, (9) double rise, (10) mark and blind, (11) double mark and blind, (12) is the last a double blind and mark.

These are all achievable shooting runs, ranging from 30m – 70m for sighted retrieves and up to 80m for blind retrieves. They were greeted with tremendous interest, and on completion competitors spoke highly of this new concept, and agreed it was as close to real shooting as possible.

Everyone praised the club for the use and quality of the hand made dummies, with life like look and scenting features.

The results of the Retrieving Challenge team event winners:

Gerry McDonnell with Bella – Hungarian Vizsla – Intermediate
Tim Cloke with Chopper Labrador Retriever Advanced
Alex Jevric with Elle L’Epagnel Breton Open
with a winning score of 310 out of a possible 330.

This was a magnificent achievement, WELL DONE to all of you.


Individual performances – the only dog and handler to successfully complete their grade’s retrieves were Elle and Alex in the open section. It was a joy to watch dog and handler negotiate and achieve all their retrieves, the best seen for sometime. It was a pleasure to see a good dog work, and Elle is a very good dog.

The club would like to take this opportunity to thank:

Ray Waldron, not only for providing a magnificent trial site, but also all the work he does to make our events a success.

The Committee who have worked long and hard to finally stage our first WGAA Retrieving Challenge Event.. - Kevin Phelps, Angie Bloomer, Norm CLoke, Tim CLoke, Gary Bristow and Graham Hayes.

And finally Kevin, Dianna and Tanya for providing a great lunch for us all.

It was noted how many of you thanked the club, and were interested when the next event will be held. The Committee will meet and advise you of when that will be.

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