Rotherham Flyball
Days like this remind me why I do flyball.
I was pretty excited about Dylan’s team anyway, they’re a fab fast bunch of dogs who were on a very comfortable seed time, and both Dylan and Skye love running over 12″. Perfect conditions! Anyway, the last race against Marnicks was down to the wire stuff, they’d run the same times as us during the day (we both ended up with a fastest time of 19.81) and we’d both won the same amount of races, so we were both battling for 2nd place. We had to wait for confirmation from the ring party twice, because it was so tight and we couldn’t call the winners. Last race of the day, when it was dark and the marquee spotlights were lighting up the lanes, and the whole place was screaming the dogs home.
It is such an adrenelin rush. I love agility, and I come away happier from competitions, feeling as though at least one run went well, or we did something good. But I’ve never come out of an agility ring buzzing the way I can at flyball; you don’t have to win, and you don’t even have to be running a dog. Boxloading, scribing, team captain, ring party, spectator … once teams are racing, everyone comes away smiling. Good racing is good racing, and it gets into your bones.
There doesn’t seem to be so much of it around at the moment, everyone is hung up on points or team times or singles times or box work. I’m guilty of it. You forget about just racing, just giving up your heart and soul to win. But we remembered this time, and I was so proud of Dylan this weekend, because he gave everything he had, and he hasn’t done that before. It didn’t matter than his turns were kind of quirky, because he was turning and it was fast, and it didn’t matter that he tried to bite my face off, because he was so hyped and so excited about flyball. (I say it doesn’t matter, but we are going to work on both those things. I need my face and Dyl needs his joints).
Kim and Mollie also had some good racing. Kim’s team Barking Owlers finished 1st and Kim was storming all day. She appreciated her time going lead dog, especially against Mollie, and says thank you to Captain Katie for letting her do it! Mollie was fantastic in the Eagle Owlers, but I didn’t get to see her run a whole lot, because Barking and Eagles were in the same division so it was rather difficult!
To top it off we all got plenty of awards. Dylan and his best redheaded girl Skye got their FDG (3000 points), Chip got his FDI (1000pts) and Stripe got his FDA (5000pts), Moo and Jet got their FD-Silver (10,000pts) and George got his FD-Platinum (25,000pts).
Finally, major props to Rotherham. I know they were worried about making the step from one marquee to two, but they pulled it off perfectly.
2 Comments
Vicki
Well done!!
I think we’re all guilty of loosing our perspective of what these hobbies are all about – the enjoyment. I found my attitude changed when Pip got into grade 6. The focus came off winning (which I guess it had been in the lower grades) and is now about how well *I* think we did – which, as you know, is a very different kettle of fish. Diesels debut has certainly renewed a spark for me. I dont care if we get e’d, I dont care if we make mistakes – its about making the most out of each run, and not in terms of winning. I daresay all the runs I’ve been most pleased with we’ve been E’d or had faults. Now I’ve found this perspective once again I just hope I can hold on to it – and I hope you can too =D
Leanne
I find it easier to remember in agility, and there are days when we get all E’s but I still come away bouncing because they were good runs.
It’s harder in flyball, the challenges aren’t the same (or maybe, they’re always the same) and there is some requirement on having the other team be up for the race as well. But Kim was in a team in 2003 and every time we went out, for 3 months, we just got such a buzz from every single race. I want that back!