A stressful start to the day for Stacey. At the last minute let down by the Trial Manager and so had to step into that role herself. Then a no show by the scribe, fortunately Rachel and Wendy answered the very last minute call and very generously gave up their time to come and help. After all this excitement and a bit of a delay we were able to get the show on the road.

Haynes offers some great options for the Interior searches and I was spoilt for choice. All areas were white dogged pre and post hide placements.

Interior 1
Brick pillar, store room, front of stage into entrance hall and then into 2 small changing rooms.
5 hides 51/2 minutes

At the time I felt that this search went pretty well but when I looked back at my notes it became apparent that it was here that many teams hopes of qualifying were scuppered. The particularly tricky hide proved to be the one placed under the lip of a bucket, tucked under a bench in the corner of the changing room. Just 2 teams found this, Justine and Chumley, Melanie and Rowan, well done to you both.

Exterior
5 hides 4 mins
This was worked extremely well. All teams found 4 and 3 found all 5, well done Sue, Alison and Emma, the latter two calling “clear” so earning very important bonus points. The only hide that created any problems was tucked in the side of a drainpipe close to the corner and the start line.

Interior 2
5 hides 5 mins
Entrance hall, room, kitchen

I felt here that handlers and dogs were perhaps feeling the effects of a long day.
3 hides all different odours, set quite close together, in a corner of the kitchen. Of the 3 the one high on a leg of an open work station proved to be the trickiest. I particularly remember how Sue’s Tiva had to work to source this one, it was lovely to watch her determination.
4 teams found 4 hides and it was nice to see Helen and Chip finish on such a good note.

1st Alison and Dylan Fast, furious……and noisy! But always so consistent, that Excellent can’t be far off? Just 3 hides missed and a correct “clear” call in Exterior. Very well done!

2nd Emma and Danny, I particularly liked the way Emma takes the time to praise Danny’s efforts as they moved round the search areas. Emma had already calculated what she thought/hoped that she needed to qualify and with Danny on 3 false alerts, once they found the 3rd hide in Interior 2 Emma called “clear”. A very cool performance throughout

3rd Melanie and Rowan. There was a great moment in Interior 1, Melanie had decided to move on but Rowan caught a whiff of an hide and made the decision to stick with it. I’ve been lucky enough to see her do this before and as this hide proved quite difficult Rowan’s independence was both impressive and important.