Thank you so much to Kate for inviting me to judge the Level 5 at Slitting Mill. I love this venue as a competitor or a judge as the team are so welcoming and the cakes are amazing – thanks Ceris!
Thank you to my brilliant scribe Ceris and to TM Helen and runner Olga, the morning ran very smoothly.
Interior 1 used half of the main hall and the toilet passageway off to the side (but not the toilets). There were four odours, an easy find on the chairs in the centre of the hall, a harder one on the skirting board on the left as you go into the hall, an easy one on the door at the end of the passage way which really pulled the dogs in and one I hadn’t expected to be so hard on the toilet door. Most teams found three in this area with only one team finding the odour on the toilet door – Julie with Jess who searched beautifully.
The exterior search included several different sections of wall and two short stair areas. The hides were placed 2 on each of the stairs, one on the drain and one early on the wall. 5 teams found all the hides outside, the only tricky one was the one early on the wall which some dogs rushed passed.
The second interior search was in a back room where chairs were stored and included a small kitchenette area. Two odours were in the kitchen area and two on chairs at either end of the room. One team (the overall winner) found all the hides in this area and most found three. Nerves got the better of some teams who rushed the last search in order to find the needed hides but overall I saw some fabulous searching throughout the morning.
Well done to Jacky and Poppy first, Kate and Tali second, third Fiona and Sage and fourth Helen and Clay (who helped himself to my cup of tea in the exterior search). Lucy and Milo were the other team to qualify. Very well done to you all.