Daglingworth, Cirencester, GL7 7AE
Start: 9.15 Level 1 & 12.15 Level 5
Entry Fees: £25.00 per dog.
Contact: Nigel Wilkes nigelawilkes@hotmail.com
Trial Manager and Judges Reports
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Sun 11 Dec 2022, Daglingworth
Levels 1 and 5: Judges - Tina Schuster and Harry Latusek
There was a light dusting of snow on the ground when we woke and as Nigel and Harry were comfortable with the Trial going ahead, I entrusted my life to Smartie and skidded to Daglingworth.
By 9:15, all but 2 of the L1 competitors had made it to the hall, where Harry and I held the briefing. Harry and I split the outside searches between us, with him doing Wall in the thick snowfall. I started with boxes and luggage. All but 2 competitors called the right box, with Martyn calling it on the fringe (wrong bag) and James on the first box Evie showed an interest in. Knowing how hard it is when you aren’t successful in your first search, hat off to both of them for keeping their nerves and spirits up. I then proceeded to shovelling snow to clear (as best as I could) on the driveway or the exterior items. At least it had stopped snowing heavily. The white dog had a hard time concentrating (Breezer loves the snow), so I decided to “double” up the scent to make it easier for the competitors and everyone was able to correctly identify the right item. I saw some lovely handling and I am confident to see everyone at a higher level soon. Well done!
I woke up to a small amount of snow and wondered how much we would get, but the weather forecast was reasonable so I packed the car and off to Daglingworth I went. On arrival the snow started to become heavier and as it was close to 8.30 I was aware that most of the competitors had already left home. Harry our Judge for the day arrived and then the competitors were arriving although there were a couple of telephone calls to say they were running late due to the conditions. We started around 9.30 with all but 2 teams there.
Tina and Harry did a briefing and we were soon on our way with Harry doing the wall search with Clare as his scribe and Tina doing the Boxes and luggage. After this Tina judged the exterior items and Harry the Table and chairs. We finished around 11 am which was brilliant and I must say that the two outdoor searches where done brilliantly by the teams as most had never done a SWUK Trial before and with the snow still falling they did a great job. It was very close at the top with Roger and Milo coming first with Ann and her two dogs Del and Sweep coming 2nd and 3rd Judy and Meg came 4th so well done to you all for working with your dogs so well in very bad conditions
The Level 5 trial was due to start at 12.15 however, we allowed extra time for the competitors to get to the venue. Those who know Daglingworth will remember that there is a very steep narrow lane coming from the duel carriageway, which was very treacherous by this time, so those who were attending were informed that the road further into town was safer. I had a few calls to say that some could not get out of their town, so in the end we had 4 teams. I scribed for Harry and he set some fair, but interesting searches. I was asked by Heather to set up as a trial ‘Reward Stations’ with the search areas. As outside was covered by 3 inches of snow Harry decided that there should only be 2 hides. Lena and Angel had great fun with Angel playing in the snow more than searching. Our Reward Stations were on the path and anywhere past the tree’s. We then moved inside with the main hall and again we had 3 Reward Stations 2 either side of the tables and outside the cones 4 hides were put out. The handlers appreciated the Reward Areas and at the end of the trial all we had was positive comments. The final search was in the main hallway and disabled toilets. There were 6 hides and again 3 Reward Areas.
At the end of the trial the winner being Tina and Rioja with Clare and Ripple coming second and Nicky and Evie 3rd. Clare and Ripple also gained the ‘Excellent Award’ so well done to them.
I would like to thank Harry and Tina for Judging and Clare for scribing and the Competitors for attending in such bad conditions and doing such a great job in searching with their dogs.