We started the day with 12 competitors in L2 for our new SWUK judge Jenny Gould. I must say that I thought both of Jenny’s L2 & 7 tests were fair yet challenging and it was lovely to see how she made everyone feel at ease and so helpful with her positive feed back which I think everyone appreciated.

I was also fortunate in that Liz Ormerod agreed to be Jenny’s scribe who is so meticulous in her record keeping as well as her understanding of the SWUK rules. Ali Brannen & Tracey Alker helped with ‘running’ duties as well as competing with their own dogs and also thank you to Dolores Palmer who just turned up to watch but was dragged in to help with the L2 searches. I can’t tell you how much having a crack team helps towards the success of a trial enabling the trials manager to set up searches and sort out any problems that might crop up.

The L2 was won by Lyn Bowers with Phoebe who also came third with her other dog Chubey. I was delighted with this results as Lyn gets so nervous before she runs so well done for keeping it all together. Also I was thrilled to be able to present Kate Kemp & Paddy their ‘L2 Excellent’ title as Kate again gets ‘pre-match’ nerves which unfortunately in the past, has affected Paddy’s performance, so well done you. Also well done to Anne & Molly who achieved Anne’s goal gaining a ‘clean sweep’ with her flatcoat Molly and Tracey & Billy for qualifying again with Billy getting his mojo back.

So after the presentation Jenny only managed a quick break before starting again with the L7 teams.

Well it’s always with in trepidation when running a brand new level to see how well it is received by both the competitors and the judge; Is it too difficult and/or too big a jump from the previous level. The L7 competitors didn’t know how many articles were hidden in each search area, how much time they had and they had the further distraction of hidden decoys in each of the search areas. Also if the competitor was brave enough they could declare ‘all clear’ for an extra 10 bonus points.

I must admit after all the sullen faces after the first search with the majority of teams only finding one scented article I was beginning to wonder if the extra challenges of L7 was a step too far. However after the ‘Exterior’ the competitor’s spirits improved as most teams found 4 out of the 5 with Katheryne & Pepper and Karen & Zelda finding all 5. The last search ‘Interior 2’ was ‘do or die’ for a couple of the teams who not only had to get all 5 but had to call the ‘All Clear’ for the essential 10 extra marks. Three teams Michelle & Maya, Val & Indie and Karen & Zelda did just this with Karen & Zelda going on to win this very challenging of Levels.

So the day came to a reasonable end finishing around 6 o’clock and again thank you to all my hard working team and to the competitors who took the challenges in their stride.