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Lievin from a supporters' point of view

Reviewed by Ann-Marie Mead & Adam Frogatt

Description: This is a supporters video of the World Agility Championships held in Lievin, France in September 2003. It shows selected runs both jumping/agility at all categories and all individual/teams are named. The Final scenes have not been seen in British Agility before. The atmosphere is brought to life by the supporters from many nations, and it includes all the musical interludes.

Contents include:-

  • Participating nations
  • The British team members
  • The British handlers participating as individuals
  • Small Dogs - Team agility
  • Large Dogs - Team jumping
  • Individual - Large Dogs’ Jumping
  • Individual - Small Dogs’ Agility
  • Individual - Medium Dogs’ Agility
  • Individual - Large Dogs’ Agility
  • Fun and dancing
  • Views around the arena
  • Large Dogs’ Team Agility prizegivings
  • Taste of the celebrations

All of the above show a selection of the nations participating but all include the GB contingent.

Best Features: This video has something of the 'home movie' feel about it, which gives it real relevance and immediacy. It is a fascinating glimpse of something you missed ‘cause you weren’t there. It is shot from up in the stands so you get a real feeling of what it was like to be there. There’s a chuntering French man and even someone’s fat bum in the way during a standing ovation. How real can it get! 

Something we really appreciated was that you can always see the handler, the dog and the next portion of the course.

There’s no commentator to distract and patronize competitors or viewers. It's an old fashioned account of what the supporters saw at the Agility World Championships 2003 with no graphics or commentary to spoil the video. How refreshing! 

Could be improved: We liked the fact that there was no commentator, but there were a number of areas where we would have liked more information. For example:-

  1. What was the situation when competitors stepped up to the line.  i.e, if Nick goes clear we’ll be World Champions!
  2. What was the situation when they left the ring: i.e., If Diesel hadn’t run under that jump, would he be Individual World Champion?

We would have preferred to see less of the audience dancing and more of the dogs working. (Yes, we know we’re boring agility addicts.)

We’d also liked to see some interviews with Steve Croxford and the competitors, sharing their thoughts, hopes and fears at salient points during the video especially with the large team when they knew they’d won. (Mind you, would anyone have been able to get a coherent word out of them?)

Furthermore we’d have liked to see more of behind the scenes. What was the bus like? Where did the dogs poo and play? What did people do when they weren’t at the venue or working the dogs? What was it like for the grooms?

Filming, format and production: If Roy wants to practice filming on our dogs he’s welcome anytime! We’ve no complaints there. However, some of the editing choices are a bit amateurish. For example: filming the clock at the side of the ring instead of putting it on the tape afterwards. That said, you still get the information and the whole point of the video is to make you feel like you were there. A matter of personal choice perhaps. Hey, Roy, what about a DVD?

Overall Rating: We’d give this video an overall rating of  5/10. This rating is down to what the content lacked rather than the quality in what was included.

Cost: £12.00 including postage

Value for Money: If you were looking for a video just to see the winning team and get a flavour of what it was like to be part of the audience, it rates highly.

To order your copy of the video, contact
Roy Bateman
36 Epsom Road, Rugby CV22 7PF
Tel. 01788811860

About the video producer...
Roy Bateman and his wife Thelwyn went to the FCI World Agility Championships in Leivin to watch (and record) their dog Becky being run by Alan Disbery. When they are not following Becky around the world, they live in Warwickshire.

About the Authors
Ann-Marie Mead and Adam Frogatt have both been competing in Agility since 1996.

Their beloved charges are:-

  • Jess (Brindle Surprise), who runs Adam...ragged
  • Dee (Astra Dee) a star in every sense
  • Site (Astra Site) more of an asteroid than a star at the moment, but so cute!
  • Twist (Twist in Time), a rock and daddy of the pack
  • Jen (Visual Peach) the mixer upperer, the minx,
  • Scud (Bailstails Billioniare) aka 'The Flump' ‘cause he’s so soft and cuddly

If you would like to comment on this product or add your name to the Agilitynet list of reviewers, email your name and details to Ellen Rocco at Agilitynet today.

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