2010 Olympia Judge's Report

We started the first day with a hearty breakfast and a meeting to discuss procedure and the jobs that everyone was going to be doing. I suppose I would call it a Stewards and Judge's Briefing Meeting, chaired by Dave Ray.

Thursday: Medium Day
Thursday was Medium day and the afternoon event was to be Medium Jumping Grand Prix. All the invitation events were to be judged with 5 seconds to add for each fault instead of our usual marking and all the finals were to be judged as per Kennel Club rules. It certainly does make it more exciting for the Jumping and the Pairs Relay because a handler could win with faults if they were fast enough.

If I had any misgivings about how fast and accurate the course would be laid out, they were dispelled at this first event as within two minutes the course was up and exactly to plan.

All ten competitors put in a good performance including four who were competing at Olympia for the first time. Nerves were visible but the cheering crowds distracted not one dog. If anything they went faster.

First to be judged was Denise Wilkinson who put in a stunning clear round in 26.47 seconds. This proved to be unbeatable, although the others gave it a really good try.

Natasha Wise was running second. With the tremendous success she's had recently, it was a big shock when missing out a hurdle eliminated her. In mitigation, she had been unwell over the previous couple of weeks so any thoughts of Natasha being hot favourite for the day vaporised immediately.

A View from Behind the Scenes

I have been organising this event for 19 years now and even though it means spending almost one week in London immediately prior to Christmas, I still find it an amazing experience. I do believe that this is one of the best series of singles agility competitions, probably in the world. This year we were to see some of the very best agility I've ever witnessed in the main arena at Olympia.

Our judge, Arthur Rodgers, set some superb courses that were both challenging and exciting. He was totally unfazed when faced with the daunting task of building, judging, dismantling and presenting a course to be run by ten handlers within 15-17 minutes, so once more we were blessed with a judge who could withstand the pressure of doing all this with a live audience of nearly 10,000 watching.

It was a sad weekend for us in one respect as John and Jackie retired from Olympia this year. They were the first people I turned to when I took over the Olympia event and, like me, they have worked on the event for 19 years so it would be remiss of me not to express my sadness on their retirement and gratitude to them both.

Dave Ray

Place	Handler	Dog	Time
1	Denise Wilkinson	Meisterwerk Jexie Jangles (AW)	26.47
2	Steven Richardson	No Worries Sweep Dreams	27.18
3	Alan Gardner	Ag.Ch. Touchango Again Girl (AW)	27.58
4	Bernadette Bay	Ag.Ch. Obay Truly Balanced	29.44
5	Samantha Lane	Woodhouse Quartz	29.50
6	Ashleigh Butler	Ag.Ch. Ashpen Pudsey Bear	33.83 (28.83)
7	Heidi Windheuser	Cody's Countless Capers	33.95 (28.95)
	Toni Dawkins	Ag.Ch. Tenita Magic Minx	E
	Natasha Wise	Ag.Ch. Raeannes Flipping Heck	E
	Helen Anderson	Dinky Demon of Downunder	E

Thursday evening Medium Agility was our first final. As with all finals at Olympia, the running order was the reverse of the placings for the Semi-final. Samantha Lane was first to go and was unfortunately eliminated. She was to be followed later by a back-jump elimination for another of the favourites, Toni Dawkins. Bernadette Bay and Heidi Windheuser both picked up faults. Alan Gardner's long recall from the start let him down and he would finish the course with 15 faults. Another favourite, Ashleigh Butler, had a brilliant round but picked up faults for a silly refusal.

The run of the evening came from a young lad called Steven Richardson who got 2nd place in the afternoon event and was determined to try to win the final. He ran round like I've never seen before and his dog was like a bullet from a gun as he had a fantastic clear to take the lead in 32.73 seconds, to a huge round of applause from the audience.

The afternoon winner, Denise Wilkinson, couldn't quite catch his time but went clear in a time of 33.08 seconds. Helen Anderson gave it her best shot but unfortunately picked up faults. She did, however, have the fastest time of the final.

Last to go was Natasha Wise who had had an elimination in the afternoon but she regained her composure and her determination to put in an absolutely stunning round with Dizzy, even though she nearly lost her at one point with a wide turn. She showed us why she's the World Champion, beating Steven's time by .83 sec to become our first Kennel Club Agility Stakes Final Winner in 2010.

Place	Handler	Dog	Faults/Time
1	Natasha Wise	Ag.Ch. Raeannes Flipping Heck	C/31.90
2	Steven Richardson	No Worries Sweep Dreams	C/32.73
3	Denise Wilkinson	Meisterwerk Jexie Jangles (AW)	C/33.08
4	Ashleigh Butler	Ag.Ch. Ashpen Pudsey Bear	5 /35.69
5	Bernadette Bay	Ag.Ch. Obay Truly Balanced	5 /35.95
6	Heidi Windheuser	Cody's Countless Capers	5 /36.03
7	Helen Anderson	Dinky Demon of Downunder	10 /31.31
8	Alan Gardner	Ag.Ch. Touchango Again Girl (AW)	15 /46.12
=9	Samantha Lane	Woodhouse Quartz	E
=9	Toni Dawkins	Ag.Ch. Tenita Magic Minx	E

Friday: Small Dogs
The afternoon event was a Small Pairs Agility Relay. As with all events at Olympia the competitors are given the courses earlier in the day so that they can study them well. They need to because they have less than two minutes to walk the course. Quite amazingly, folks - it does work. As with all our events, they started to walk the course while I was ensuring I'd got all the angles right but it went up effortlessly.

Worthy winners at the end of this competition were Jeanette Tandy and Wendy Clay. The competition, as with all invitations at Olympia, gave the competitors a try in the main arena before the main final.

The final in the evening began with Sharon Brewster with her poodle. Sadly it was the first of the two eliminations. The other was David Alderson which must have been a great disappointment after a very long journey. Marc Wingate-Wynne had a refusal at the seesaw. Third to go was Wendy Clay with her little dog, Scout. They performed a brilliant clear round in a very quick time of 34.77 seconds. It was obvious that this was going to be a very difficult time to beat.

Bernadette Bay with her young sheltie put in a superbly fast clear but was just less than one second behind Wendy on time. Helen Nelson had a refusal on the dog walk and then picked up another fault on the A-frame. Amy Lawson gave a great showing going clear in 37.95 seconds. Nicola Garrett's sheltie hit the second hurdle heavily but continued bravely. Jeanette Tandy shot round, as she always does, but sadly picked up ten faults with the fastest time of the night.

One of my favourite dogs was running last: Dawn Weaver's Puzzle. For a little Papillon perhaps the ground was a little heavy going and the distances rather long but, true to form, they put in a super clear round, although around three seconds behind the leading dog to be placed 3rd. It was a great final though with four clear rounds but nobody could catch Wendy Clay's time with Scout.

Place	Handler	Dog	Faults/Time
1	Wendy Clay	Ag.Ch. Racingredd Brussell Scout	C/34.77
2	Bernadette Bay	Obay Itz Got Pizazz	C/35.59
3	Dawn Weaver	Ag.Ch. Tonring Just a Puzzle	C/37.60
4	Amy Lawson	Millie On To One	C/37.95
5	Marc Wingate-Wynne	Vanitonia Mister Big	5 /40.94
6	Nicola Garrett	Ag.Ch. Obay Truly Driven	5 /41.27
7	Jeanette Tandy	Wee Betsy Boo	10 /33.55
8	Helen Nelson	Sirensong Fallen Angel	10 /42.70
=9	Sharon Brewster	Upanova Limited Edition	E
=9	Dave Alderson	Ag.Ch. Steelthorne Rum Truffle	E

Saturday: Grade 6-7 Large Agility
By now the Arctic conditions had arrived in London and it was pretty dreadful, not just in London itself but also the routes into London. We were seriously afraid that a substantial amount of handlers would not make it. In the end there was only one, Sarah Young, who couldn't get to Olympia. What a stroke of luck and planning on the handler's part as the correct reserve just happened to be there with a dog!

There's too much to go through with regards to the Semi-final competition in the morning with 36 runners. This is a very very pressured event and nerves were to play a big part and, in some cases, causing unexpected handler errors by experienced handlers. Then there were those who just suffered plain and simple bad luck. Of the 36 who started, there were 15 clear rounds, seven with 5 faults and nine eliminations. There was only half a second between the winner and runner-up and both had superb runs. Laura Chudleigh must have been absolutely delighted with her win as she's had a really successful year. I could say that a new agility star has been born!

Place	Handler	Dog	Faults/Time
1	Laura Chudleigh	Flickcee Hot Rod	C/34.65
2	Elaine Auty	Nedlo Heeza Beauty	C/35.29
3	Greg Derrett	Nedlo Detox Sproglett	C/35.35
4	Dave Leach	Bonvivant Kallisto	C/35.58
5	Mathew Rouse	Baileys on Ice	C/35.95
6	Will Rolfe	Nedlo Black Magic	C/35.95
7	Leah Gardner	Chaffords Herbal Illusion	C/36.14
8	Lee Windeatt	Ag.Ch. Deeann What a Cracker	C/36.22
9	Joanne Tristam	Cascades Itsy Blitzy	C/36.27
10	Ian Balchin	Darleyfalls Pick Me	C/36.88
11	Katie Long	Saxtondale Copper Flame	C/36.90
12	Fiona Vaughan	Black Diamond at St. Kenelms	C/37.29
13	Nikka Collins	Hotshots Little Dweeb	C/37.74
14	Nancy Hudson	Bryning Red Rascal	C/37.97
15	Sharon Brooke	Jazzmel Dot	C/38.54
16	Angela Williams	Nedlos Jitterbug	5 /35.20
17	Shaun Young	Gracie Grace the Ace	5 /35.65
18	Helen Davey-Smith	Nedlo Nellie Bean	5 /36.97
19	Dave Munnings	Ag.Ch. Gunran Misteree	5 /38.28
20	Lucy Osborne	Ag.Ch. Ben Bombastic Mr Fantast	5 /39.29
21	Paul Oldfied	Sveta Black Magic	5 /39.71
22	Stuart Harmes	Nog Bach	5 /41.59
23	Dave Alderson	Rock on Rocketman	10 /35.21
23	Ian Dobison	Ag.Ch. Call me Mr T	10 /37.12
25	Sarah Osborne	Touchango Top Gear	10 /38.14
26	John Cook	Brentmoor Macaw	15 /40.46
27	Sam Row	Odds on Oddie	20 /40.74
=28	Pat Brown	Nedlo Sheez a Diva	E
=28	Nik Jones	Slieve Digit	E
=28	Jane Seller	Rosmarinus Rum Runner	E
=28	Tracy Flower	Dellekko Madame Barbie	E
=28	Anthony Clarke	Blazing Red of Rujaff	E
=28	Amanda Pigg	The Jagged Edge	E
=28	Matthew GOodliffe	Mamoka Mahina	E
=28	Jo Thorpe	Kyp Me Ghosted	E
=28	Dawn Weaver	Its Easy with a Beezy	E

Handlers placed 1st to 10th would run in the final on the Saturday evening with dogs placed 11th to 20th competing in an Agility Pairs Relay during the afternoon performance. This is judged on 5 seconds to add again, so congratulations to Shaun Young and Helen Davey-Smith who completed the round in 64.89 seconds but were not as fast as Dave Munnings and Lucy Osborne they had 5 seconds to add to take 2nd place.

Saturday evening is always a glamorous time and especially important to all as the Kennel Club had a hospitality box which unfortunately was a little depleted due to the weather getting worse, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Kennel Club could not join us on this evening, The awards were to be given out by Crufts Show Director Vanessa McAlpine. The final was run in reverse order from the semi final placings and I have to say it was probably the most exciting agility event I've ever seen, and judged –it was also a commentator's dream as every dog seemed to beat the previous dog's time. It was just tremendous!

We had seven clear rounds, two with 5 faults and one elimination. Ian Balchin was to go first and although getting a good time, he had the first pole down. Joanne Tristam was to set a target running second going clear in 33.67 seconds. Lee Windeatt picked up 5 faults on a contact, Leah Gardner then took the lead by 0.07 seconds. Our senior citizen Will Rolfe ran fifth and took the lead from Leah with a clear in 33.20 seconds. After that, Matt Rouse sadly picked up an elimination, Dave Leach then took the lead with our first sub 33 seconds round.

On the start line was Greg Derrett who shot off at full speed but unfortunately the dog stumbled in the tunnel. The time lost would prove to be expensive, but at that point he still took the lead, knocking half a second from Dave Leach's time, clear in 32.44 seconds. Elaine Auty stepped up to the mark knowing exactly what she had to do, and did she give it a go! A brilliant clear in 33.08 seconds to go into 3rd.

The final runner, Laura Chudleigh, who had won the semi-final in the morning, came to the line with the crowd buzzing from what had gone before. It is against all the odds for the same handler to win the semi and the actual final. She had an absolutely faultless round to beat Greg's time by 0.2 seconds to snatch the win. Throughout this competition the noise from the audience was unbelievable and, believe me, if you'd been in the audience then you would be joining in with them. What a great competition and a very worthy young winner in Laura Chudleigh. You have got the X Factor Laura!

Place	Handler	Dog	Faults/Time
1	Laura Chudleigh	Flickcee Hot Rod	C/32.24
2	Greg Derrett	Nedlo Detox Sproglett	C/32.44
3	Dave Leach	Bonvivant Kallisto	C/32.93
4	Elaine Auty	Nedlo Heeze Beauty	C/33.08
5	Will Rolfe	Nedlo Black Magic	C/33.20
6	Leah Gardner	Chaffords Herbal Illusion	C/33.60
7	Joanne Tristram	Cascades Itsy Blitzy	C/33.67
8	Ian Balchin	Darleyfalls Pick Me	5 /33.11
9	Lee Windeatt	Ag.Ch. Deeann What a Cracker	5 /33.68
10	Mathew Rouse	Baileys on Ice	E

Sunday: Novice
There were some horrendous stories about the journeys to Olympia but all the Novices turned up, even from Scotland. If I thought the Saturday was nerve-racking, then it was even worse on the Sunday as a high proportion of handlers had not competed at Olympia before which, of course, is what Olympia is all about - it's not only Novice dogs it's also Novice handlers. So once more, nerves would play a big part with just 8 clear rounds, two handlers with 5 faults going through to the final but there were only 7 eliminations - I say ‘only' because I stress again that it is a very very pressured event for the handlers.

It was the same procedure again as for Saturday with the top ten going through to the final on the Sunday evening, with eleventh to twentieth place going forward to the Pairs Relay competition during the afternoon performance. After her stunning win in the Medium final, Natasha Wise took the winning crystal with a 1.5 second lead against the 2nd placed handler Lesley Olden and the lucky handler to scrape in to tenth place with 5 faults was ‘young' Bill Glover who unfortunately was not able to catch his wife who came in sixth, so it was going to be a ‘Mr and Mrs Final' that night!

Place	Handler	Dog	Faults/Time
1	Natasha Wise	Flickcee's Latin Dancer	C/33.52
2	Lesley Olden	Nedlo Hello Ello	C/35.26
3	Lindsay Cheshire	Darleyfalls No More Wishes	C/35.50
4	Pat Partridge	Gunran Guaranteed	C/36.45
5	Alan Bray	Upanova Dior Mine	C/38.03
6	Pia Glover	Borderstorm Midnight Blue	C/38.31
7	Donna Kerse	Tri 'n' Fly Amazin Grace	C/39.35
8	Karl Mallin	Loui Ratatoui	C/39.61
9	Andy Sandercock	Nedlos Wot a Whirl	5 /34.83
10	Bill Glover	Brentmoor Osprey	5 /35.09
11	Lorraine Walchester	Corriedhu Lace	5 /36.39
12	Sharon Eldridge	Upanova Shaken not Stirred	5 /36.48
13	Mathew Rouse	One Indy Million	5 /36.63
14	Simon Peachey	Lookylooky Little Cracker	5 /37.45
15	Jane Powell	Nedlo Bean Bop Alula	5 /37.81
16	Malcolm Card	Pioneer Macendy's Boy	5 /37.96
17	Sarah Shaw	Jedeyes of Valgrays	5 /38.34
18	Georgina Baker	Borderstorm Dare to have Fun	5 /38.40
19	Sarah Woolley	Astra Cruz	5 /38.98
20	Helen Cross	Bobby Boy Blue	5 /41.79
21	Lyndsey Forrest	Diesel Boy	5 /44.38
22	Jack Greenwood	Redrex	10 /34.20
23	Barry Marks	Bazanjo's Dream Machine	10 /34.39
24	Shaun Young	Not My Nipper	10 /34.42
25	Sian Illlingworth	Zhanisgo Crystal Edition	10 /35.22
26	Sam Johnston	Rosmarinus Rum Cherry	10 /35.30
27	Pat Bowley	Get Shorty	10 /39.48
28	Caroline Ashby-Daniels	Just a Hunch	10 /40.81
29	Dani Jeffrey	Feroda Lily Fudge Cake	10 /42.34
=30	Sharon Jackson	Iteru Life of Riley	E
=30	Kim Kraushar	Charley of Tollcarne	E
=30	Lynden THompson	Black Eyed Bede	E
=30	Lucie Hinchley	The Artful	E
=30	Mark Saunders	Gempaws Diamond Illusion	E
=30	Lauren Langman	Darleyfalls No Feer at Devongem	E
=30	Dave Alderson	Devongem Pitch Black	E

Sunday afternoon was Agility Pairs. Unfortunately there were two pairs with an elimination. Another two had 5 seconds to add. The winners not only had no faults but also had the fastest round so congratulations to Jane Powell and Malcolm Card.

In the evening we were looking forward to another exciting Olympia final BUT well, well, well - I would think there are many who are kicking themselves after this competition! There were certainly some excellent dogs in the final but to use a well-known phrase, ‘nice dog shame about the handler'. You will perhaps understand what I mean when I tell you that seven out of the ten dogs in the final were eliminated. Bill Glover was first to run as he came tenth in the morning's semi. He had a lovely round but rolled a brick out of the wall to finish the final with our only 5 faults albeit in a very creditable fastest time of under 32 seconds.

Running fourth, Donna Kerse was first to go clear; she had made a long journey from the Scottish borders and it was obviously going to be worth her time and effort. At just over 35 seconds it wasn't as fast as Bill's round but it was clear so into the lead she went. She wasn't to hold the lead for long as next to go was Pia Glover - could she beat her ‘old man'? Well, she didn't beat his time but she did it without any faults in under 35 seconds to snatch the lead from Donna Kerse.

The following five handlers were all eliminated so that's the way the placings stayed. So a special congratulations to the Glover family taking first and third, split by Donna Kerse, who was flying the flag for Scotland, in second. As for the seven handlers eliminated, in the main it was handler error – the weave poles being the main problem with handlers pulling away to get in place for the next obstacle before the dog had completed the weaves and several handlers just repeated someone else's mistake.

Commiserations to Alan Bray and Pat Partridge who were nearly home but put their dogs in the wrong end of the tunnel.

Place	Handler	Dog	Time
1	Pia Glover	Borderstorm Midnight Blue	C/34.64
2	Donna Kerse	Tri 'N' Fly Amazin Grace	C/35.45
3	Bill Glover	Brentmoor Osprey	5 /31.73
=4	Andy Sandercock	Nedlos Wot a Whirl	E
=4	Karl Mallin	Loui Ratatoui	E
=4	Alan Bray	Upanova Dior Mine	E
=4	Pat Partridge	Gunran Guaranteed	E
=4	Lindsay Cheshire	Darleyfalls No More Wishes	E
=4	Lesley Olden	Nedlo Hello Ello	E
=4	Natasha Wise	Flickcee's Latin Dancer	E

Monday: ABC
After a very busy two days with Semi-finals, at least we had a more relaxing start to the day on MOnday. We met the ten ABC handlers for the briefing before lunch for both the afternoon Jumping competition and the ABC finals in the evening. This, I knew, would be another exciting day.

The Monday afternoon Jumping did not disappoint me with seven Kelpies running. It was a very very fast Jumping class and, as with a lot of the other events at Olympia, the support from the audience was extremely noisy. Mark Douglas, with his Ag.Ch. Cories Ruby Tuesday would take 1st place in 27.68 seconds. Anna Braley came in 2nd in 28.61 seconds and Jason Gardner 3rd in 28.62 seconds.

Place	Handler	Dog	Time
1	Mark Douglas	Ag.Ch. Cories Ruby Tuesday	27.68
2	Anna Braley	Revel Without a Pause	28.61
3	Jason Gardner	Chaffords Prodigy	28.62
4	Jo Hyslop	Bonvivant Objet d'Art	29.01
5	Nicky Holden	Kenward Casca	29.64
6	Jane Anderson	Cories Boomerang Bindi	30.41
7	Jackie Kenny	Cories Kinder Surprise	30.92
8	Neil Ellis	Pelham Tully	31.85
9	Nigel Staines	Ag.Ch. Dragonheart Dark Destroy	33.07 (28.07)
10	Sue Leech	Blackthorn's Red Devil	35.91 (30.91)

Our final final would again be an exciting one. It was stunning! The running order was the reverse of the Semi-final places with Jane Anderson going first. She put in a great clear round in just 36.91 seconds with her Kelpie, but it wouldn't be fast enough to take the winning spot. Jo Hislop, with her extremely fast Belgian, picked up 10 faults.

Neil Ellis was running third with Tully the Beardie who, quite amazingly, is now nine years old. Coming up to the start line next, he probably had the biggest applause from the audience of anyone in the final as he looked absolutely magnificent. He did a great clear round in just over 37 seconds to go into 2nd place. Colin Skeeping owns the dog and he must have been so proud to watch his dog and Neil compete.

Jackie Kenny had a clear round in 37.57 seconds but was not quite quick enough. Another handler with the ‘R' factor dog was Nicky Holden with her clipped-out Beardie - another audience favourite but unfortunately picking up 5 faults on the dog walk. Anna Braley and her Kelpi, were going brilliantly until she lost her dog at the see-saw and picked up a refusal.

Nigel Staines was running seventh and is always guaranteed to give a predictably good performance in the ring and today was to be no exception. He took the lead with a clear in 33.15 seconds. Jason Gardner tried hard but unfortunately had 5 faults at the A-frame. If only, Jason!

The penultimate dog to run was handled by Mark Douglas, the afternoon winner, who put in quite a stunning clear round to snatch the lead from Nigel Staines by .06 second. The final dog to run was the winner of the Semi final, Sue Leech and her Kelpie Blackthorn's Red Devil. Unfortunately, Lady Luck didn't turn out today as she suffered an elimination. An emotional win for Mark and Marie, congratulations. What a great finish to Olympia!

Place	Handler	Dog	Time
1	Mark Douglas	Ag.Ch. Cories Ruby Tuesday	C/33.09
2	Nigel Staines	Ag.Ch. Dragonheart Dark Destroyer	C/33.15
3	Jane Anderson	Cories Boomerang Bindi	C/36.91
4	Neil Ellis	Pelham Tully	C/37.09
5	Jackie Kenny	Cories Kinder Surprise	C/37.57
6	Jason Gardner	Chaffords Prodigy	5 /32.57
7	Nicky Holden	Kenward Casca	5 /35.73
8	Anna Braley	Revel Without a Pause	5 /39.58
9	Jo Hyslop	Bonvivant Objet d'Art	10 /40.53
10	Sue Leach	Blackthorn's Red Devil	E

Thank you
It was an honour and privilege to judge the best dogs and handlers in the country at such a prestigious event. The week had been exhausting both mentally and physically but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I can see why getting to Olympia is the dream of most if not everyone's agility career. For those of you who go on about ring parties, I had the most excellent, friendly and above all knowledge bunch that I could have asked for, so I'm indebted to Dave Ray for the invitation and his support at Olympia and to John, Jackie, Gwyn, Ann, Shaun, Dave Jolly, Rob, Elaine and Liz. I would also like to wish John and Jackie a very happy retirement from their job at Olympia.

My final thanks to the Kennel Club for continuing to support what is one of the premier agility events in the world and also to GWF Nutrition, manufacturers of Joint Aid for Dogs for their support of the Kennel Club at this competition.

From Nicky Holden...
I would like to thank Arthur for the fantastic courses he set for the ABC finalists on Monday. It was a real pleasure to run them. They both flowed beautifully, and all the dogs loved running them.

Arthur had minutes to get the course out and make any adjustments. What a huge responsability?! I was so wrapped up with dealing with my own nerves, i forgot how much pressure Arthur must be under to make sure the courses were just right.

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Judge's report