The Southern Interclub Team Match was held at the Isenhurst Estate in Sussex yesterday, hosted by the South Eastern Gundog Society. The aim of this competition is to encourage novice handlers and give them a chance to compete in a team with more experienced handlers, and it was very well supported with 17 clubs sending teams to compete.
I was asked to run for the Arun and Downland Gundog Society with Moidart (Fletchingly Lochlinnhe) as the novice dog, and my team mates were Penny Heath with Teal (Fletchingly Torrain) as the open dog, and Helen Vidotto with Ifty (Muscatelle Mazurka) as the novice dog/novice handler. We looked very smart in our team uniform and our dogs matched too, which was no surprise considering that Teal and Moidart have the same mother, and Ifty shares a grandfather with Moidart.
The five well thought out tests included two water tests and throughout the day each dog was asked to pick a variety of marks, memories and blinds over different terrain. We had a joker to play which gave us double points on a test of our choice, but we had no idea what was coming up all day and only had each test explained to us when we went forward to the judge, but we did well, only dropping two points out of 60 on our chosen test.
Once the tests were over we were treated to a delicious cream tea while we relaxed and chatted with the other teams. The winners of this competition have to host it the next year, so it’s become a bit of a joke to be told to enjoy the day, but please don’t win!
We were pleased with our dogs, and I felt we had worked well as a team, so I was delighted for Penny when Teal was named as the top open dog of the day, and over the moon when we were awarded second place.
Yesterday relied entirely on the generosity of the landowners and a large team of people giving their time free of charge. The working test secretary had mustered 5 judges, 5 stewards, 14 (or maybe more!) dummy throwers and an army of tea ladies and cake bakers, as well as other vital helpers, so by my calculations there were probably at least 40 people working hard all day, and I can’t thank them all enough. It was one of those days that makes me realise how lucky we are to take part in this sport.
