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The Irish Agility Team have arrived at the World Agility Open Championships in the UK
Best of luck to our Irish team
Team Manager Diana Collie,Team Coach Anne Collen. 300 Height - Sinead O'Donovan and Murph. 400 Height - Anne Collen and Tiggy : Jenny Hale and Tante. 550 Height - Neil Lowndes and Coco. 650 Height - Mick Byrne and Molly : Neil Lowndes and Billy. Liam O'Brien and Mojo : John Ward and Stan
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Best of luck to our Irish team
Team Manager Diana Collie,Team Coach Anne Collen. 300 Height - Sinead O'Donovan and Murph. 400 Height - Anne Collen and Tiggy : Jenny Hale and Tante. 550 Height - Neil Lowndes and Coco. 650 Height - Mick Byrne and Molly : Neil Lowndes and Billy. Liam O'Brien and Mojo : John Ward and Stan
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WORLD AGILITY OPEN 2011, BRISTOL, ENGLAND.
Republic of Ireland Team Manager's Report
Firstly, a big thank you to all our supporters, those who contributed so generously (nearly 4000 euro was raised), and those who came along to cheer us on at the weekend. It was brilliant to have such a lot of Irish support in the audience and Irish voices to create a huge impact every time a team member came out to run. It really spurred us on.
We are very grateful to our Team Coach, Anne Collen, who has worked tirelessly over the last 5 months. By constantly training the handlers on challenging international courses it ensured that everyone was well prepared for all the testing courses they met over the weekend.
Thank you to my own team of helpers: Mary Dolan and Patricia Dunn, who were on duty from dawn to dusk over the four days ensuring that each dog and handlers arrived at the right place at the right time in the right frame of mind to do themselves justice. Nothing was too much trouble for them. Neil, who two dogs to cope with, had the assistance of his father, Damien, who also proved very useful for providing us with some light relief when things were in danger of getting a bit tense!
Our greatest achievement was getting into the prizes in two of the team competitions. In the first team agility class John with Stan, Anne with Tiggie and Sinead with Murph came 3rd. There was great excitement later to discover that after the first 4 rounds, we were lying in 6th place and were qualified to run in the FINAL on the last day!! The final round was the Speedstakes Relay. Our team was John with Stan, who ran first handing over the baton to Anne with Tiggie, followed by Neil with Coco who handed over to Sinead with Murph who ran a great final leg, everyone going crazy as they stormed across the finish line. This performance led to a 2nd place in the Relay, and to the team moving up to 5th place overall. A brilliant result!
Our other fantastic achievement was Liam with Mojo and Mick with Molly finishing in 5th and 7th places respectively, after 4 rounds in the Pentathlon competition. This qualified both of them to go into the FINAL Speedstakes round on the Sunday. They both held their nerve well and put in great performances in the Final to maintain their positions in the overall placings. When you looked down the list of great dogs and international/world champion handlers that were behind them, this was a truly brilliant result!!!
Jenny and Tante showed what they are capable of by turning in a great clear round in the Biathlon Jumping class on Friday, just out of the places.
Neil and Billy put in some good rounds but were unlucky. But this partnership shows great promise for the future.
So, all in all, a very worthwhile venture. A great experience for all concerned. It would fill me with confidence that Irish agility competitors, with the CORRECT training, are well able to compete at International level. If we make the commitment to put the work in over the next 12 months, we could have an even more competitive team for the WAO Championships in Belgium next year. Onwards and upwards!!
Diana Collie - Team Manager
Republic of Ireland Team Manager's Report
Firstly, a big thank you to all our supporters, those who contributed so generously (nearly 4000 euro was raised), and those who came along to cheer us on at the weekend. It was brilliant to have such a lot of Irish support in the audience and Irish voices to create a huge impact every time a team member came out to run. It really spurred us on.
We are very grateful to our Team Coach, Anne Collen, who has worked tirelessly over the last 5 months. By constantly training the handlers on challenging international courses it ensured that everyone was well prepared for all the testing courses they met over the weekend.
Thank you to my own team of helpers: Mary Dolan and Patricia Dunn, who were on duty from dawn to dusk over the four days ensuring that each dog and handlers arrived at the right place at the right time in the right frame of mind to do themselves justice. Nothing was too much trouble for them. Neil, who two dogs to cope with, had the assistance of his father, Damien, who also proved very useful for providing us with some light relief when things were in danger of getting a bit tense!
Our greatest achievement was getting into the prizes in two of the team competitions. In the first team agility class John with Stan, Anne with Tiggie and Sinead with Murph came 3rd. There was great excitement later to discover that after the first 4 rounds, we were lying in 6th place and were qualified to run in the FINAL on the last day!! The final round was the Speedstakes Relay. Our team was John with Stan, who ran first handing over the baton to Anne with Tiggie, followed by Neil with Coco who handed over to Sinead with Murph who ran a great final leg, everyone going crazy as they stormed across the finish line. This performance led to a 2nd place in the Relay, and to the team moving up to 5th place overall. A brilliant result!
Our other fantastic achievement was Liam with Mojo and Mick with Molly finishing in 5th and 7th places respectively, after 4 rounds in the Pentathlon competition. This qualified both of them to go into the FINAL Speedstakes round on the Sunday. They both held their nerve well and put in great performances in the Final to maintain their positions in the overall placings. When you looked down the list of great dogs and international/world champion handlers that were behind them, this was a truly brilliant result!!!
Jenny and Tante showed what they are capable of by turning in a great clear round in the Biathlon Jumping class on Friday, just out of the places.
Neil and Billy put in some good rounds but were unlucky. But this partnership shows great promise for the future.
So, all in all, a very worthwhile venture. A great experience for all concerned. It would fill me with confidence that Irish agility competitors, with the CORRECT training, are well able to compete at International level. If we make the commitment to put the work in over the next 12 months, we could have an even more competitive team for the WAO Championships in Belgium next year. Onwards and upwards!!
Diana Collie - Team Manager
Sinead O'Donavan
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Sunday..... The final day ! pirze giving and closing ceramony
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A Message from the Team .....
Thank you for all the support from home and the contributions that got us here. We had an amazing trip. We are very happy with what we have achieved but we couldn't have done it withour our fantastic manager Diana Collie. We reckon we had the best manager of all the teams!!! Wishing all our team and supporters a safe trip home later today. |
Saturday ... The weather was superb for the third day in a row at the World championships. Both Irish teams have qualified to go forward to the final tomorrow.
Friday ...
Fridays results: 15th Liam O'Brien & Mojo. Individual Pentatlon Agility; 400 17th Jenny Hale & Tante, 650 15th Liam O'Brien & Mojo, 20th Mick Byrne & Molly. Team Pentathlon Agility; 3rd place for John Ward & Stan, Anne Collen & Tiggie, Sinead O'Donovan & Murph. Results from Friday afternoon: Individual Pentatlon Jumping; 650 15th Mick Byrne & Molly, 16th Liam O'Brien & Mojo. Cumulative Results after 2 rounds; 400 22nd Jenny Hale & Tante, 650 10th Liam O'Brien & Mojo, 12th Mick Byrne & Molly. Team Pentathlon Jumping; 8th place for Anne Collen & Tiggie, Neil Lowndes & Coco,Sinead O'Donovan & Murph. Cumulative Results after 2 rounds for teams will be posted tomorrow.
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The Opening Ceremony Friday Morning ....
The Irish Team Training Day Thursday ....
Each Team were allowed only 16mins to train........ that worked out at only 2mins per person!!!!!
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All advising and supporting each other ...                       |
. Also Sweden, Bazil, Germany England , Chile, Scotland, France, Italy, South Africa, Porto Rico, Spain, Norway ........Some of the many countries entered
