NARA Championship Results & Photos - Page 1

Got back from the NARA Championships earlier this week, and am finally starting to feel human again LOL  It's a LONG drive from S CA to TX and back again.

For those not familiar with French Ring, the Championships consist of two competitions in 1.  First is the Championship, which is based on 3 scores leading up to the actual Championship trial, then the score you earn in that trial is doubled, and the whole thing is averaged.  The other trial is the "Cup", which is the "day of" trial.  So a person can win the Cup by having the highest score in their level that day, and not be the Grand Champion.  Or they could win both, it just depends.  The Cup also allows people who aren't qualified for the Championships (not enough pre-championship scores) to still compete.  Anyway, if you want more detail on how it works, it's explained here www.ringsport.org/policies.php#Policy700

The trial results are at www.ringsport.org/results.php
A breakdown of the standings is at www.ringsport.org/standings.php

And now the fun stuff

Josh McCleary and Sniper


Dave Kroyer and Enoch - 1.2m hurdle


Tosco practicing the long jump during open field


Matt Nieuwkoop and Sarko

Matt Nieuwkoop and Joey Leigh's Crack

There are more photos (147 so far) at www.facebook.com/album.php

That looks like a real nice catch with Sarco. Did he make it through the trial ? I thought Skra was going to do the Championships ? Why the two low level decoys ?

I know, I know, you gave them the level three, but really, why the low level decoys ?

Hey Jeff, nice to see you here.

I'm only going to answer you once, don't feel like "playing" with you, so I hope you asked all your questions the first time.

First, both Matt and Josh are not "low level decoys".  The are level 3's, the highest level they can earn.  And I didn't "give" them this, Camille Tisserand awarded them the level 3's last year.  Just like Dominique Piton awarded it to both of them this year (the 3rd decoy who tried out was deferred). 

We found out about 10 days before the event that Andrej Skrahj was unable to come work the trial due to an issue with getting his Visa.   So we invited Fernando Dosta (well first we invited Gregory Pollet but he couldn't make arrangements with that late of notice) and he accepted.  He was in TX at the time, but had to go back to France for work, then planned to return on Friday.  Matt was our alternate decoy for the event.  However Fernando had problems getting onto his connecting flight in Paris coming back and wasn't going to make it in time.  The next flight would have had him arriving in TX sometime Saturday afternoon/evening, when the trial was scheduled to start on Friday.   So the alternate stepped in, that's why you have a qualified alternate at the big events, in case something happens to one of the primary decoys. 

As for the quality of decoys, ask Dominique what he thought of them.  Or I'll save you some time, he was very impressed with both of them.  Just like Andrej Agremont was impressed with Matt's work at the Regionals, and Michel Valladon was impressed with Josh's work at a club trial earlier this year.   These judges liked them well enough that both have recieved invitations to come train/decoy in France.

And Sarko is just fine, although I'm sure his owner will be happy to know you were concerned.  As you are well aware, a photo is one moment in time.  In that photo it was 1/250 of a second.  You really don't know what happened right before or right after that photo, or even the dog for that matter.  He throws his entire body at the decoy, making his entries appear to be crashes every time, I got a lot of crazy photos of him.