A series of firsts at amwa great wood rally

Yearlings first race, my first four dog and the first rally I (Lou) entered without Matt and my four dog team with Snik, Mars, Kara and Pickle came first in their class! Great Wood had a cosy entry and is a 2.2 night trail and a 3.2 day trail, infamous for its hills that go on for miles Great Wood gives the dogs a good work out and isn't the easiest race to run. I wanted each yearling to be teamed with an experienced dog so Mars ran with Snik in lead and Kara with Pickle. My run with the four wasn't without incident, and alot of teams had similar issues with lots of distractions including marshals randomly jumping on the trail out of bushes, photographers running in front of teams, screaming children on the trail and cyclists that did not want to share the trail however super pleased with the team that ignored all distractions and got on with the job at hand. The night run I slipped and got dragged, completely musher error but the dogs thankfully listened to me and stopped so I could sort myself out and I am now enjoying the pretty colours of my bruising! I am as ever always heavy on the brakes and especially with the hills, temperatures and youngsters first race I was mindful that I wanted a positive experience for us all so kept it as steady as I could and it resulted in a first place and more importantly was a good experience for the teams.

Jon Matherick ran our two girls Laika and Cassidy Squidge with his super boy Tank and came second in the three dog class. The girls came back with happy, muddy faces so I  was really pleased they enjoyed their runs.