Sadly once we arrived in Highbridge I wasn't able to get an internet connection without tethering to my iPhone which was extremely slow so no blogging until we arrived home.
The original reason for our trip to Europe was to go watch the IFCS World Agility Championships and support Baxter & Ripley's breeder, Tiffany Salmon and her red bc Rio (Baxter's mom and Ripley's grandma). They were named to the team so we were quite excited to see them run on the world stage. Of course we also wanted to support the rest of the Canadian Team too :)
We had to get up nice and early each morning to head out with the team to Hand Equestrian Centre for the competition. On Friday they had an opening ceremony with all the teams coming out with their dogs. Our flag barer was Kayl McCann and her amazing 11 year old dog Ping Pong. Kayl & Ping have represented Canada in every IFCS World Championships that we have attended in the past 8 years. They are an incredible team coming in 4th place overall in the 16" division and came home with a Bronze Medal in the Individual Biathalon.
Kayl & Ping Pong are the flag barer's - very fitting for Canada
The Canadian Agility Team
One of the best ideas we found was how they clear the course after the walk through time is up. They had a rope go all the way across the ring and volunteers would walk that rope towards the other end of the arena pushing the handlers out :) It was done to great music and the volunteers loved it.
Clearing the ring.
Tiffany and Rio had a great weekend. They came home with 2 medals - silver in the Individual Biathalon and bronze in the Individual Jumpers. It was exciting to see them run and do so well.
My favorite picture of Rio (taken by Rick)
TNT Rio with her Silver (Ind Biathalon) and Bronze (Ind Jumpers) Medals
The weekend over - Canada comes home with 9 individual medals and 1 team medal - awesome!Lucie & Nitro - Silver - Individual All Round 16"
Tiffany & Rio - Silver - Individual Biathalon 26"
Kayl & Ping Pong - Bronze - Individual Biathalon 16"
Susan & Feature - Gold - Individual Standard 26"
Susan & Encore - Bronze - Individual Standard 26
Chris & Setna - Bronze - Individual Snooker 22"
Susan & Encore - Silver - Individual Snooker 26"
Kim & Recess - Silver - Individual Jumpers 22"
Tiffany & Rio - Bronze - Individual Jumpers 26"
Ken & Blitz, Marie-Pierre & Minnie and Kim & Recess - Bronze - Team
It was a great weekend of agility - amazing handlers and dogs and lots of fun. Really glad we made the trek to the UK, plus I loved taking pictures of the team too.
Rio and I are glad you made the trek too! :)
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