"The first all breed agility trial held by the BCCA was August 25, 26 and 27, 2006. This 3 day trail was held in a horse arena at Buckeye Ranch in Grove City, Ohio. This location is on the south side of Columbus, Ohio. Our 2 judges, Blair Kelly and Sherry Porter, each judged about 300 runs per day. Their courses were designed for the beardies to run and show their talents. The course flow and the ideal dirt footing saw some very fast times throughout the weekend.
Beardies and their owners in attendance were:
Maryann Szalka with Cowboy, Chase and Checkers
Walt Earnst and Rosie Schroeder with Mickie
Bobbie and Bill Raguse with Kira
Jan and Glen Norikane with Gina
Diane and Dina Lipman with Abbey and Paige
Jeff and Sharon Ipser with Jax, Zoom, Lizzee and Libbee
Barb Erway with Bella
The beardies made their presence known early in the trial. Excellent Standard on Friday saw Kira and Zoom taking second and fourth place in a large 20" class. In fact, the only person to finish in front of Bobbie and Kira was Linda Mecklenburg, an AKC world team member. With that performance, Kira and Bobbie earned the High In Trial. A large HIT ribbon and beardie note cards and towels were their prizes. In addition to placements rosettes, beardie placement rosettes for each class ran were awarded. All of the other beardies and owners followed Kira's lead by being successful in their classes. Almost every beardie got a Q during the weekend. Besides Kira and Zoom, Paige, Lizzee and Bella got placements in their classes during the weekend. Paige and Bella got their first Excellent legs during the weekend. This was Barb Erway's first agility trial with other beardies in attendance. Barb trials in Kentucky. We all welcomed Barb and her rescue neardie, Bella.
Saturday night, we took the judges out to dinner. We had good food and conversation. Both judges were very interested in our breed and asked questions concerning origination, health issues, club size and by-laws. They were also impressed with our Beardie Camp program.
I want to thank the other members of the trail committee Maryann, Diane, Rosie and Walt. I couldn't have done it without your participation.
We're going to hold another all breed agility trial February 17 and 18, 2007 in the same location. We hope to see you there."
Jeff Ipser
