Small Margins

There's Crufts Team qualifier at Rugby today and we have a decent team out. Good chance here. Our first dog goes clear, then its Doggo and I. it's a good round apart from a missed dog walk contact, criminal. Our next dog does the same but our final paring goes clear. 10 faults, which isn't good enough. It’s usually clear or nothing in these things. Today only one team gets those crucial four clears and qualifies for Crufts. Their time however is slow, three seconds slower than ours but faults are faults. Small margins. Then again several of the teams that only got five faults will be saying the same thing as they sob into their beers tonight.

Amongst the on and off rain, Doggo gets a clear in a individual agility run but we mess up the weaves in another. MD hits the ground running, a great first run from him but he fetches the second to last pole down. Here we go again. On his next run he keeps all the poles up and hits every contact, a perfect run but as we cross the line the judge does not clap as is the convention for a clear round. I dig out our score card... five faults! For what? Turns MD failed to hit the ‘up’ contact of the ‘A’ frame. I'm not happy with that, judges hardly ever give that, it’s so hard to mark. Gutted.

As things are going so badly, L makes me a enticing offer to come home. I get in the car, tempted.

All comes right in the end on his last run. It’s typical that his slowest and scrappiest of the day winds up being clear. Only 14th but we’ll take it. We'll take anything at the moment.

Meanwhile L’s in Belper for the Belper Charity 10k with Roy Mc and Nigel Clough. Turns out though Roy’s only doing the prize giving and Nige is running the 5k. Footballers eh?

L’s told to add six minutes to her expected time, it’s hilly and apparently inaccurately marked. Hmmm, we’ve done a few of those recently.

So it’s not one of her quickest runs but looking at the winning mens' times, which are horrendous, it looks like she did well. In the photos they upload later, she’s powering it, smiling and looking great. If I’d ran it I would probably have gone over 45 and then I’d have to have topped myself, yet I would have been top 10.

We head out for food, revisiting the scene of Daughter’s birthday, the Hemlock Stone, for a very nice Thai curry.

(Sunday 17th July)