world sheepdog trials

You may have spotted  that the Sheepdog Society held it’s third (tri-annual) World Sheepdog Trials last week, near Penrith in Cumbria. I made the long journey north on Friday of last week to catch a couple of days a of the competition, not competing, but just to enjoy the spectacle. This was by far the biggest of the world trials so far, with 26 nations competing. As usual the home nations made up the bulk of the competitors, but it was great to see New Zealand, Brazil and even Japan sending their teams over.

Sadly the weather wasn’t kind to the event, two days before the start of competition, gale force winds flattened eight of the marquees. The Friday and Saturday then saw several inches of rain fall, turning the site to a quagmire. However, sheepdog  triallists are a resilient lot and competition carried on without interruption. There were moments of hight drama. We all gasped when Jim Wilson all the way from New Zealand, was disqualified for his dog “gripping’ (biting the sheep’s wool) when only a second away from earning a place in Sunday’s final.

But the whole crowd roared it’s approval when Irishman James McGee and his dog ‘Becca’ competed a near perfect round, in Sundays final. The course for the final is the toughest challenge that a sheepdog can face. Two packets of ten sheep have to be gathered from two different places half a mile apart. After joining the sheep and putting them around a course, five of the sheep which are wearing collars, have to be shed from the rest before being  penned. The shear stress of working with dog and sheep in front of several thousand people for half an hour, is enough to turn many an accomplished handler to a quivering wreck, but James and Becca put on a run which was well worthy of their title as World Champions.

Great sporting events should serve to inspire, and I left Cumbria full of enthusiasm. My three young dogs are  shaping up well so from now on I’ll start the training sessions with “come on Colin,you’ll have to concentrate if you want to be a world champion”

Jame McGee and ‘Becca’

further details of the World Trials can be found at

worldsheepdogtrials.co.uk

or on the International Sheepdog Society web-site

isds.org.uk