Survivor 3 Sept 5-6 Foxboro, MA.
What a weekend!
This was the one year anniversary of the tournament that Karen and Lester attended as spectators. E Gads was a total disaster, they weren't sure what they were getting into, but Lester knew one thing, it couldn't get any worse.
We really started in Feb of this year with a new team and a new name, Fitchburg MA. Muttley Crew came in last place (7th) in Regular 3. We survived a double ring tournament, got our feet wet, didn't know what we were doing, but we were racing!
April was Dover NH. We had been practicing like crazy and it paid off. Muttley Crew, 1st in Reg 2, Tug Thugs 1st in Open 2. We could feel our ears burning. "Where did they come from?"
May was Greenfield MA. Muttley Crew 4th in Reg 2, Tug Thugs 3rd in Open 2.
OK teams have caught on to us, we'll have to start working for top twos.
July was Foxboro, MA. We were talked into co-hosting this tournament as a last minute, no frills tournament.
The cards were stacked against us, working a tournament really takes the focus away from running a team. We were warned we wouldn't do well. Luckily for us, we didn't know any better, Muttley Crew 2nd in Reg 2, Tug Thugs 1st in Open 2. We are back and are strong contenders.
That leaves Sept in Foxboro Ma. I think this may have been our toughest tournament yet.
We decided one area we were lacking was communication during the event. We assigned a Crew Chief that would communicate among the team members and take a lot of the burden when entering the lanes. A practice plan was in place, the box loader was told, jump heights changed if needed.
It worked well, all the team had to worry about was running their dogs. We also started using a coach during the race. This took some tweaking, but mainly because we lack experience (It's only our 5th tournament).
For the most part, if Barb was running a dog, she backed off and let us figure it out the hard way. :)
We had our challenges with both teams. Whit was now running with Muttley Crew, Stacy and Jamie are still getting the hang of starts and passing.
Tug Thugs ran three or four different line ups, three different start dogs, it was an impossible task to get any kind of timing down, but they persevered and got the job done.
Both teams worked really hard all tournament. Muttley Crew was in contention for first place most of the tournament, it came down to their last race, they would have to beat a faster team to get first place. The way things were going all weekend they would have been happy with second. The last three heats were very exciting.
The whole team just came together, they had the best passing of the entire weekend and their fastest time after two days of hard racing. They won the race 3 straight, came in first place in class (Multi 1) and ran an 18.2!!! OMG was it exciting!
Tug Thugs were locked in for second place. We could have put Rockit in the line up on Saturday against the one fast team we couldn't touch. We decided we'd tough it out and run what we brung. Now we are down to the last race, Acorn needs 25 points for her next title (FMCh-Gold), we are running our slowest line up, the dogs are tired.
It's going to take some good starts and clean passing to get under 24 seconds and secure 25 points.
To boot, Mandy was starting, she seems to have slowed down a bit as the day went on and Lester doesn't have a clue were to start from, let alone having a consistent start light.
He purposely false started to get some idea where Mandy was at, did some eye balling and had a great start. The passing was the closest it had been all weekend, but Isa running last had some issues at the box, when the heat was over they waited forever to show the time, we're on pins and needles, it came up 23.49 just under 24.0. We went on to win the race 3 straight. Tug Thugs 2nd in class (Open 3).
Both teams pulled it together when it counted, nobody fell apart. We rose to the occasion as a club, it was a special moment.
I think as a team we have moved it up a notch and everything we learned at this tournament will pay dividends at the next.
Congratulations to our new title holders
Acorn: FDCh-G
Mandy: FDCh-G
Rockit FDCh-G
Whit: FDCh
This was the one year anniversary of the tournament that Karen and Lester attended as spectators. E Gads was a total disaster, they weren't sure what they were getting into, but Lester knew one thing, it couldn't get any worse.
We really started in Feb of this year with a new team and a new name, Fitchburg MA. Muttley Crew came in last place (7th) in Regular 3. We survived a double ring tournament, got our feet wet, didn't know what we were doing, but we were racing!
April was Dover NH. We had been practicing like crazy and it paid off. Muttley Crew, 1st in Reg 2, Tug Thugs 1st in Open 2. We could feel our ears burning. "Where did they come from?"
May was Greenfield MA. Muttley Crew 4th in Reg 2, Tug Thugs 3rd in Open 2.
OK teams have caught on to us, we'll have to start working for top twos.
July was Foxboro, MA. We were talked into co-hosting this tournament as a last minute, no frills tournament.
The cards were stacked against us, working a tournament really takes the focus away from running a team. We were warned we wouldn't do well. Luckily for us, we didn't know any better, Muttley Crew 2nd in Reg 2, Tug Thugs 1st in Open 2. We are back and are strong contenders.
That leaves Sept in Foxboro Ma. I think this may have been our toughest tournament yet.
We decided one area we were lacking was communication during the event. We assigned a Crew Chief that would communicate among the team members and take a lot of the burden when entering the lanes. A practice plan was in place, the box loader was told, jump heights changed if needed.
It worked well, all the team had to worry about was running their dogs. We also started using a coach during the race. This took some tweaking, but mainly because we lack experience (It's only our 5th tournament).
For the most part, if Barb was running a dog, she backed off and let us figure it out the hard way. :)
We had our challenges with both teams. Whit was now running with Muttley Crew, Stacy and Jamie are still getting the hang of starts and passing.
Tug Thugs ran three or four different line ups, three different start dogs, it was an impossible task to get any kind of timing down, but they persevered and got the job done.
Both teams worked really hard all tournament. Muttley Crew was in contention for first place most of the tournament, it came down to their last race, they would have to beat a faster team to get first place. The way things were going all weekend they would have been happy with second. The last three heats were very exciting.
The whole team just came together, they had the best passing of the entire weekend and their fastest time after two days of hard racing. They won the race 3 straight, came in first place in class (Multi 1) and ran an 18.2!!! OMG was it exciting!
Tug Thugs were locked in for second place. We could have put Rockit in the line up on Saturday against the one fast team we couldn't touch. We decided we'd tough it out and run what we brung. Now we are down to the last race, Acorn needs 25 points for her next title (FMCh-Gold), we are running our slowest line up, the dogs are tired.
It's going to take some good starts and clean passing to get under 24 seconds and secure 25 points.
To boot, Mandy was starting, she seems to have slowed down a bit as the day went on and Lester doesn't have a clue were to start from, let alone having a consistent start light.
He purposely false started to get some idea where Mandy was at, did some eye balling and had a great start. The passing was the closest it had been all weekend, but Isa running last had some issues at the box, when the heat was over they waited forever to show the time, we're on pins and needles, it came up 23.49 just under 24.0. We went on to win the race 3 straight. Tug Thugs 2nd in class (Open 3).
Both teams pulled it together when it counted, nobody fell apart. We rose to the occasion as a club, it was a special moment.
I think as a team we have moved it up a notch and everything we learned at this tournament will pay dividends at the next.
Congratulations to our new title holders
Acorn: FDCh-G
Mandy: FDCh-G
Rockit FDCh-G
Whit: FDCh
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