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| Marnie and
Deuce |
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| Pam and
Quest |
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The weekend of July 17th and 18th found
Great Balls of Fur flyball team participating in Hit Squad’s
“Flyball at the Fair”. This tournament was held
in conjunction with the Dane County Fair, and not only offered
a spacious and ‘upscale’ tournament site, but also
all the cheese curds and ice cream we flyballers could eat!
On Saturday, Rosie (Kira
Haslam), Kobi (Mark Anderson),
Disney (Mari Pavleje),
Teddy (Karen Michalski)
and Whim & Deuce
(Marnie Hammerle) raced extremely well and won 4 of 5 races
to place 1st with the best time in the division of 20.04 (break-out
was 20.00). Not only was it an exceptional day for the team,
but Marnie Hammerle’s Deuce raced in his first official
tournament, helping the team win 4 of 5 heats in his debut
race, and earned his first 2 flyball titles, FD & FDX.
Congrats, Deuce & Marnie!! On Sunday, the team featuring
Rosie (Kira Haslam), Kobi (Mark Anderson), Disney (Mari Pavleje),
Teddy (Karen Michalski) and Duncan
(Nichole Reiner) raced less cleanly, but won an admirable
½ of their races to place 5th for the day.
The team returned to Madison the following
weekend to attend Ultimutt’s Summer Sizzle tournament.
This tournament offered something completely different from
the previous one: with only one racing lane, a small crating
area and music to entertain during breaks in the racing, the
atmosphere was relaxed and friendly. Saturday featured Rosie
(Kira Haslam), Kobi (pinch-handled by Sally Haldorson), Xoe
(Kim Follett), Teddy (Karen Michalski) and Whim & Deuce
(Marnie Hammerle) in line-ups that struggled a bit throughout
the day, but because of a division-best time of 20.27 (break-out
was 20.20) pulled out a 3rd place finish. The team challenged
themselves to improve on Sunday, and won ½ of their
races to find themselves in a tie for 2nd place, ultimately
placing 4th due to having the slowest time of the 3 teams
(what goes around, comes around!). But the successes of the
day had very little to do with the results: instead, we cracked
open a bottle of bubbly (Welch’s non-alcoholic…we
have standards…) to celebrate Whim’s FMX
(Flyball Master Excellent) title, awarded when the dog achieves
10,000 points! Whim is only the second dog on Great Balls
of Fur to reach this title. Also on Sunday, Quest
and Pam Caldwell celebrated Quest’s first official
tournament. Quest ran 5 clean and fast heats which earned
him his FD (Flyball Dog) & FDX
(Flyball Dog Excellent) titles! Way to go, Quest and Pam!
And a special thanks to Evan and Sam Emmons
who helped the team out at both tournaments; their generosity
with their time and their positive energy is truly valued
by all of the team members.
- Submitted by Sally Haldorson
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