Stauntonvale Gundogs

ENGLAND WIN INTERNATIONAL EVENT AT CLA GAMEFAIR

Once again, England proved 'unbeatable' at the International Team Competition 2011, held at the CLA Game Fair, Blenheim on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th July.

Teams representing England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales competed in this annual event, judged by Mssrs. D. Capel and G. Bennett (retrievers) and J. Organ and K. Lindsay (spaniels).

Each team comprised five spaniels/handlers and five retrievers/handlers, with the spaniels running in the morning and the retrievers in the afternoon. The International arena was alongside the River Glyme and next to the scurry and pick up gundog events.

The England Team (retrievers) were:

Lee Hartis with Lowforge Aragon of Leacaz
Laura Hill with FT. CH. Jobeshill Octavia
Mark Demaine with Calderhey Adder
Richard King with Saxaphone Brown Ale of Lincswolds
Annette Clarke with FT. CH. Garronpoint Liffey

The retriever test comprised five exercises, including marked and blind retrieves over diagonal fences, and a mark over the river. Whilst the arena wasn't huge, the dogs struggled in some cases to pick their handlers out as the cover was fairly long and there was a backdrop of hundreds of spectators. Also, the dogs had to cope with the distraction of shots, marks and whistles coming from the neighbouring arenas and scurries.

England ran extremely well, and won the overall competition and also had the best retriever team. FT. CH. Jobeshill Octavia (Pru) was awarded third highest placed individual retriever (and was the highest scoring bitch).

For the full scores/results, click here.

ENGLAND GUNDOG TEAM WINS WORLD CUP RETRIEVER EVENT 2011

Laura was a member of the winning England Gundog Team that competed at the prestigious World Cup Retriever Event, held at Highclere Castle, 29-30 May 2011.

Thirteen international teams took part in the 2011 World Cup event - each team comprising four dogs and handlers, representing their respective countries. As you can imagine, the standard required to represent your country is extremely high, and it is a great honour for those involved.

The England Team was Laura Hill and FT CH Jobeshill Octavia (lab bitch), Lee Hartis and Lowforge Aragon of Leacaz (lab dog), Mark Demaine and Calderhay Adder (lab dog), Richard King and Saxophone Brown Ale of Lincswold (lab dog)

Highclere Estate provided the perfect setting with its variety of ground, including meadows, woodland and lakes. The ten 'tests' set up over the two days were designed to test the dogs on their game finding ability, along with the quickness and effectiveness of the retrieves they made.

The five judges were Peter Bates, Roy Tomlinson and Mike Jennings (England), Stefaan Bollen (Belgium) and Stefania Gandolfi (Italy).

After the ten tests, each team captain selected one dog and handler for the final 'run off' retrieve. At this stage, we knew it was very close between the top two teams. Luckily, Mark Demaine (England) pulled off a perfect final retrieve. The team could do no more than wait to find out if they had done enough...

The teams paraded around the arena with their dogs to cheers and support from the crowd of spectators, and the winners were announced as follows:

1st ENGLAND
2nd WALES
3rd HOLLAND

The last time that England won this event was 2007.

The team for the Skinners World Cup 2011 event, to be held at Highclere, 29 & 30 May, met at Drakeshead kennels on 14 May for a team practise and photoshoot.

From Left, Back Row: Dave Latham (selector/mentor), Sandra Halstead (Team Organiser), John Halstead (Team Captain); Front Row: Lee Hartis, Richard King, Laura Hill, Mark Demaine