World Agility Open

Dansk version og video nedenfor

What can I say, I just love the World Agility Open (WAO) – it’s the best international competition of them all! I am so happy I qualified this year too – but regretfully the preparation has been like zero. Vini injured her right shoulder in September/October and we had a long break. At the last run at the WAO tryouts she fell in the tunnel and injured her left shoulder and we had another break. Then she was chasing squirrels in the forrest and hurt her front leg and we had yet another break. At the competition the weekend before the WAO, Vini hurt her toe on the dog walk in the first run. So believe we have taken our share of injuries now!

At the WAO we trained Wednesday and I had decided to skip the official training the next day so she could rest before the competition started on Friday. Training on Wednesday went well and Vini seemed to be fit for fight 🙂 But Friday when standing in the queue to run I felt a hot spot on Vini’s back – I almost freaked out, many thoughts were processed within milliseconds, like: is there something wrong? should I withdraw her? why is her back warm? I massaged her back and the heat disappeared. I therefore decided to run her. But my focus was totally gone and run was chaotic – and when she got faults on the weaves and afterwards ran out of it, I was sure she wasn’t entirely fit. I afterwards cooled her down, massaged and stretched her, but couldn’t provoke any reaction. I thought then that the weaves fault were due to my frantic handling and decided to run the Snooker. I really couldn’t focus and I managed to earn only a single point in the Snooker.. LOL 😀 Last run went fine until Vini was to weave, she decided to avoid it by running by it. Now I was sure that she wasn’t 100% fit..

Fortunately I had found Amy, who could treat Vini. There were some scare tissue from the injury in her shoulder that needed to be “broken down” and the fascia on her right side of the ribs needed massage. In the evening I took Vini for a walk, and I could see she was trotting more freely than I had seen her do for a very long time. Was I relieved? Indeed!! Not because I could run, but because Vini was fit again and had no pain in her shoulder 🙂

Knowing Vini was fit, I next day could focus on our runs, and our teamwork was so great – I love running my little speedster <3 First run was the Biathlon Jumpers and I wasn’t yet quite convinced she was okay, but when she weaved with full speed, I knew she was fine. The double jump was causing her some problems, she was often misjudging it – maybe because the height difference between the bars were only 12,5 cm? Next run was the Pentathlon Jumpers 2, where I lost connection after second jump and Vini was heading to the tunnel. I called her off, she turned around, and went for the weaves. The judge deemed Vini had touched the tunnel – but I didn’t see her touching it?? Unfortunately an elimination that caused we didn’t qualify for the Speedstake final 🙁 Last course to run was the Pentathlon agility 2 – it was a killer course, so many eliminations 😮 I stupidly decided to change my plan and that caused a refusal. When running the course I decided to go for running contacts on the dog walk – only problem was that I forgot to tell Vini that, so she missed the contact.

Sunday I was to run the Biathlon Agility and when looking at the course map, I had no idea how to manage the difficult parts. The distance of up to 11 meters between obstacles are definitely a challenge when you are used to only 5-6 meters – after this distance our dogs starts looking for the obstacles. The hardest challenge to crack on the course was the beginning – I knew I had to run all I could (when you see the video you know why 😉 ), and that meant I had to have my body turning in the right direction to be able to set off quickly. I walked the first part over and over until I was convinced I could do it. Running the course this part was successful 🙂 But after last tunnel Vini started to look for next obstacle and didn’t notice the weaves that were about 8 meters from the tunnel. Later it surprised me that I was able to be at the spot so quickly at the dog walk, so regretfully I pushed her off the dog walk. But feeling was so great – I fully trusted Vini and myself, our teamwork couldn’t be better, it was such an awesome feeling <3

After the run Vini was treated again by Amy, and she is now still trotting freely 🙂

To sum up, despite our preparation has not been as hoped for and Vini is not in the shape I had hoped for – I am very pleased about our performance! Yes, timing is missing at times, but we are on the right path – and so looking forward to enjoy more awesome runs with my speedster <3

A big thank you to Julie and Hedvig for doing an amazing job as team managers. And thank you to the Danish team for the support and all the fun we had! Oh, and thank you, Nadja, for helping me driving in the “wrong” side of the road in England 😉

WAO, hope to see you again next year 😀

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Hvad kan jeg sige, jeg elsker World Agility Open (WAO) – det er den bedste internationale konkurrence af dem alle! Jeg er så glad for jeg kvalificerede os igen i år – men desværre har vores forberedelse været lig nul. Vini skadede sin højre skulder i september/oktober, og vi holdte en lang pause. I det sidste løb til WAO udtagelsen, faldt hun i tunnelen og skadede hendes venstre skulder, og vi holdte en pause igen. Senere jagtede Vini egern i skoven og forvred sit forben og vi holdte endnu en pause. Ved konkurrencen weekenden før WAO, slog Vini sin tå i første løb. Så tror vi har taget vores andel af skader nu!

Til WAO trænede vi onsdag og jeg havde besluttet at springe den officielle træning over den næste dag, så hun kunne være udhvilet før konkurrencen startede fredag. Træning onsdag gik godt, og Vini syntes at være fit for fight 🙂 Men fredag, da jeg står i kø for at løbe, følte jeg en varme på Vini ryg – jeg blev helt slået ud og mange tanker for rundt: er der noget galt? skal jeg trække hende? hvorfor kommer der varme fra hendes ryg? Jeg masserede hendes ryg og varmen forsvandt. Jeg besluttede derfor at løbe med hende. Men mit fokus var helt forsvundet og løbet var kaotisk – og da hun fik fejl på slalom og bagefter løb ud af den, var jeg sikker på, at hun ikke var helt fit. Jeg gik hende af, masserede og udstrakte hende, men kunne ikke provokere nogen reaktion. Jeg troede da, at fejl i slalom skyldes min hektiske handling og besluttede at løbe Snooker. Jeg kunne stadig ikke fokusere og jeg formåede at optjene et enkelt point i Snooker.. LOL 😀 Sidste løb gik fint, indtil Vini skulle i slalom, hvor hun besluttede at undgå den ved at løbe forbi. Nu var jeg sikker på, at hun ikke var 100% fit..

Heldigvis havde jeg fundet Amy, der kunne behandle Vini. Der var noget arvæv fra skaden i skulderen, som havde brug for at blive “brudt ned” og fascia på hendes højre side af ribbenene behøvede massage. Om aftenen, da jeg gik en tur med Vini, kunne jeg se, at hun travede mere frit end jeg havde set hende gøre i meget lang tid. Var jeg lettet? Ja!! Ikke fordi jeg kunne løbe med hende, men fordi Vini var fit igen og ingen smerter havde i skulderen 🙂

Vidende at Vini var fit, kunne jeg næste dag fokusere på vores løb, og vores teamwork var super godt – jeg elsker at løbe med mit lille missil <3 Første løb var Biathlon Spring, men jeg var endnu ikke helt overbevist om, at hun var okay, men da hun tog slalom i fuld fart, vidste jeg, at hun var fin. Dobbelt springet gav hende nogle problemer, da hun ofte bedømte springet forkert – måske fordi højdeforskellen mellem overliggerne kun var på 12,5 cm? Næste løb var Pentathlon Spring 2, hvor jeg mistede forbindelsen efter andet spring og Vini var på vej til tunnelen. Jeg kaldte på hende, hun vendte sig om og så så slalom. Dommeren dømte at Vini havde rørt tunnelen – men jeg kunne ikke se hende røre ved den?? Desværre en diskvalificering, der forårsagede vi netop ikke kvalificere os til Speedstake finalen 🙁 Sidste løb var Pentathlon Agility 2 – det var en dræber-bane med mange diskvalificeringer 😮 Dumt nok besluttede jeg at ændre min plan, hvilket forårsagede en vægring. Senere besluttede jeg at gå for løbefelter på balancen – eneste problem var, at jeg glemte at fortælle Vini det, så hun missede feltet.

Søndag skulle jeg løbe Biathlon Agility og da jeg så på banetegningen, havde jeg ingen idé om, hvordan jeg skulle handle de vanskelige dele. Afstanden op til 11 meter mellem forhindringer er absolut en udfordring, når du er vant til kun 5-6 meter – efter denne afstand begynder vores hunde at se efter forhindringer. Den sværeste del på banen var begyndelsen – jeg vidste, jeg var nødt til at løbe alt hvad jeg kunne (når du ser videoen, ved du hvorfor ;-)), og det betød jeg måtte have min krop til at vende i den rigtige retning for hurtigt at komme af sted. Jeg gik den første del igen og igen, indtil jeg var overbevist om, at jeg kunne gøre det. Da jeg løb, lykkedes denne del perfekt 🙂 Men efter sidste tunnel startede Vini at kigge efter næste forhindring og lagde ikke mærke til slalom, der stod omkring 8 meter fra tunnelen. Senere overraskede det mig, at jeg var i så hurtigt ved balancens nedgang så uheldigvis skubbede jeg hende af feltet. Men følelsen for løbet var super fed – jeg havde fuld tillid til Vini og mig selv, og vores teamwork kunne ikke være bedre, det var sådan en fantastisk følelse <3

Efter vores løb, blev Vini behandlet igen af Amy, og hun traver nu stadig frit 🙂

For at opsummere, vores forberedelse var ikke som ønsket, ej heller er Vini’s form helt i top – men jeg er så glad for, hvordan vi har udviklet os til at blive et team. Ja, timing mangler til tider, men vi er på den rigtige vej dertil – og jeg glæder mig så meget til alle de løb vi skal løbe sammen fremover <3

En stor tak til Julie og Hedvig for at gøre et fantastisk job som teamledere. Og tak til det danske hold for den støtte og alle de sjove, vi havde! Og ikke mindst tak til Nadja for at hjælpe mig med at køre i den forkerte siden af vejen i England 😉

WAO, håber vi ses igen til næste år 😀