Day 1 of the 2015 USDAA Cynosport World Games started bright and early with course maps set out just after 6am and walk-throughs beginning at 7:10am. The competitors were excited, but some were also nervous and focused beyond belief. The event always kicks off with a class the competitors endearingly refer to as the “Warm-Up Run”. This run, while it does not affect any of the scores toward making one of the three Finals’ events, can still earn the handler and dog teams individual placements.
This year, the Warm-Up Run was called “Joker’s Wild”. This class was a strong test on not only the handler’s ability to come up with a course that allowed them to get the most points possible in the set amount of time, but also on the dog’s ability to navigate various “joker” distance sequences in order to earn bonus points. The judge’s briefing for the class as well as a course map can be found here, and a briefing for how the Joker’s Wild was judged can be found here.
After all rings had completed all runs for the Joker’s Wild class, awards were set aside for the dog/handler teams placing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in their respective height classes, and a complete listing of results was posted online and printed for competitors to check results in the score books.
A big congratulations to the dog/handler teams who placed in this class.
After the Warm-Up Run was complete, there was a slight break as the volunteers built the next set of courses for the day: Grand Prix/Performance Grand Prix Quarterfinals and Steeplechase/Performance Speed Jumping Quarterfinals.
Course maps for the Grand Prix/Performance Grand Prix Quarterfinals can be seen here and course maps for the Steeplechase/Performance Speed Jumping Quarterfinals can be seen here.
Congratulations to the dog/handler teams who earned their way into the Semifinals rounds! Be sure to check the results page to see who qualified.
And of course, a big THANK YOU to the 2015 USDAA Cynosports World Games sponsors: Max200, GlycoFlex, and Zuke’s!
Also, a personal THANK YOU to USDAA for hiring me to work as the official field reporter for the entire event!
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