2003 World Agility Championships
September 26-28, 2003 - Lievin, France
Day Four


September 24: Submitted by Carrie DeYoung

At 6:30 am the first carloads of AKC USA Agility World Team supporters left for a 45 minute drive to the Stade Couvert Regional in Lievin, France. They left early to save seats for the USA group and to get started decorating the seating area and team locker room. Much to their pleasant surprise when they arrived at the stadium the French organizers had already saved them an excellent block of seats right next to the France block.

The team arrived about an hour and a half before their scheduled practice time. There were two busloads of supporters and team members at the show site. The team had to get through a tense Veterinary check, but with the help of a translator they were able to explain the combination type vaccination used in the United States and confirm that all dogs were properly vaccinated.

Once that was over the team headed to the floor with many supporters for their scheduled practice time. Each team is given two minutes per dog to practice. This gave the USA team 28 minutes of practice time. Coach Dan Dege had outlined a plan for varied stations out on the floor for the team to practice on. When it was time about 25 supporters rushed on to the floor to help move equipment into the positions mapped out. Then the practice began and was supervised at each area by Susan Garrett, Marq Cheek, Darlene Woz and Kathy Keats. The carpet surface proved to provide much better traction than expected. It is laid over a professional running track and provides maximum cushioning for the dogs to land on.

After the practice was over the team headed back to their locker room area for a brief team meeting. They were all given their running bibs, catalogs and nice exhibitor gifts provided by France.

Tomorrow the events to be run will be the Maxi, Midi, and Mini Individual Jumping Categories as well as the Large Team Jumping Categorie. The USA Team will be the first team to the line tomorrow in the Large Dog Jumping event. It will be a long day not expected to end until about 7:30 PM. For now the team is resting and getting ready for their first day of competition.

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