September 26-28, 2003 - Lievin, France
Day Seven
The last day of competition finally arrived and 2 busloads of fans and Team Members once more left the hotel at 7:00 am to go to the stadium. The US Team members would be running for individual world placements. This day had only the standard courses for the Small, Medium and Large dogs left to be run.
Small Dogs were the first to get to compete on Mariannic Joudin's 22 obstacle standard course with a standard course time of 49 seconds. This course was composed of many technical elements which required the handlers to work each obstacle. There were 59 dogs in this class. Barbara Bicksler and Sydney come to the line for the U.S. and posted a 44.41 time, but did receive a refusal at tunnel #10. This had them finishing 18th overall in the World. Roger Coor and Moso once again put in a fast run, but they incurred a refusal at tunnel #3 as Moso came back out of the black tunnel looking for Roger. This placed them 19th overall. Our final team in this category was Erin Schaefer and Jag. Erin and Jag started out very strong, then as they made a tight turn over obstacle #7 a bar was knocked down. Erin and Jag finished 20th overall. The overall qualifying rate on this course was 29%. The top dog was a Petite Spitz from Russia, "Osborn," that was 1.87 seconds faster overall than the 2nd place team.
The Medium dogs had the same course and a little less time at 47 seconds. This course had a final qualifying rate of 19%. When Karen Holik and Sizzle came to the line only 2 dogs out of 42 had posted clean rounds. Karen and Sizzle joined this group as they had 2 bars down in the pinwheel area on the course. Even with that they had a course time of 44.64. Jean LaValley and Tax came to the line in 11th place overall. When they were done with their 43.47 second run they would finish 6th overall in the world. Barb Davis and Shimmer also had a clean run and finished it in 44.72 seconds for a final overall placement of 8th in the individual competition. The Slovenia Berger Des Pyrenees "Simply the Best" was the best in the Medium category with an overall time that was 5.8 seconds faster than the 2nd place team.
During the course change the US crowd of fans joined for a another round of dancing on the arena floor with the fans from all of the other countries. This is done during each break at the World Team competition and at the end of each day. It is a welcome break from sitting and a fun way to mingle with the many countries who are there also. Many fans take this time to trade a myriad of items with those from other nations such as pins, hats, shirts, team clothing, and even the shirts of their backs.
Once the course was reset as designed by Judge, Emile Verhoort it had 22 obstacles, 173 meters and an SCT of 43 seconds. Again, there was no table on the course for standard. Sherry Kluever and Ransom were the first U.S. team to run the course. They had an excellent course time of 41.07 including a refusal. Static and Jen Pinder found their way around the course with a solid run and a time of 43.15. Terry and Remy were next to tackle this course. Their run was very smooth until the bar on the double fell. Their final time was 41.23. In 16th place coming into their run were Elicia Calhoun and 8 year old Suni. Suni and Elicia had a very smooth, fast run that put them crossing the line at 41.81 seconds. This was enough to place them 5th in the World out of 129 dogs competing. The overall winner was a Belgian Tervuren "Aqua" from Finland whose final overall time for the 2 courses was 75 seconds and standard time was 39.71. The course had a total qualifying rate of 19%.
The closing ceremonies had each of the countries introduced again as they paraded into the stadium. The AKC World Team received a trophy for their Bronze finish in he Large Dog Team event.
The final event of the weekend was a late dinner back at the hotel for the team and fans to get a chance to relax, eat and spend a little more time enjoying their time in France.
It was announced that next year's World Team Competition will be in Italy on the same weekend as this year's event. Start Planning!!
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