Year 3 – what a difference!

I started my fitness and strengthening programme in the previous year, with sprint training and fitness work. It was fab and I got a good buzz from it. I was feeling stronger already – but there was something missing. The injury niggled on and I knew I couldn’t ignore it any longer! I was lucky enough to find support from an incredible lady Stacy Weeks, a Biomechanics and Pilates Coach, who has assessed me and stripped my training programme right back to basics. We have essentially been doing strength and fitness foundation and boy, what a difference it has made to me. The devil really is in the detail!! 7 months of strengthening, core, fitness and nutrition work with Stacy, helped me go to the EOs with a new confidence.

I was much better prepared for the types of courses, for the weather, the travel and for the skills needed. Now it was all down to mindset as I stepped onto the line with Piixie. The first run was so frustrating – an elimination in my Team run – due to my handling error – I thought I had connected with her but I had just lost her for a split second. The second run was Team jumping – it was a really fast course with some tricky blinds we needed to do. I was determined to handle this one better and to stay connected. We had a great run in a fast time too. Just a pole – which, when I look back, could have been my handling or a little mistake by Piixie. Either way, I was much happier with how I ran and I made all the handling positions comfortably.

The next day was our Individual runs – I was really focused and had 2 great runs, with our Agility placing putting us comfortably in the Top 40 and into the Final! Big relief!!! So from a few years before, where we had never even heard of the European Open – we had made the Final for the second time! And this time I was so much better prepared.

We had an amazing run – Piixie gave it everything. It was such a great feeling to know I had made it round the course essentially clear – Piixie had been marked on her up contact on the dog walk. Our time would have put us 11th in the world on that day! Pretty cool result!!!

Every time I run in these competitions, I am learning more and more about myself, about what is needed to achieve the highest level in Agility. It’s incredibly exciting to look back and see where we have come – I am proud of our achievements. We have had a great team around us and have had some amazing support. I definitely could not do this alone and I think that is one of the biggest things I have learned. Piixie has already made my dreams come true – but we keep going – because we just keep changing the dream!

This year marks the 3rd year that I have been selected to run for Team GB at the European Open Championship and I wanted to share my thoughts on the whole experience.

5 years ago, I had no aspirations to compete at this level. I didn’t know it existed, let alone imagine it was possible. It wasn’t until I won my first Championship Ticket in 2015 that someone said to me I should submit my points. Points? What for? So, apparently there was a points system for Squad Selection. I knew that some of the top handlers competed abroad and I was starting to realise I had a pretty cool dog, but I had no idea what we could achieve or even what it would lead to, so I did my research and submitted my points, and my subsequent points for Crufts and Olympia qualifiers and I started to make sure I was hanging around with people who believed in me and who were a positive influence. We had a good year!

And that is how it started. Not through knowledge and goal setting, but through some deep seated belief in myself (I’d been put down for years, so I didn’t have much of this) and through the support of a couple of key people (they know who they are) but especially through belief in my dog!

It’s a pretty tough road to selection – definitely not a breeze and we are still learning about the hard work and effort it takes to be the very best. My first 3 years to get to this point have been challenging. At our first EOs we comfortably made the Individual final but then I became quite overwhelmed when I realised I just didn’t have the skills to complete that freakishly hard course in the Final!! 😉 Needless to say, we were eliminated – several times if that was a rule! Tereza Karavlova won and wow – what an inspirational handler she is!! It gave me the bug and I wanted to come back better than ever. I went home, focused on skills training and it started to make a big difference.

In our 2nd year, we were lucky again to be brought into the team. We definitely had better skills, but on top of trying to cope with the extreme heat out in Italy, we were missing something else! My fitness just wasn’t up to speed. I’ve struggled with a chronic injury for years and had  pain most days and I just hadn’t given it enough time and attention. On top of that, Piixie and I had a few setbacks leading up to the event (we were called in as reserves and weren’t as prepared as we should have been). The heat was totally overwhelming, I reacted badly to mosquito bites with my leg swollen like a balloon and my fitness levels just weren’t good enough to carry me through. Needless to say, we didn’t make the final. We weren’t alone though – it was a really tough year for Team GB and we seemed off the times – it was as if the European handlers had upped their game and just left us behind! So, back to the drawing board and lots of analysis to see what we  needed to do to pull ourselves back to their level. I still had that bug and although I’d not achieved that final, I knew I could perform better – and yet again I had learned more invaluable lessons about International competition.