North West Lurcher,terrier, And Whippet Club Show Sunday 24th June 12

[Margaret Mc Stay]

Sunday the 24th June 2012 was the first show of the year for the North West Lurcher, Terrier and Whippet Club, held at Barron Top Fun Farm, Donemana, Strabane, Co Tyrone. Barron Top Fun Farm provides the unique combination of being interesting , educational, and very enjoyable, and a real childrens paradise. This was very evident on Sunday with the children enjoying themselves over at the animal farm, slides, and train rides, and many more attractions in a safe environment, while their parents enjoyed the dog show. The one downer on the day was the weather. It certainly did not treat us very kindly. This resulted in show goers not being able to take their vechicles into the field and up to the ringside as the ground was like a sponge after the days of heavy rain prior to the show. George Mc Gerrigle, the owner of Barron Top was on hand, and made sure everybody got parked safely in the yard adjacent to the show ground. Many thanks for that George. The rain did not dampen the spirits of the canine folk and the show commenced at 12.30 mid day, beginning with the racing.

Here are some racing results. ( Random )

Lurchers

Over 23s

Michelle Rafferty with Shila

Unders 23s

Nigel Greer with Lady

Whippets

Gavin Wright with Bolt

Terriers ?

Congratulations to all the winners above

The highlight of the day came next. This was the digging Competition. I can honestly say I enjoyed this competition 100%. There were three sets of diggers.

Team 1/ Hugo Reid and Gerard Melaugh

Team 2/ Conor Gamble and Thomas Melaugh

Team 3/ Barry Holland and Desmond Roche.

The master of ceremonies at the digging, efficiently started the diggers off. The cheers and words of encouragement for the diggers was brilliant, and when they got tired, some friendly persuasion from the side line helped enormously. Time ticked away fast, and with grunts, moans and sheer elbow grease, the holes in the ground became wider and deeper.Time was counted down and the digging ended. After the master of cermonies and his helper Mickey Quinn measured the holes in the ground meticulously, the winners was declared in the presence of Joe Boggs.

The winners were Team 2

Conor Gamble

Thomas Melaugh

Congratulations : to Conor and Thomas.

Well done to you both, and to Team 1 and Team 3 f for being such great sportsmen.

Straight after the Digging competition, the showing started. I did not get all the results, so please forgive me if I did not get your result.

It was nice to see some up and coming young show and huntsmen and women back at the shows this year, and in the ring showing off their whippets terriers and Lurchers. I spoke to young Kieran Neeson , Shane Farrell , Nicola, Tracy and Nikilya Love, all who started attending the shows last year, and were so delighted to back again this year with their parents. I have great admiration for all these young folk, because I keep it in my mind, these young people will be the show organisers and sports men and women of tomorrow, and will carry on the sport I love with a passion, long after I have gone.

Whippets

Whippet Pup Champion

Ann Forsythe with Poppy

Whippet Bitch

1/ Ann Forsythe

2/ Sarah Cregan

3/ John Mc Stay

Whippet Dog

1/ Mark Doherty

2/ Shane Farrell

3/ John Mc Stay

Working Whippet

1/ Mickey Quinn

2/ Charlene Rafferty

3/ Mark Doherty

Whippet Pairs

1/ Patsy Mc Coy

2/ Mark Doherty

3/ John Mc Stay

Overall Whippet Champion

Mickey Quinn

Reserve Champion

Ann Forsythe

Terriers ( Random )

Terrier Pup Champion

John Heaslip

Reserve

Peter Morgan

1/ Patterdale Bitch - John Heaslip

1/ Jack Russsell Dog – Peter Morgan

1/ Lakeland Dog - Peter Morgan

1/ Lakeland Bitch - Peter Morgan

1/ Crossbreeds - Peter Morgan

Terrier Pairs - Peter Morgan

Champion Terrier

Conor Gamble

Reserve

Peter Morgan

Lurchers ( Random )

Lurcher Pups

Peter Morgan

Smooth Under Dog

1/ Fiona Devlin

2/ Michael Quinn

3/ Stephen Dummigan

Smooth Over 23

1/ Charlene Rafferty

2/ Chontelle Mc Meekin

Whippet Cross

1/ Fiona Devlin with Diva

2/ Charlene Rafferty with Angel

3/ Linda Mc Donald

Rough Bitch

1/ Gregg Murphy

Lamping Lurcher

1/ Harry Roche

2/ Stephen Dummigan

3/ Michelle Rafferty

Terrier Cross

1/ Graham Smyth

2/ Gregg Murphy

3/ Megan Crothers

Collie Cross

1/ Michael Quinn

2/ Stephen Dummigan

3/ Gerard Melaugh

Vetern Lurcher

1/ Ann Forsythe

2/ John Mc Stay

3/ Janet Duke

Lurcher Pairs

1/ Martin Gamble

2/ Adam Reid

3/ Stephen Dummigan

Lurcher Champion

Gregg Murphy

Reserve

Gerald Friel

Champion Gun Dog

John Gibson with Socks

Reserve

Richard Doherty with Ollie

OVERALL BEST IN SHOW CHAMPION

GREGG MURPHY

RESERVE CHAMPION

CONOR GAMBLE

A big congratulations to our Overall Champion and Reserve Champion and all the winners, and to every body who took part in the show.

And finally, a big thank you to the judges who done a wonderful job on the day. It was not an easy task, as the ground was very wet and slippy. At the end of the day George Mc Gerrigle had a lovely hot bowl of stew waiting John and myself and other people involved in the show . Of this George we were truly grateful. Your hospitality was much appreciated. The show organisers Barry Holland , Joe Boggs and their brilliant committee worked tirelessly to make this show a success for everybody to enjoy. Many thanks for a great days enjoyment. Your hard work paid off 100%. Bluebell was there taking photographs of the digging, racing and showing. Thanks for the memories Deidre. There will be a few nice framed photographs on the side boards in the sitting rooms across the country this winter, as a result of your photography during the summer season at the shows. A big thank you Deidre. I will conclude to thank again Barry Holland and Joe Boggs for the hard work put into this show and hopefully we will be back to Barron Top before the end of this season for another show.

 

[Macha]

there was also an award for veteran whippet, P Robinson with Tintreach. Tintra, who will be 8 in Sept, ran two heats of the race track but didn't win this year as he did a number of times through age 6 (last year he won his qualifying race to reach the finals, but didn't win the final)