9 November 2009

The Nordic HTM and Freestyle Championships

Kath has just returned home after a very busy weekend in Denmark. She left Derbyshire early Friday morning on the 6th of November and arrived to Birmingham Airport a few hours before departure... Just to be told that the flight would be delayed by an hour!

After landing in Copenhagen, there was a 4 hour drive to the Nordic Venue, however, she did arrive in time in Herning for the judges' briefing on Friday night! Phew! She was introduced to the two other Nordic Championship judges Rolf Gustavsson (Sweden) and Henriette Ortmann (Denmark).

Saturday - Kath was judging an official Danish HTM competition in the venue where the Nordic Championships was to be held the next day. It was not a big show - just about 20 entries and Kath had completed all her judging by noon. She then had the rest of the afternoon to look around the big breed show, visit the trade stands, watch some obedience and a HTM and Freestyle demonstration in the main ring.

It ended up being a late night as the judges were taken out for a judges' dinner, which did not start until 8 pm!!!!


A German Shepherd performing in HTM at the official Danish show.

And a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel performing in Freestyle

Sunday was the 'big' day. The Nordic Championships!

The opening ceremony started at 9 am. The CEO of the Danish KC declared the Championships were open and the 'white dog' (the reserve for the Danish Freestyle team) entered the ring to perform the very first routine as a demonstration, it was not judged.

The first routine to be judged, was performed in an extra ring, which had exactly the same size and shape as the Nordic Championship ring as it was a bitch from the Finnish team and in season so she had to be kept away from the rest of the dogs and the main HTM ring!

The competition finished at about 2 pm the winners were announced.

The Norwegian KC had decided not to be represented at this year's Nordic Championships, but one handler Merete Huser with her BSD Khan had still decided to travel to Denmark and show the Norwegian flag. She performed a boxing routine as a demonstration round after the last official performance. The Finnish reserve did also do a demonstration.

Sweden won the Nordic Freestyle Championship for teams. Denmark won the Nordic HTM Championship. (They were the only country which was able to send a HTM team to represent this division of the sport.) Sini Eriksson with her Sheltie, Sonic from Finland won the Individual Nordic Freestyle title and Emmy Simonsen from Denmark with Border Collie, Whisper won the Individual HTM title.

The 2 individual winners were invited to perform their routines in the main ring later on the day and the prize giving was in the main ring too.

Kath returned to England early Monday morning.

Kath judging at the Nordic Championships in Herning


The Swedish judge Rolf Gustavsson and Kath



The helpers at the Nordic Championships - webmaster, DJ, Speaker and Show Manager


Some of the spectators


The 3 teams behind the curtain, getting ready to go into the main ring for prize-giving. Kath was behind the stage with them as she was asked to the main ring too, to recieve a present and present the trophies and rosettes to the winners along with fellow judge Henriette.

The Swedish Freestyle Team Gold Medal Winners


The Danish Teams - HTM Gold Winners and Freestyle Silver Winners


The winner of the individual Nordic HTM Championship Emmy Simonsen with Whisper performing in the main ring.

6 November 2009

Erin's passport

A blood test has proven that Erin's rabies antibody level is higher than 0,5 IU/ml, which means that she can have her pets passport and 6 mth. from now, she will be able to travel abroad and (more importantly) back home again!!!

2 November 2009

The Nordic Championships


Kath is busy preparing for the weekend. She is honoured to have been invited to judge two days of Heelwork To Music/Freestyle in Herning in Denmark. On Friday she will be flying to Copenhagen then travelling to Herning for a judges briefing that evening.

The three judges for both days are : Kath Hardman, England (Head Judge), Rolf Gustavsson, Sweden and Henriette Ortmann, Denmark

On Saturday 7th there is a Danish HTM Competition and then on Sunday 8th there is the big competition - The Nordic Championships.

On Sunday, there will be four teams competing - Finland, Norway, Sweden and of course the host nation - Denmark. http://nordiskmesterskab2009.blogspot.com/

The judging starts at 9 am:
The 'white dog' (Sofie E. Hjorth and Quincy, the Danish freestyle reserve) opens the competition by performing a routine.
First round of the freestyle competition - 12 teams will be competing.
Heelwork to Music - 4 teams will be competing.
Demonstration round by Merete Andersen Huser and Khan from Norway.
The individual freestyle final - 6 teams will be competing.
Possible a demonstration round by the Finnish reserve.
Presentation

Kath is sad to be leaving David and her dogs at home during this trip, but is looking forward to judging a competition of the highest calibre.