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International Trials 2009
 The International Trial 2009
2009 Supreme Champions Richard Millichap and Dewi Tweed. Tweed is wearing the Champion's Blue Riband. Pic: Kim Gibson
2009 Supreme Champions Richard Millichap and Dewi Tweed in the shedding ring. Pic: Kim Gibson
This shot of Michael Longton shedding indicates the position of the two lift points. The first outrun was above the trees at the top left; the second outrun on the horizon at the extreme right of the picture. Pic: Kim Gibson
Reserve International Champions Mark Elliott and Gail. England wins the Team Shield. Pics: Kim Gibson
Spectators in the open grandstands. Pic: Kim Gibson
The Young Handlers' awards included shepherds' crooks and silver tankards. The winning Young Handler, second from the left, is Kieran Doherty from Ireland. Pic: Kim Gibson
ISDS Chairman Jim Easton presents Allan and Mary Heaton Ewen Mackinnon, Scottish Shepherds' Aggregate with the Wilkinson Sword trophy. Trophy winner Pics: Kim Gibson
Tom Lawrenson and Spot win the Driving Championship. Pic: Kim Gibson Notes from Andrew Hall with information from Suzy Woolston and other members of the ISN team. Supreme Championship Result The Supreme Championship is decided on Merit Points. For each of the four judges, the handler coming first gets 15 points, and so on down to the handler in last place who gets one point. Thus if all the judges place the same person first, that handler will have 60 Merit Points. In reverse order: 15th: Allistair Lyttle SPOT Dis 14th: Ian Ibbotson ZAC Ret 13th: David Mullan TAM 12 Merit Points 208 Judges' Points 12th: Pat McGoldrick GLEN 16 291 11th: Aled Owen MAC 20 353 10th: Simon Mosse DARK 24½ 393 9th: Bobby Dalziel JOE 29½ 416 8th: Michael Longton DON 30 418 7th: Gwyn Jones CLWYD NELL 37½ 437 6th: Michael Gallagher CAP 40½ 450 5th: Ewen Mackinnon 42 457 4th: Michael Longton MONTY 48 493 3rd: James McGee BECCA 52 510 2nd: Mark Elliott GAIL 56 524 And this year's International Supreme Champion is Richard Millichap DEWI TWEED 60 547 Team Result In a very close contest, England have won the team title: 1: England 4073 2: Scotland 4046 3: Ireland 3973 4: Wales 3921 Qualifier: top scores The top 15 handlers from Friday and Saturday go into the Supreme Championship double gather final on Sunday. 408 J P McGee (I) BECCA 400 M Gallagher (I) CAP 385 R Dalziel (S) JOE 384 M T Longton (E) DON 373 F I Ibbotson (E) ZAC 366 D Mullan (S) TAM 366 M Elliott (E) GAIL 364 S Mosse (I) DARK 358 A Lyttle (I) SPOT 356 G Jones (W) CLWYD NELL 354 P McGoldrick (I) GLEN 354 M T Longton (E) MONTY 353 E C Mackinnon (S) NAN 352 A Owen (W) MAC 351 R M Millichap (W) DEWI TWEED The running order for the final: 1 M Gallagher (I) CAP 2 F I Ibbotson (E) ZAC 3 J P McGee (I) BECCA 4 M T Longton (E) DON 5 R M Millichap (W) DEWI TWEED 6 D Mullan (S) TAM 7 P McGoldrick (I) GLEN 8 E C Mackinnon (S) NAN 9 A Lyttle (I) SPOT 10 M T Longton (E) MONTY 11 M Elliott (E) GAIL 12 A Owen (W) MAC 13 R Dalziel (S) JOE 14 S Mosse (I) DARK 15 G Jones (W) CLWYD NELL Latest News Sunday 5.20pm: The Supreme runs have all been completed, and the Driving is now under way. The result will be known in a very short time, and it is likely to be close. Ireland have won the Young Handler Competition - Kieran Doherty taking the title this lunchtime again in a close contest. England's Tom Lawrenson won the Driving.
The course: beautiful, but not easy!. Pic: Kim Gibson Sunday: It is not quite so hot today, but warm with cloud - perhaps better for dogs and sheep than yesterday which was very warm at times. Brief notes on each run: these are not intended to give more than a few basic details to put you in the picture. Full details will be in the November/December issue of International Sheepdog News. The first outrun is to the left, the harder of the two in the qualifiers, and the sheep difficult to spot amongst the trees.with the look back to the second outrun to the far right with the sheep let out on a knoll on the horizon. First to run today, Michael Gallagher and Cap had a number of whistles on the first outrun, but reasonably successful, missed the fetch gate, and took a little time to find the second packet of sheep. The rest of the work was good, and completed with three minutes to spare. Not an easy task to go first on a challenging course like this, and Micheal set a good standard. The second run of the day proved just how hard this course is - Ian Ibbotson's Zac started off on a similar line to Michael Gallagher's, but failed to find the sheep. James McGee's Becca looked for the sheep before setting off and found them quite easily. The look back was not perfect, and the sheep missed the fetch gate on the second fetch, but the shed was one of the quickest in history - all fifteen uncollared sheep were taken off in one cut after about a minute of waiting, and the pen, although quite slow, was accomplished without difficulty. Not an unbeatable run, but it is going to take a good round to top it. Michael Longton and Don had several problems on the second outrun, but went on to finish well. Richard Millichap had an excellent first outrun, straight to the top with no commands, and was generally good all round the course. The last two took some time to shed, but he completed successfully and must be in contention. David Mullan, Scotland's first of three competitors, also struggled on the look back, had a slow drive and ran out of time at the pen. Pat McGoldrick had problems on both outruns. Ewen Mackinnon had a better outrun and the best look back so far, just one whistle. The drive was slow, and the shed started well, but the last ewe took a lot of removing, and time ran out just before the pen could be attempted. The break for the Young Handlers is now taking place. After the lunchbreak, Alllistair Lyttle had a difficult run - the sheep scattered on the second lift and one of them was left behind at the top of the field. Next came Michael Longton with Monty. A good run came to a difficult end with a red collared sheep leaving the shedding ring and the shed having to be restarted. A good pen completed a generally good run. Mark Elliott and Gail also had a good run, the look back was difficult but accomplished successfully, and the shedding was even more difficult, with a very stubborn red collared ewe joining its uncollared friends on more than one occasion. Another generally good completed run. Aled Owen's run began unexplicably badly, with Mac not outrunning well. Had the outrun and lift not been so problematic, this would have been well in contention, because from the second half of the fetch to the end this was a copybook run. Bobby Dalziel had a excellent run with Joe in the most part, but ran out of time before penning. Simon Mosse also ran out of time after the shed was complete, but before he could pen. Last runner of the day, Gwyn Jones Penmachno, had the best look back of the day, and a good run generally, but was also frustrated by a red collared ewe in the shed. The pen was excellent to complete a wonderful day's trialling in front of a veryn large crowd on a high note. Saturday 6pm: Tomorrow's Supreme Championship is going to be a fascinating battle between a star cast of handlers and dogs, including a good number of previous champions. Before the contest begins at 8am, there is a short prayer at 7.45 to which everyone is invited. The scores will only be announced at the prize giving after the runs have been completed. Saturday 5.45pm: The qualifying trials are over, and above are the 15 for tomorrow's Supreme Championship. In terms of nationalities, there are 4 for England, 5 for Ireland, 3 for Scotland and 3 for Wales. Saturday 2.30pm: The Brace runs have been completed - none without incident, as the left hand outrun proved hard for both Ewen Mackinnon and Sammy Long, and the penning for Jim Cropper and Ian Jones. Several of the dogs, perhaps feeling the heat, were not inclined to wait at the open pen. However, Ian Jones almost certainly had the best run of gthe day, the only major fault being a sheep leaving the pen as he was shutting the gate. Will it be better than Dennis Birchall's run yesterday? (See below!)In the singles, with 13 runs to go, Michael Longton has joined the group on 350+ with Monty, not quite as good as his 384 with Don yesterday, but likely to be there or thereabouts when the top 15 are named in just a few hours. Saturday 11.30am: It's another lovely day, and two more scores in the 350s have been posted. The sheep are continuing to be difficult to pen, although larry Cowper made it look easy running at No 37. Most handlers are choosing to outrun to the right, the left being rather open and encouraging dogs to run out too wide. Saturday 7.45am: With a further 28 singles runs and four doubles, it promises to be another great day of trialling here at Lowther Park. The weather is set fair, and the view of and from the field couldn't be better. The Irish have made Friday their day, with the top places in both singles and doubles - whose turn will it be today? With many well fancied runners from all four countries, it's still anybody's game, but we'll know the names of those who will go forward to tomorrow's Supreme Championship by this evening.
James McGee's Becca on the drive away. Pic: Kim Gibson
Michael Gallagher and Cap in the shedding ring. Pic: Kim Gibson Friday 6.45pm: The final run of the day is under way, and the lead has changed hands several times. The 400 point mark has been breached by Michael Gallagher, and then topped by J P McGee and Becca, with several other high scoring runs during the afternoon. The likely total needed to reach the double gather now looks closer to 350 or more. Friday 2.45pm: Kevin Evans has moved to the top of the table with a score of 351 with Mirk. At this stage, it seems likely that a score of around 320 will be needed to make the last 15.
Friday lunchtime: The Princess Royal visited the trial and was welcomed by ISDS officials and spectators. Pic: k9tales.co.uk Friday noon: The course is an ideal one for spectators, and although the sheep have tested a few dogs (but then why not, this is the International!), they are running well. Some good scores have been posted, and the first Brace runs will be starting soon. Further updates this afternoon. Friday 8.30am: The trials are under way in beautiful sunny weather. The first details will be posted here at about 10.30am. The Brace Competition The National Brace Champions and runners up compete during the lunch breaks on Friday and Saturday, with the International Brace Champion being known by mid afternoon on Saturday. On Friday it was the turn of the four runners up, with Colin Gordon substituting for Wyn Edwards. Today the four National Brace Champions have their turn.
2009 International Brace Champion Dennis Birchall at the second pen in the Brace. Pic: Kim Gibson
Runner up Ian Jones with Tom and Jess shed in the Brace. Pic: Kim Gibson Results: R J Hutchinson 402 P Martin 330 D Birchall 439 (2009 International Brace Champion) Colin Gordon 397 Jim Cropper Ret Ewen Mackinnon 238 Sammy Long Ret Ian Jones 424 Saturday's scores in full T60 G Jones (Penmachno) CLWYD NELL 356 T59 S Mosse DARK 364 Friday's scores in full T32 R M Millichap TADDYMOOR JEN 317 T31 P McGoldrick GLEN 354
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