The Ottawa Retriever Club hosted the 2004 National Amateur Retriever Championship. The Club is headquartered out of little but ever-bustling McDonald’s Corners in Lanark County, about a half hour’s drive west of Ottawa. Did you know that Lanark County boasts of being the largest producer of maple syrup in Ontario, and that it is the home of Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, and that it was the place where Canada’s last fatal duel took place? And, between tests, we could have attended the Perth Garlic Festival! But don’t go too far because you can’t get gas at McDonald’s Corners, at least not in the near future! They’re waiting to refill their pumps until the price of gas comes down!
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the judges ran Ken Crosby’s “Cedarpond’s Maple Gold Maggie” and Eloi Levasseur’s “Duckblind Mr. Vegas” as set-up dogs. Does it worry the handlers that they took three days to do set-ups or is this normal?
Festivities truly began with the banquet at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, held at the Lanark Timber Run Golf Course, whose building was erected from 100-year-old cedar logs taken from abandoned barns. The three judges, P.J. Fitzpatrick (Central Zone), Sharon van der Lee (Western Zone and also last year’s Amateur National Winner) and John Sellick (Eastern Zone) were piped in, according to tradition, and sat at the head table alongside Marg Murray (NRCC Secretary Treasurer), Barb Glen (Field Trial Secretary – who produced a spectacular catalogue), John Sellick’s wife, Leonora, the Ottawa Co-Chairs, Trevor Dickens and Ken Crosby, and the Chief Marshall, Bill Kennedy.
Major sponsors of this event are Iams (represented by John Sharpe), Purina (represented by Lauralee Camilleri and Les Oakes), Tritronics (John Sinclair) and Dogs Afield (Jerry Day).
Now, on to the banquet! Irene Malton looked lovely in today’s fashionable black and white, while Trevor Dickens was completely out of character in his “nearly new” jeans, … oh, but I digress! A delicious beef/or/chicken dinner was served as folks began their bidding on the auction and raffle items. (Bill Cumming has to host all trial parties this week, having won a dog crate full of booze!). Judges’ and Landowners’ gifts were distributed and Dennis Voigt gave out the National pins, having filled in for NRCC President, P.J. Fitzpatrick, who was busy wearing his judging hat Diana Beatty was given a special award, unprecedented, I believe, in Amateur National history, for being the first person to send in her entry for the National. We were then bullied, persuaded, teased, outmaneuvered and sometimes outbid by our very experienced Calcutta auctioneer, Dave Thompson, with a wonderful financial outcome for the Club. The two favourites for this year appear to be Sherwin Scott’s “Maxx’s Surprise” and Dennis Voigt’s “Tule”. Heard from Trevor Dickens when Bill Cumming resisted bidding $160 on his own dog, “For God’s sake, Billy, it’s only two packs of smokes!”
Some handlers noted that the majority of the Committee from the Ottawa Club are all fairly young, which Ron Modesto says means the National Open Committee will, by comparison, be the National Open Geriatric Club.
Instructions from the judges were that all handlers must be on the mat for every series. The first test is to be a land triple. I have it on good authority that there will be no carry-over of a series to the next day. The banquet ended at 10:30 p.m.
Dog Number 6 was scratched, leaving 45 dogs to run. There are 29 LM’s, 13 LF’s, 2 GRM’s and 1 lonely GRF – no Chessies or Flatcoats! The youngest dog is #35 (2-1/2) run by Jim Green and the oldest dog is # 20 (11) run by Marlene Benn.
Sunday’s events include a 1:00 p.m. Directors’ meeting and the 3:00 p.m. vetting of the bitches. Judges were treated to a skeet-shooting session in Ottawa, donated by the Connaught Ranges.
