Crufts 2024 – 3 Finals and another Team GB victory parade!
Day 1 (Thursday)
The first run that Will had qualified for this year was with Bossy in the YKC Jumping Cup. This was a new format where the top two in each age group in each height progress to the grand final in the main arena.
This was the first time that Bossy had appeared at Crufts and only the second time that she had set foot on an astroturf surface.
The worries that the atmosphere, the crowd or the occasion might be overwhelming for Bossy proved unfounded as she ran and listened beautifully and at speed. One error at the weaves meant 5 faults and no place in the top two.
The RAW team owe many thanks to the amazing Kate Prosser for allowing Will to run her wonderful spaniel at Crufts. Kate is also the breeder of Brave, so we have so much to thank her for!
Both Will and Kate were left with slightly mixed feelings – incredibly proud and pleased with how Bossy coped with her first run at Crufts and a little bit of ‘If only…’ but also aware that those emotions are shared by so many agility handlers on a pretty regular basis!
Huge congratulations to Amy Langman (a Team GB teammate of Will’s in 2023) and her spaniel Ollie who won the Jumping Cup after a fantastic run in the main arena.
Day 2 (Friday)
A rest day for the RAW team before Will and Rudi are back in action on Saturday and Sunday.
Day 3 (Saturday)
Will was back in action with his reliable pal, Rudi. Today was Rudi‘s last appearance in Agility Dog of the Year and Will was hoping that Rudi could go out in style with a clear round. As so often in the past, Rudi obliged. After a slightly hesitant start, Rudi completed the weaves and started to fly – he loves Crufts!
Yet another Crufts clear round was not quite quick enough for Rudi to reach the Grand Final in the main arena but maintained his fantastic record in the YKC ring – he now has 10 clear rounds in 11 runs here.
The Will & Rudi pairing have one more run in the YKC ring in the Pairs in tomorrow’s final.
The RAW pairing did have an appointment in the main arena though. After the incredible achievements of Team GB at the Junior Open Agility World Championships last year, they were rightly given a victory parade in the main arena to celebrate their record breaking medal haul.
A quick reminder of what this brilliant team achieved in 2023 (many thanks to Gavin Lyon’s for this musical montage):
Day 4 (Sunday)
The final day of Crufts 2024 marked the end of an era for the RAW Agility team. Rudi had his 14th and final agility run at the world famous show.
Today’s final was in the YKC Pairs event where Will & Rudi once again teamed up with Maryann Bayliss & Coral as they tried to defend the title they won last year.
Maryann and Coral were first to go on the agility course and they were super fast and paw perfect. This year’s pairs event featured a baton change which went equally smoothly. Rudi, after a quick start, did something that he has never previously done in all his years at Crufts – chalked up an elimination!
After missing the weave entry, Rudi was called back to have another go but took an extra jump on the way:
There was still a twist in the tale – in the pairs event, an elimination counts as 100 faults but does not rule the team out of the competition. Such was the speed that both Coral and Rudi got round the course, combined with the high number of other pairs receiving at least one elimination, Maryann and Will finished in 3rd place!
With a huge debt owed to the brilliant first leg of Maryann & Coral, Will & Rudi had scraped onto yet another Crufts podium.
So Rudi’s final Crufts is over and proved to be as enjoyable as ever. Maybe the fact that the RAW team did not not add any titles to their collection this year serves to emphasise what a fantastic record Will and Rudi have at Crufts overall in the face of quality competition:
In the YKC ring:
12 runs – 10 clear rounds, 1 round of 5 faults, 1 elimination
6 first places, 2 second places, 2 third places, 2 sixth places
Agility Dog of the Year (medium) winner, YKC jumping winner twice, YKC ABC winner, YKC Pairs winner twice and YKC Pairs overall winner
The pair also got to run in the main arena twice in the ADOTY Grand Final, once clear and once with 5 faults.
Crufts is a very special place for any dog and handler to compete – remembering that every run that Will and Rudi and all other agility pairs have there is the result of qualifying at one or multiple shows around the country during the previous 12 months.
It is always a chance for Will to catch up with many of the friends he has made in the agility community and to compete in a completely unique environment. The RAW team are very hopeful that some time in the future Will and another of his dogs have the chance to compete there again.
Scroll through the pages below to see more pictures and videos of Will, Rudi and Aston competing at Crufts in previous years.
willbacchus.com 