Speed, Near Misses and Crash Drama at Team GB Tryouts! (Feb 26)
Will & Brave were competing for the first time at the Team GB Final tryouts. The tryouts are over two weekends with a total of 10 runs to make a positive impression.
Day 1 saw a jumping round and an agility round, the results of which were combined to produce the running order for the agility final:
The courses were really cleverly designed to produces challenges at every obstacle – the slightest loss of connection or mistiming of a cue (or spaniel tunnel magnetism) can lead to faults or elimination. The weekend certainly provided the hardest set of courses that Brave has ever run and his inexperience and excitement in the tense atmosphere led to small errors on each course.
Day 2 was no less daunting. A jumping run and an agility run with results combined for an overall winner:
The spectacular dogwalk crash caused no harm to Brave – after slipping on the up-plank from a difficult entry line, Brave took the option to jump and land safely rather than fall and the repeated dogwalk and rest of the course showed he was ok and happy!
So, in terms the results on incredibly difficult courses, not the best weekend our pair have ever had, but their level of performance and speed is a real positive. One or two slight errors on each course prove absolutely crucial at this level.
Will & Brave will be back at the second weekend of tryouts in the middle of March with the chance to reflect on this experience after more training, a Crufts experience and Will and Brave’s first Championship show – the top level has well and truly arrived for RAW Agility’s youngest spaniel!
Many thanks to Greg Derrett, judge Jason Bartram and all the team of helpers at Dog Sports Derby for another superbly organised event with exciting and challenging courses all weekend.
Pair qualify for final Team GB Tryouts! (Jan 26)
After a mammoth nine and a half hour journey (thanks to a major incident on the M5) the team got to Dog Sports Derby for the Team GB Open Showcase – the first stage of qualification to try to win a place in the team for this year’s European Open (EO) and Agility World Championships (AWC)
The EO will be held in Fontainebleau, France and the AWC in Turku, Finland.
The day gave our pair just two runs – one jumping and one agility. Winning a class does not guarantee a place in the next stage as there was also the need for speed – at least 6 m/s in Jumping and 5.85 m/s in Agility. Lots of other factors came into play for the manager Greg Derrett to make a decision on who went through.
First up was the jumping round. One tiny lack of connection led to an elimination for Will and Brave, but lots of speed and skills were in evidence:
The courses here also had a halfway split and Brave’s split time, before the elimination, gave an average speed to that point of 6.53 m/s – so certainly quick enough.
The final run for the RAW pair was the agility round. Again, it was quick with lots of skills on display but with one small error – Brave took the wrong side of the jump after the A-Frame – leading to a second elimination:
So Will had to contend with the mixed emotions of the disappointment of two ‘nearly’ rounds but the delight in how well his young dog had coped with such challenging courses at high speed.
Such was the difficulty of the courses that only one dog got around the jumping course, and only three completed the agility course without elimination and in all cases, were below the speed required to automatically go through.
It was then a waiting game for Will and Brave to see if they had shown enough in their runs to be considered for the next stage. Two days later, they received an email:
They had made it through to the final stages! In mid February and again in mid March they will be heading back to Derby for the final tryouts. This is a huge achievement already for a young handler and young dog to be competing for a place in Team GB with the very best pairings in the country.
Thanks to Greg Derrett, judge Natalie Webb and all the team of helpers for a high quality, smoothly run event.
Brave wins at KST (Jan 26)
The day after their exploits at Agility Base, Will and Brave were competing much closer to home at the January KST show. The pair managed to rack up a win with a nice steady clear in the jumping round:
As always, a big thank you to the judges and the ring party at this lovely, friendly local show.
Continental Chaos at Agility Base (Jan 26)
Will and Brave took part in a Run Continental! event at Agility Base to get the chance to experience international style course running judged under FCI rules as more preparation for the Team GB showcase event – the first stage of tryouts – next week.
The courses were designed by 2026 AWC judge Cedric Bargoin and judged by Ian Law.
The pair’s first two runs showed they are up for the challenge of fast flowing courses. Starting with a clear jumping round that remained faultless despite Will’s laces coming undone as he reached top speed around the course:
The pair then took on an agility course without any dramas and absolutely nailed it!:
Despite picking up an elimination in their third and final run, the purpose of the day had been served – a super experience to try out World Championship level and style of courses and with some level of success.
Thanks to the team, judges and helpers at Agility Base for a really useful, enjoyable day!
Brave flies at Iconix (Jan 26)
Will and Brave headed to the Dog Sports Derby arena for the Iconix Zero Degrees weekend. They wanted to test themselves on high quality courses from top European judges to see if they were ready to have a go at the Team GB Showcase in two weeks.
The tryouts will be at the same venue, same astro surface on similar courses. There was only one way to run these courses – attack at speed at the highest level!
The first day consisted of three runs – an agility, a jumping and a final. Every pairing got to run in the final, but their final run would only be marked as a competitive run if they had avoided an elimination in at least one of the first two.
Will and Brave picked up two eliminations so their final run could not be a winning run, but the point of the weekend was to see how well they could compete at this level so they absolutely went for it:
A leap on the dog walk denied our pair a clear round, but just 5 faults was enough to be the best run of the final. The only other pair to get round this extremely challenging course had more faults and a slower time, but had one qualifying run earlier in the day meaning they took the title.
In recognition of their final run, Will and Brave were awarded 2nd place – many thanks to Neil Ellis and the team for this kind gesture!
Day 2 worked differently. The first run, a jumping round, was to be used as a warm up run. They were followed by a second jumping run and an agility run that would be combined to give the overall placings.
The best run of the weekend was this stunning clear round:
Incredibly, given the quality of the field, Will and Brave were the only pair to get around the course, and they were fast and clear!
With more than half an eye on the tryouts in a fortnight, clear rounds are great, but they also have to be achieved at a good speed. Brave completed the course at an average speed of 6.2 metres per second.
Winning this round meant two things; Will and Brave would run last in the final round as it would be run in reverse order of placings from the first run and they were the only pair that could win the medium height competition if they could get round the last course without an elimination.
The challenging agility course could only be attacked at speed. Trying to play it safe was not an option!:
The RAW pair showed no sign of nerves despite having to wait to the very end and they sped through the first three-quarters of the course in control. The slight mistake put an end to their hopes of a clear round as Brave took the wrong side of 17 and was eliminated.
You can see from Will’s reaction that despite the ‘E’, he is so happy with Brave’s performance this weekend. As for Brave, he always looks happy doing agility!
The outcome of the weekend is that Will and Brave are able to compete at this level of difficulty with more than enough speed to at least give the Team GB tryouts a go. Brave is still very young, so the experience of the tryouts, without expectations, means it is worth having a go.
Many thanks to Neil, judges and the support team for a fantastic weekend on some the best courses!
Brave prepares for the year at BAC ABC (Jan 26)
Will and Brave travelled once again up to Warwickshire for the British Agility ABC (Anything But Collies) Challenge.
The event consisted of three classes – steeplechase, agility and jumping rounds – with the overall winner being decided by combining all three runs.
After a disappointing elimination in the steeplechase round, Brave really upped his game in his agility run:
This speedy clear was enough to give the RAW pair a 3rd place finish. The slight deviation to the see-saw cost the time that would have seen them finish even higher given how close the timings were:
Will took heart from this – Brave is consistently showing he has the speed and skills to compete at the highest level.
The team’s last run was also up with the quickest, but just 5 faults due to a refusal meant Will & Brave finished just outside the top 10.
A great opening to the year – many thanks to the team and the judges at BAC!
Hall of Famers! (Dec 25)
The brilliant Agility Net publishes its Hall of Fame at the end of every year to celebrate all those agility dogs that have ‘graded up’.
Will and Brave were present and the simple listing of Grade 5, Grade 6 and Grade 7 gives a small hint as to how much progress the RAW pair have made in the last 12 months:
For a full story of everything RAW Agility achieved in 2025 you can visit the 2025 Highlights page.
Brave finishes the year on top at KST (Dec 25)
The last competition of the year for Will and Brave was at the local KST show organised by Will’s trainer, Kathryn Stickney.
Just two runs today, one jumping, one agility. After a couple of refusals in their jumping round (that was still good enough to finish second), our pair finished 2025 with a smooth clear round in an agility course set by championship judge Hilary Poole:
This was good enough to give our pair a deserved win in their last competitive run of 2025:
Brave was rightly proud of his achievements!:
Many thanks to Kathryn, the judges Hilary Poole and Heidi Vague and all of the organisers and helpers for making the show run so smoothly.
Training with Dalton Meredith – Brave is flying! (Dec 25)
Will and Brave had the pleasure of taking part in a training session run by World and European championship winner Dalton Meredith.
Dalton set a monster 24 obstacle course and after working through options for each stage of the course, our pair were ready to give it a go. Little Brave was fully up to take on every challenge the course presented at top speed:
Last judging of 2025 – Lovely Lapford (Dec 25)
Will’s final judging appointment of the year was at the first of the Lapford League shows. As always, this lovely local show proved to be a lot of fun, super friendly with some high quality handling skills on display.
As always, Will designed fast, flowing courses that provided some interesting challenges!
First up was G1-3 Jumping:
This was followed by G4-7 jumping which provided lots of crowd noises and ‘ooh-ah’ moments!:
Will’s judging was rounded off with a super fast G1-3 steeplechase:
Thanks to everyone at Lapford Dog Club for their help and kindness and ring support – what a super show!
Will & Brave up with the best at British Agility Championships (Nov 25)
What a weekend for Will and Brave. They were competing for the first time at the British Agility Championships at the magnificent Onley Grounds Equestrian Centre.
Brave normally competes as a medium dog jumping over poles set at 400mm height. As this was being run under rules of the World Agility Open, he is small enough to be allowed to jump at 300mm height. The competition was still incredibly tough with really enjoyable, challenging courses being set by excellent judges including Roman Lukac (Slovakia), Pau Serrano Ciratusa (Spain) and Simon Brenca (Switzerland).
The Championships consist initially of 4 rounds – two jumping and two agility. Points are awarded according to position and after 4 rounds, the top 15 pairings in the league qualify for the grand final (as long as they have no more than one elimination over the four rounds).
For a dog brand new to Grade 7 in an imposing indoor venue and top-level courses, this was going to be a challenge for Brave. The first run was a jumping round:
This was the perfect start with the pair fast, in sync and happy. This gave the pair second place in very exalted company. They were only bettered in this class by Louise Godwin and Drift. To put this in context, Louise and Drift are the current World and European Champions!
The next run was an agility round in the main arena:
Another rapid round with just 5 faults for the weave entry gave Will and Brave 5th place – two top 5 finishes in such exalted company!
The next run was their second jumping round. Again it was quick and exciting:
Another clear round gave our pair a fourth place finish and (amazingly!) guaranteed them a place in the Grand Final before they had even run the final qualifying round. But, Will was determined to maintain the high standards he and Brave had set so far and gave it everything in the fourth run – an agility round:
Another clear round with some last second saves by both Will and Brave (which also fooled the camera operator at one point!). This time an 8th place finish meant the RAW pair had finished in the top 8 in every round, qualified for the Grand Final and most impressively topped the league table:
Will and Brave, over four rounds at the highest level had shown super consistency and finished ahead of the current world and European champion and a host of experienced international pairings. This wonderful qualifying series of runs meant Will and Brave would run last in the Grand Final.
Such was the difficulty of the courses, only 12 pairs qualified for the final, the rest having more than one elimination. The pressure of the occasion and having to wait to the very end didn’t seem to affect Will or Brave who absolutely rose to the occasion.
Louise and Drift ran directly before our pair and put in a stunning clear round befitting their World Champion status, so Will and Brave had to go for it at top speed, taking risks as they went – they were not going to settle for a comfortable top 5 finish, they wanted the win!:
With an elimination close to the end, the final win eluded Will and Brave but they were far from downhearted. Brave had an absolute ball and seemed to enjoy every second of every run. Will was delighted with the performance of his little spaniel that showed the pair can absolutely compete at the very highest level with the best in the country in the coming year. So much to look forward to!
willbacchus.com 