2008 World Agility Championships
A Supporters View
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Moi.
The US has a GREAT team.
Today at team practice we got a taste of the excitement we'll be part of the next three days. Team members and supporters watched other countries including Germany, Great Britain, and some of the Baltic teams. They were good, but our handlers and dogs were wonderful to watch. Great teamwork, smooth handling, and very talented dogs.
Nancy Gyes had a meeting to go over the set ups she created for the AKC World Team. Supporters broke into three work station groups to set the courses for the 18 minutes of practice. Three of us worked with Kathie Leggett to set the jumps, weaves, tunnel and A-frame station for our first group, the small dogs. After six minutes the medium teams rotated in, and after another six minutes the large dog teams.
Much credit goes to Nancy and Kathie for their organization. We were the only team to reset, and we did it in under a minute. Some teams that practiced later made very small changes, but for the most part they kept Nancy's set-ups. No other team had the supporter's helping out like the US did.
When I left the arena around 1pm some team members were still watching the practice. We are all looking forward to the first day of competition tomorrow.
Paulette Swartzendruber, her friend Susan Klein and I spent the lovely sunny afternoon at the Helsinki Zoo. We saw reindeer (for once not on the menu), brown bear, European bison, and other animals found in Finland and Europe. It was a great relaxing afternoon before the competiton begins.
Hei, hei. Sherri
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Moi. It's Wednesday evening and we just had the team and supporter's dinner. Sharon Anderson, Andy Hartman and Nancy Gyes welcomed the team and supporters. Team members exchanged gifts, and us non-team members received very nice Finland Agility World Championships Team USA 2008 pins. The team was introduced and the supporters took turns introducing themselves and saying how often they've been to worlds. There are definitely a lot of agility addicts in the group!
Each time we walk into the hotel lobby there's another team arriving. Last night the Japanese appeared. This afternoon the British team arrived. There are plenty of dogs in the lobby now!
The team supporters are keeping busy. On Tuesday many took a trip on a ship to Tallinn, Estonia, to tour the medieval town.
Today we headed to Ainola, the home of Finland's most famous composer Jean Sibellius. The quiet country home is filled with artwork and is the place where Sibellius did most of his composing. Out back is the sauna, which we've learned is pronounced sa-oo-na.
Next stop was Hvitträsk - a group of homes designed by three famous Finnish architects=2 0- Saarinen, Gesellius and Lindgren. Their success at the 1900 Paris World Exhibition brought international recognition to Finnish architecture. I could definitely live at Hvitträsk. Wonderful chandeleir's, painted ceilings, in-laid furniture, and a stained glass window decorate the home. The home is in pine woods, surrounded by granite and near a nice lake. Saarinen's son Eero lived in the U.S. and designed about 80 buildings including the St. Louis Gateway Arch, Dulles International Airport in Virginia, and the TWA Terminal at JFK International in New York.
Tomorrow we'll be heading to the stadium to watch the US team practice.
Hei, hei.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Sherri Fries is one of the AKC World Team Supporters who has travelled to Helsinki for the 2008 World Agility Championship. She graciously has taken her time to give us another view of the week in Helsinki and what our supporters and team members do in their off time. Sherri will have a few more reports over the week. If this is sounding like fun there plan to join the AKC World Team in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, September 18-20, 2009
Hei! Tervetuloa Suomeen.
Hello and welcome to Finland. The US World Team and supporters are here in Helsinki in anticipation of the FCI World Championships. We're in the right place. I saw the championships advertised on the side of a city bus today!
Minun nimeni on Sherri Fries. I don't speak Finnish, but thanks to Alma the nice desk clerk here at the world team's hotel I can at least introduce myself. Hello, my name is Sherri Fries. I'm here to cheer on my very good friend Marcy Mantell with her sheltie Wave, and the other team members. I'm also here to get a taste of the excitement of world competition. I have border collies and we're getting a golden retriever puppy next week (don't tell my husband that — he thinks three dogs are enough. Boy is he wrong). This is my first trip as a supporter to see the world competition.
Everyone arrived over the weekend. On Saturday I arrived and hooked up with my friend Ingrid Manzione who had the longest trip of all of us. She flew more than half way around the world from Hawaii to see her fourth year of world competition.
On Sunday, a group of team members and friends took the ferry to Suomenlinna Sea Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was founded in 1748 and is one of the largest sea fortresses in the world. We walked along the fortress walls, watched the children bundled up in winter clothes and hats playing, and Marcy took pictures of Wave sitting on a bouncy horse in the playground.
We saw lots of koira walking around. That's the Finnish word for dog. If you want to make points say söpö koira - cute dog. The koira here get to go just about everywhere their owners do. They are in the stores, on the trams, and in some restaurants. There are also a number of them out walking their owners every morning in the park across from the hotel.
After our trip to the island Marcy and I took the ferry back and ran into Paulette Swatzendruber and her friend Sue at the fish market by the ferries. They'd just come in and rode the tram to the waterfront. We also saw two ladies walking around with border collies and a sheltie. Ends up they're from South Africa and also arrived today for the competition. The tall lady was pretty funny. She asked about Paulette and Marcy's dogs to see which compeition she had to knock off. She was joking, but I'm keeping my eye on her....
Back to walking, we did a lot of it around town. There is a huge Lutheran Church. Paulette did her Rocky impersonation and ran up the 40 or so steep stairs doing a victory dance at the top. Lucky Wave got carried up. Impressively Paulette also did her jog back down those stairs with yet another dance at the end. She's quite talented, and funny. The sidewalks are split up. One side is a walking path the other for bikes. The bike side has a picture of a bike painted on it. The walking side has a man holding a child's hand. Paulette pointed out it looks like one of the chalk outlines at the scene of a crime. They must have been mowed down by the bicycle outline to the right of them. If you want a good laugh while traveling, definitely take Paulette with you.
Today, Monday, the team members assembled in the lobby and headed off to their first day of practice.
So as we say in Finland: Hei hei, nähdään taas. Bye bye and see you again! Sherri
