Golden Retriever Club Of America

By Wayne Bleazard, Executive Field Representative

The Golden Retriever Club of America held their National Specialty hosted by the Central Oklahoma Golden Retriever Club on the Groendyke’s Ranch just out of Enid, Oklahoma. The grounds were excellent for this event with rolling hills, plenty of cover and very good water. The ponds were well groomed for the entries to the water marks and water blinds. The roads were gravel by the main tent that was used by the open judges. The other stakes did not have as good of roads, especially the amateur.

The Central Oklahoma Golden Retriever Club was very fortunate to have the use of the Groendyke family 1800 acre ranch for this event. Not only did they get to use the property but also the gorgeous lodge that was used for their dinner on Tuesday and the awards on Wednesday night. Many thanks to Kenny Crosswhite, the land manager, and Phyllis Crosswhite, the lodge manager for preparing the land and lodge for this fine event.
The trial ran from October 20th to the 22nd. Tuesday was sunny with a strong wind and Wednesday it started to rain about 9:30am and did not stop until late that night. It made for some difficult mechanics for the club. Everyone and everything was cold and wet but the judges, contestants, and the club did a great job keeping the trial going. The road into both the qualifying and derby got a little soft as well as the road to the amateur. Fortunately the derby and qualifying both finished their first and second series before the roads really got bad. Both of the minor stakes went to where the open ran their tests, with good roads, and finished their water work, the derby on Wednesday and the qualifying on Thursday morning. The amateur stayed were they were and on Thursday a four wheel drive was needed to get back to them.
The judges in all four stakes did a very good job with their tests. The open judges were Al Wilson and Tim West. The amateur judges were Richard Cheatham and Peter Marcellus. The qualifying judges were Chris McCool and Martha McCool. The derby judges were Marv Baumer and Steve Schneeberger. They deserve a big thanks for the very good job they did!
There was a nice tent that was used for the contestants to meet and enjoy free coffee and sweet rolls. (They were very good.) It was also a place to get out of the weather. Next to this tent was a Native teepee that the club put up
on the Sunday before the trial despite a strong wind. It added a nice Native flavor to the trial.