Conditions better suited for St Bernards at nationals

FROZEN: Conditions faced by Northland shepherds and their dogs on the first day (Monday, May 25) of the 2015 North Island and New Zealand Sheepdog Trial Championships at Moawhango near Taihape.

Northland shepherds and their dogs found themselves out of their comfort zone and struggling in the icy conditions which arrived at the start of the national sheep dog trial championships at Taihape during the last week of May.

A good turnout of local triallists made the journey south to represent the province at the Tux North Island and New Zealand Sheepdog Trial Championships 2015 at Moawhango from May 25-30 where the morning of the first day, Monday, dawned with snow blanketing the hills around Taihape and actually falling in Taihape itself.

Snow was not as heavy at the trial grounds but the temperature barely rose above zero throughout the day and there was some dismay amongst the fraternity from the Winterless North upon seeing one of their own, Andy Ross (making his debut at the event), step out to the mark only to be enveloped by a snow squall. Ross eventually did remarkably well to get his dog to the top of the big long head hill in such miserable conditions.

Tuesday was no better with snow being replaced by freezing sleet and hail before the weather finally came right on Wednesday with cracking morning frosts and clear blue skies for the rest of the week.

The Moawhango courses still presented a great challenge and many of the Northland dogs simply failed to deal with the venue's big hills, while the sheep added further difficulty by varying greatly from day to day, behaviour likely influenced by the changing weather conditions.

The best results for Northland came from Ian McKinnon of the Omamari SDTC, finishing runner up in the long head with Tess, and Murray Child from Maungakaramea, placing fourth in the short head and yard with Dice. Both made the leaderboard early in the week and stayed there to the end with McKinnon and his six-year-old bitch Tess also placing fifth in the North Island title.

Child and Dice, meanwhile, had their potential winning run ruined with a mishap at the pen when the sheep went in and then escaped costing the pair a three point penalty which proved the difference between first and fourth places.

Child and Dice also finished runnerup in the North Island championship.

Kaitaia triallist Merv Cameron, there contesting the two major short head and yard titles up for grabs with Clyde, noted the only Far North competitor to make the leaderboard in the atrocious conditions experienced on the first two days was Ken Whittaker with Jess.

"They drew number 2 on the Monday and had their run in falling snow and did well, and also had had a tidy effort on the huge long head course," Cameron said.

Of his effort he noted, "Clyde had a good outrun but the lambs just bolted downhill and we had no show. He failed to get his sheep in the long head like many other dogs ... Dogs found it hard to pick up the sheep at the liberating spot, instead looking at sheep on the adjacent course."

Elsewhere, Cameron noted the huntaways produced some truly outstanding runs, particularly Whanganui dogs like Bruce Parkinson's Grace who delivered a near perfect 99.5 point effort to win the straight hunt.

Also of local relevance was former Mangonui SDTC member Leo Jecentho making the leaderboard for two-and-a-half days days only to be nudged aside as the aforementioned Whanganui dogs came through; and Grant Smith, another making his debut at the championships, putting in a couple of decent runs with the experienced Buster.