 
If we only
had two words to describe the 2011 AWI World Championships.....it would have to
be WOW and THANKS!!
Fortunately,
with an amazing grasp of the English language, we are able to be a little more
thorough with the happenings of 10.8.2011....
What an
event, what a venue, what a turn out of top top talent. The weekend started with most teams arriving
to the field throughout the day on Friday. Russ Green from
Denver
drove all the way out, hauling most of the equipment needed to put this event
on; without his help, freestyle rounds might have been done to an old
transistor radio and a bullhorn.
At 7:00 am
Friday morning the field was already underway with set up. Purina went out of their way to roll out the
red carpet for the AWI. Katie Flamm and
Jim Matthews were instrumental in providing a world class facility and world
class support. Anything we asked for,
anything we needed, was provided almost instantly. As the field went together and we saw more
and more banners popping up from our awesome sponsors, Barknetwork.com,
ProPlan, Centaur VA, DK Douglas Vaulting Vests, and of course, Hero Disc
USA. We were starting to realize what a
big task it was to try and display these sponsors in a way that shows our appreciation
for their support. Fortunately we
received some much needed help when Paul and Shelley Winsworth showed up. They helped ALL day long, and LeRoy Golden
arrived, suddenly 4 people were knocking that field out pretty quick. Purina provided a great staff who got sand
raked over the sprinkler heads, bleachers placed and just helped us out SO
much.
Skyhoundz
World Champion Kirby "McNabb" displayed some SoCal taggin' skillz and threw the
Barknetwork logo down in the middle of the field, check out the cool time lapse
video of her on www.barknetwork.com As
Tampa Digital arrived, the scaffolding went up and a ton of video equipment was
unpacked for a world class livestream, the first time a world championship disc
dog event has been streamed. And they
did a world championship job of it. Once
the field was done, everyone descended on a local dive bar aptly named The
Roadhouse. Not quite prepared for 40+
disc doggers, they still accommodated us outside as we all enjoyed a perfect
fall evening in the
Midwest and spent some
quality time with friends, both old and new. With teams from
Germany,
Italy,
Canada,
Slovenia,
Poland and
China, we truly
had an international event and everyone was able to have a beer together.
And then we
all turned in early to prepare for the 34th Ashley Whippet Invitational World
Championship. With no less than 10
present and past World Champions this event was poised to deliver an incredibly
deep and talented field, and it did not disappoint.
Saturday
morning started off with bagels and coffee courtesy of Hero Disc USA...as bagels were being delivered,
near tragedy struck when Andrew Han was t-boned while making a left hand turn. His van was totaled, but fortunately all his
dogs, and Ahan, were ok and not harmed. Again, the disc dog community showed that it is truly a disc dog family,
and came to his aid. Everyone got Ahan
and his pack down to the field and the event started only 5 minutes late with
an opening throw, ok, opening ROLLER, to a Vietnamese Pot Bellied Pig named
Chops. After executing a near perfect
"around" Chops tracked down the roller like it were a truffle, and
the event was under way. We also had a special presentation to European Champion Timo Kehlbeck of $1,000 and a custom made vaulting vest from DK Douglas for his huge win last month in Switzerland.
Jeff Hill
and Enzo, of SoCal set the tone with an awesome, innovative round, and 47 more
competitors followed suit, putting forth their best efforts with Mark Muir and
Gipper wrapping up the first round. We
saw teams from newer clubs like the Minnesota Disc Dogs coming out and matching
skills with long time vets having 20+ years in the sport. All sharing the field, the excitement and the
camaraderie of the day. Slovenian
competitor Amadea Colja celebrated her 18th birthday and after the presentation
of a yummy chocolate cake, picked up by Julia Zimmerman, we think she was on a
sugar buzz to rival that of Danny Eggleston!!
The judges
saw some incredible freestyle routines to start the day off; I don't think a
single person there wanted the tough job of trying to figure out which world
class routine stood out the most. Jim
Safford (Human) Jaeleen Sattler (Team) and Tom Wehrli (Dog) got the catch
ratios from Heather Bednar and then tried to determine which teams were
bringing just a little more to the table that day. Julia Zimmerman updated the scores, live to
the internet, Chris Wehrli ran just about everything in the control tent and
kept the event running smoothly and easily covered everything we had
forgotten!! Round out the staff with
Rick Brydum as the scorekeeper, Chris Sexton announcing and Brad Sattler
helping out with every little last minute thing, we watched the event
photographer, Jackie Scheetz, document everything for us to enjoy for years to
come. Eileen made the trip out from Hero
to (wo)man the sales tent, and from being the AWI China Director to hauling the
Hero sales items out from
California,
Mike Miller proved to be as valuable of an asset as his long time disc dog
legacy would indicate. Setting up an
international compound, Mike made everyone feel welcome and provided the event
with a great piece of shade to relax in and socialize with teams from all over
the world.
As it often
can, the Toss & Catch round separated the field a bit and those who could
keep the nerves to the minimum and get the disc down the field, rose to the
top. Throwing down a round high 17.5,
Chuck Middleton and Bling Bling also threw down the gauntlet. Starting the sport in 1986, Chuck has had one
dream that had evaded him for 25 years....we use the word HAD because that
round of T&C was an indicator of things to come. Putting out a score like he did, out of the
#8 slot, Chuck and Blingx2 had only to sit back and see if their score would
hold. Defending AWI World Champs
Lawrence Fredrick and Harley Davidson took the line a mere half point ahead of
The Lone Star Loner, and came up just a bit short, putting up an
uncharacteristically low 9 points. As we
have seen time and time again, Toss & Catch can blow a competition
apart. With Middleton's 17.5 round looking
stronger and stronger, we cut to the top 26 teams, and everyone prepared for a second
round of freestyle.
Under
idyllic conditions and a breeze that only occasionally rose up enough to affect
a routine, we saw the top 26 teams in the world that day come leave their
hearts on the field. Teams pulled out
all the stops and brought their biggest and best tricks to try and wow the
judges and show off for friends and family watching the livestream on
Barknetwork.com. One trick that was
super memorable for most was watching Lawrence wipe the disc across his
forehead, then do a nail delay on an upside down disc.....take the disc down,
bounce it off the ground and bring it back up to the nail delay!! Plus, we saw the Jurassic guy execute the
handstand throw...not bad for someone having as many surgeries in the past few
years as LF has.
In the end,
experience and talent rose to the top as the top 3 stood above the rest. Tracy Custer and Chill in third place, LF and
Zorra in second and realizing that 25 year old dream, Chuck Middleton and Bling
Bling become the 34th team to earn the right to call themselves the best of the
best. And a spot on the Lander Cup, of
course...wherever it may be. Those three teams have a combined 55 years experience in the sport!!
Putting
icing on the cake, Chris Sexton was inducted into the AWI Hall of Fame!! Chris spoke about not feeling like he
"deserved" something like that....deserved is very different than
earned, and you have done both Chris. You are responsible for so much of this sport, the honor was both
deserved as well as earned. Congratulations!!
The after-party was a hit as we all descended upon the Purina Incredible Dog Arena for a catered meal from Qdobas and a keg of local beer that Adrian brought in. After eating and every team getting a really cool, completely custom dog tag from Mad Dog Metalworks, the games began. The Dodgebees came out and we had a few exciting rounds of mayhem, it was awesome to see the Chinese teams join us for some "international relations" and the night progressed into a human dock diving challenge...the pool there may never be the same.
As we
rolled into Sunday, the wind was a little stronger, as if Irv had managed to
keep it fairly calm Saturday, but was now busy playing with all the wonderful
disc dogs who have joined him over the
Rainbow
Bridge. The atmosphere was markedly more relaxed, the
Lander Cup had stayed out the entire night partying, and we were ready to
contest the first ever AWI Toss & Catch World Championship. With 45 teams taking the field, the
competition was just as fierce as the day before, and when the dust cleared,
Mike Hanson had pulled in a huge win with MaggIE. That's right....not MaggEY, but using a
borrowed dog, Mike and IE racked up two huge rounds to take home some cold,
hard cash, and put their names on the Dog Bowl, a beautiful crystal bowl that
now has two names on it, and is itching for more!! Smashing the next closest
team by 5 points, Mike "gave" second place to Chuck Middleton and the
littermate of his World Champion pup, Psych. Birthday kids Jackie Scheetz and Towser pulled in a strong 3rd place
against some of the best arms in the sport, proving that she might be one as well!!
For those
of you not able to make it, we had an event program where we thanked everyone
who had helped out over the year, here is a re-print of that:
Acknowledgments:
The 2011 AWI Series has been a
huge success because of all of our sponsors, competitors, judges, staff and
host clubs. We cannot remember and
personally thank everyone who contributed, but here is a partial list of the
people and organizations responsible for the success of the AWI, we thank each
and every one of you with all the sincerity and humility possible. Thank you for this opportunity to bring the
AWI to a park near you:
Our sponsors: Hero Disc
USA, BarkNetwork, Purina ProPlan, Sasha’s/
Centaur
VA,
DK Douglas Vaulting Vests and Mad Dog Metalworks. Your support made this possible!!
Our AWI Tournament Director
China - Mike Miller and AWI Tournament Director Europe - Julia Zimmerman. Thank you both for running incredible events
and exposing the AWI to more and more people.
Shimbosan, Sam and Eileen at
Hero… ‘Nuff said!!
Tania Lex for her invaluable
help with the rules, procedures, ideas and just about everything else.
Alex Stein for bringing the
sport to the public consciousness and still being involved all these years
later. Tom and Chris Wehrli and the
entire Wehrli family for all you do to not only preserve the sport but ensure
it’s progression. Adrian Custer for ALL
his help...x2!!
Our US Host Clubs and our main
contacts in each club:
Central
Florida Disc Dog Club - Gary and Sarah Duke and Chuck
Hensley
Houston Canine Frisbee Club - Eugene Hensley
and LeRoy Golden
Disc Dogs in
Southern
California - Bruce Brantley, Becky Wong and Cheryl Kamimubo
Colorado Disc Dogs - Scott Amman, Chris
Sexton and Rick Brydum
Southern Ohio Flying K9’s Club -
Heather Bednar
Minnesota Disc Dog Club - Tania Lex
New
England Disc Dog Club - Nadja Palenzuela and Kara Gilmore
The Hot Jam - Adrian and Tracy
Custer
W
indy
City Disc
Dog Club - Tom and Chris Wehrli and the
Wehrli family
And a very, very special thanks
to everyone who put up with countless calls, texts and emails from us to bounce
ideas off them, get feedback and give an idea of what will make the series
better and even more fun for the awesome dogs and the competitors. A lot of the ideas for the AWI have come from
these people: Heather Bednar, Russ
Green, Sarah Duke, Gary Duke, Tania Lex, Todd Murnan, Mike Hanson, Clint Marlow, Uwe Geiberger, and Bjorn Tigges & Julia Zimmerman - our IT
gurus.
Some people may have been
forgotten, there are just so many who have helped make the 2011 AWI Series such
a great success. Let’s roll that
momentum into the Finals and thank ProPlan and BarkNetwork. Paul and Kathy Carson from BarkNetwork and
Kaite Flamm from Purina have gone above and beyond to ensure that the 2011
Finals will be an event to remember!!
The main thanks goes out to all
of you, the competitors and your amazing dogs. Thanks for spending your time and money to come support this event and
to allow us to provide a safe, fun place for you to play with your dogs. Without you, this series would not exist.
Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!!
Very special final
thanks to Russ Green, Paul Winsworth and LeRoy Golden for all their help
Friday. Jim Matthews at Purina, George,
Jeff and Jim from Tampa Digital, and their entire awesome, professional
crew....Adrian and Tracy Custer for everything they did both weekends the AWI
was fortunate enough to be at Purina Farms, ALL their work!!
Once again: Hero
Disc
USA,
Purina ProPlan and Barknetwork.com, we never could have done this without their
support.
Please, PLEASE support the sponsors who support our
sport.
See everyone next
year at a Qualifier near you, and again at the 2012 AWI World Championships,
the 35th Anniversary, to be held on Saturday and Sunday, September 29 & 30,
2012 at Purina Farms!!
You guys ROCK!!
The AWI

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