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New Champion Crowned
And standing on top of it all when the dust settled and the sun dropped down over the treetops in Naperville, Illinois, was Harley Davidson and Lawrence Frederick…..AGAIN. After a stellar performance in 2008 to win their first AWI World Championship, Harley and LF come roaring back in 2010 with a beautiful, decisive victory over an incredibly stacked field. The running order was a virtual who’s who of disc dogging, a few teams unfortunately could not make it, but this field did not need to be even stronger than it already was!!
Other first round standouts were The Edge and Darron barrus nailing almost every one of his crazy, innovative throws, and who can forget Raccoon Jack helping Tracy Custer nail down a round with not a single drop. Perennial favorites Mark Muir, Danny Eggleston and Preston Dean turned in solid performances, newer teams Mike Hanson, Jonathan Offi and Andrew Han, and seasoned pros like the Curtiss family, Chris Sexton and Nate Bednar all were “on” but this weekend it took something very special to be at the top. Putting out a great round wasn’t going to guarantee anything, you needed the round of a lifetime to be on top of this group.
Zorra and Lawrence pulled in that 39.1 but it wasn’t quite enough…..they tied Raccoon Jack and tracy for 2nd place, but with the 10.0 catch ration from her amazing first round, Tracy Custer breaks the tie and takes second in the AWI with Lawrence nabbing another podium spot, a very respectable third with Zorra. After the rounds were done and the scores calculated by Eric Hemmeter, and ALL the incredible help from Tom, Chris, Vicki and Ginny Wehrli (and former Wehrlis) we made our way over to the pavilion for a catered meal from Qdobas. The center piece of the banquet was, of course, the Lander Cup, but new this year is the perpetual trophy honoring the winner of the Total Performance Toss & Catch Division, the beautiful crystal Total Performance Dog Bowl. In it’s first year, it was nabbed up by Annie Oakley of Texas, Mrs Pennie Mahon!! Tracy Custer took 2nd & 3rd and these ladies all went home with some cash in their pockets. Also attracting a ton of attention were the incredibly awesome trophies for the top 3 in the AWI made by Apryl Lea or Pawsitive Vybe Metalworks and Pawsitive Vybe Michigan. Apryl raised the bar and just set a new standard for sheer coolness of disc dog awards. Another fellow disc dogger/ artist is Cassi Anderson. Cassi did ALL our logo work for the 2010 AWI, including the designs for the INNcolor award discs. Always dedicated heart and soul to Disc Dog, Mike Miller served as our international ambassador to Team China. Plans for 2011 are to bring over a Team from China. Xie Xie Ni Panyo MIKE! A HUGE HERO thanks to these tireless promoters. Another perpetual award was unveiled this year; the Total Performer. Designed to recognize the team that has the most fun, and is TRULY in the sport for the love of the dogs. This year’s Total Performer award went to the very deserving Christopher Steele. While this ain’t his first rodeo, it was the first year for this award, and what a great recipient for the inaugural one!! Finally, we would like to thank everyone who helped out. Our sponsors, Hero Disc USA and Total Performance Foods…..thank you SO much. Your generous support allowed the 2010 AWI Series to bring a fun place to compete with your dogs, to 11 locations worldwide. Please take a moment to thank these sponsors and support them whenever possible!! The list of people who helped out is staggering, this truly was a community effort, and I need more time to work on the complete list, I don’t want to forget anyone. All the clubs who worked hard to put on AWI events, all the people behind the scenes….there is NO WAY this all would have happened without your help, I thank each and every one of you. More to come on that shortly. Stay tuned for the 2011 schedule, and mark Saturday, October 15, 2011 on your calendars as the date for the 2011 Ashley Whippet Invitational World Championships!! Thank you all.AND NOW THE REST OF THE STORY…The immortal Ashley Whippet memorialized by American Icon and Radio Broadcaster Paul Harvey.Results
Qualifiers
Orlando, FLWith what is quickly becoming the unofficial opening day to the disc dog season, the Central Florida Challenge/ Quad/ AWI weekend sure started 2010 off with a bang.read more... 
Huntington Beach, CAWhile it was snowing over a FOOT in Denver, a WHOLE bunch of competitors descended upon the green, warm grass at Edison High School and had a great day.read more... 
Pearland, TXThey say they do things bigger in Texas and the AWI is no exception! Chuck Middleton holds on to the lead for the victory. Congrats Chuck! We'll see you in IL.read more... 
Karlsruhe, GermanyWow what a weekend in sunny Germany. The weather smiled upon us as Julia Zimmerman and the FunDogTeam brought not just one, but two, count them TWO, events to town.read more... 
Thornton, COWhat a day!! After an extremely windy Saturday, Sunday brought calm, sunny skies and the 5th stop on the AWI Qualifier circuit to Thornton, CO.read more... 
Qingdao, China2010 Quindao, China Qualifier, congrats to our Far East teams for a great job, see you all in Naperville!!read more... 
Tochigi, JapanJapanese top teams gathered and showed splendid performances. Masanari Tomohiro & JET are the AWI Japan Champions! The top five qualifyfor the AWI World Championships!read more... 
Grey Summit, MOJuly 17th 2010Congratulations Penny Mahon & Psych! We'll see you in Naperville. read more...
Riverwalk Park and the Last Fling in Naperville are the hosting facilities for this year’s Hero Disc Ashley Whippet Invitational World Championships. Watch as the world’s best teams compete in Freestyle (two minute choreographed routine set to music) and Distance (one minute round, the "race of truth") to see who will be crowned the 2010 AWI World Champion! |
357…….not
a random number or the caliber of a handgun, but this is the total
number of teams who took part in the 2010 Ashley Whippet Invitational
World Tour!! These teams were a caliber higher than any handgun as they
represented their clubs, their sponsors, our sport, themselves and most
importantly their dogs, with class and grace.
After
a first round dominated by stellar performance from two Texas teams,
Chuck Middleton and Pennie Mahon were standing in 2nd and 1st overall,
just itching to bring the Lander Cup back down South. Their dogs, Bling
Bling and Psych are littermates and after having watched 5 pups from the
litter compete, I have to say, mother Little whelped the 1995 Chicago
Bulls with that litter.
After BOTH of them put up 19.5 in their Toss &
Catch, it looked as if Chuck and Pennie might make this a Lone Star
Showdown….but there was still a second round of freestyle to be run.
With no cut, every team got a second round, and these teams took
advantage of it. Suddenyl the freestyle scores were creeping into the
37’s and one team managed to nab a 39.1!! Judges Kerry Samet, Gail
Mirabella, Bill Keller and Gary Suzuki had their work cut out for them
as they watched the best in the world, put their best on the field.
Tradition
has a place for every iconic culture, and disc dog is no different. On a
warm summer evening at Dodger Stadium, there was a dog and its owner
that started the sport of disc dog. That dog was Ashley, Ashley Whippet,
and the owner/trainer was Alex Stein. Together the duo performed in
front of a sell-out crowd for over eight minutes on national TV, and
history was made.
Today
Hero embraces this tradition and hosts the Ashley Whippet Invitational
for all competitors to showcase their talents. While many will compete,
only one team will take advantage of this world stage. Together this
team will win the right to be alongside all the past true champions and
forever be remembered as an Ashley Whippet Invitational World Champion.
