2009 National Amateur Championship
Judges Kathy Nestor and Pete Rainey
Monday, December 7, 2009 to conclusion
Pyramid State Park, Pinckneyville Illinois
General Chair Dean Reinke, FTC Jerry Barrett
FTS Pat Bramwell
2008 National Amateur Field Champion (NAFC)
NAFC CFC Pheasant Feathers Black Powder
O/H: Janie Haworth
Yesterday I drove most of the way back to Minnesota. Accumulated snow started at the Iowa border, the temps dropped every mile
and Iowa City had cars and a few tractor trailers still in the ditches from the storm earlier in the week. I hope you all got home
safely! It was great to see you all this past two weeks! Happy Holidays! Mary
Thursday, December 10th 9:00 pm - Placements!!!
Guns Award #27 Clipper - Bill Willett
CM #37 Treva - Bob Montler
CM #60 - Marshall - Greg Wharton
CM #101 - Mist - John Halpin
Don Cande Award #59 - Maggie - Mhari Peschel
4th Place - #74 Prince - Russ Smith
3rd Place - #57 Sail - Dean Reinke
2nd Place - #58 Bryg - Bob Montler
1st Place NAFC (2nd time)#27 Clipper - Bill Willett
4:25 pm - We just completed the 17 Dogs back for the water series!
3:15 pm The fifth series has just finished. We are headed to the water.
11:45 am - Fifth series - 18 dogs!
10:30 am - The fourth series is now finished. We are waiting for 5th series callbacks.
We park in the same area every day and we are able to walk to the different courses. The third and fourth series
cover was more challenging than the course for the first and second series. The wind today gives us a nice
crosswind for the fourth series and the sun is shining. Fifth series callbacks will be posted as soon as we
have them. We will be moving a short distance for the fifth series.
7:55 am - I just saw the judges heading out to the field. They were sitting on the tailgate of a pickup :-)
The temperature was 14 degrees when I drove out to the field! Brrrrr! But the winds have diminished to a breeze.
We will start the fourth series where we left off last night. More later.
Wednesday, December 9th 5:45 pm -The last dogs to run were #25 under Rainey and #27 under Nestor.
We will start tomorrow with dog #34 under Rainey and #36 under Nestor.
4:15 pm They started the fourth series just before 3:00 pm.
Fourth series callbacks - 35 dogs!
1:30 pm we have finished the third series. We are taking a short break and then
we will start the fourth series. The temperature is 37 and now sunny but still with strong winds.
11:40 am Dogs 67 and 68 are running each with one contact.
8:00 am Mid thirties, cloudy and very windy today. The forecast is for the temperatures to
drop throughout the day. One dog was missed on the third series callbacks so now there are 54 dogs back to the third.
Sorry about the short callback list only going through dog 77 yesterday. Technical difficulties. Thanks to all of you
for letting us know.
Tuesday, December 8th 8:15 pm Third series callbacks!
3:15 pm The second series is finished. We are done for today and will get callbacks tonight
10:30 am - Wet and windy with both to intensify. Dog number 36 has just run under Rainey. 39 will be up after they turn the corner.
Dog number 46 under Nestor is on a retrieve right now. More from the field later. Good day!
6:55 am. The rain has started! The temperature is 35 degrees heading for
a high of 43. The winds are out of the East at 12-20mph and a wind advisory has been issued
as winds will increase during the day. The windchill is 30 degrees. The forcast for tomorrow is party cloudy with
a high of 42. On the grounds a huge tent from Purina has been put up in anticipation of inclement weather.
The Sirloin Hut is providing hot, delicious food for everyone on the grounds. Folks raved about their breakfast sandwiches.
We will be putting up photos as soon as we can.
Monday, December 7th 10:00 pm - 82 dogs back to the second series.
Pro Plan high point awards were given out tonight. Please note that 20 First Time Handlers were recognized!
4:30 pm We have completed all of the first series. We will head back to the headquarters Holiday Inn 45 minutes
away and get ready for the banquet tonight. The ProPlan awards will be given out tonight to high point IC dogs and puppies,
pins will be given to all first time natonal handlers and we will get the callbacks for the second series. It will be a late night.
10:00 am We just finished the first lap of two courses of about 25 flags each. Dogs 26 Drake and 27 Clipper are on the line. Two national champions on the line at the same time. One more scratch today, # 69. We got rain/snow overnight so the ground is wet. When the caravan left the hotel it was 32 degrees. It took aboubt 45 minutes to get to Pyramid State Park and it is huge.
Winds are light right now and should stay that way. The sun is shining and that they forecast will change.
Rain is in the forecast.