Championship Venues/order Of Champs

[Strike Whippets]

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If you look under the WCRA notice board, Paul has posted about the 2nd champs :thumbsup: .......Sorry about the nastyness but it was an over spill from another thread .....Sorry again

 

[Mark Roberts]

Parkstone Lucky Charm (4th in Final) came off laim with a pulled muscule in her back leg.

 

[June Jonigk]

Hi Hannah, thanks, I noticed Pauls thread after I updated this one. It seems there were quite a lot of pad injuries. There were also the 3 injuries I mentioned that Paul didn't have info of, and Marks bitch - so quite a few

 

[Paws123]

but my Sweep (Mighty Mouse), has incurred the same injury as he did last June Champs, but a different toe.  I think he will be off racing for some time, as he was last year.  As you can probably guess, we are so mad with ourselves for letting him run when the ground was so hard.  Last year he ended up having to lose the last joint of his toe (which has healed brilliantly!), but it's now looking like the same might have to happen with another toe, depending on how things are at his check up a week Monday.  You have to draw a line somewhere - how many more toes can he afford to lose?

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Can not imagine why vets still insist in taken toes off dogs unless there is no other options.

I would advise anyone that has a dog with a dislocated toe to allow the toe to heal and callus over, as some dogs race okay, if the toe is broken i would advise Pin Firing its a hot steel rod fired through the broken joint to stabilizes it, dogs we have had done was 100% successful ...looks quite nasty for a few weeks but soon heals over prefect...all dogs are going to come off racing lame at some point in there careers, but i must admit to run a dog around a grass bend track in mid summer when the ground is rock hard is ludicrous

 

[Darcia]

Talking to Vince and Julia today and there big boy Shellshock also did a ligament and small fracture on one of his back toes at the Champs

 

[john doe]

Talking to Vince and Julia today and there big boy Shellshock also did a ligament and small fracture on one of his back toes at the Champs 

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Are the championship meetings the only place that dogs get injured due to a poor running surface?

 

[Smiffy@VeronnaV]

Hi John, in answer to your question, no of course not, dogs do get injured, at all times of the year, in all weathers, Spring, Summer Autumn and Winter. But then you know that already!!

What some people are beginning to wonder aloud is do the injury levels have a direct correletion to the prevailing ground conditions on the day, and if so, what, and how can we improve the running environment for the dogs during the hardest of the summer (sorry Dan!). That is not to say that other race meetings are injury free, (although the Open today would appear to be just that). But was this due to a lower ambient temperature, lower humidity, softer ground as there had been plenty of rain this week, shorter distance, not a bend etc, etc? Nobody has the answer because no-one has ever considered it necessary to study this particular aspect of racing.

Is it not right and proper that the rank and file should expect the WCRA to lead from the front? For as people are so fond of telling me, my dogs and my club(s) belong to the WCRA - I/we do not. So should we not anticipate, even dare to expect, that the WCRA would, on behalf of our dogs have their best interests at heart and do EVERYTHING in their power to ensure their safety whilst running at a Championship meeting - even if this means moving the programme around to suit the dog - not me/us because the weather is unsuitable for running dogs??!! I appreciate the pressures on the racing committee to run the meeting - what ever the conditions, so to my mind, this makes positioning the bends at times of the year when one could REASONABLY expect the ground to be at its best of paramount importance to the credibility of the sport, the WCRA and The Whippet Club.

Someone said today that they would like to see racing start very early, say 10 am, and be finished by mid day, with no breaks in between. What a good idea! Makes more sense than BEGINNING racing at MID DAY - one can't help but think of Noel Cowards' 'mad dogs and English men go out in the mid day sun...'. :luck:

 

[Scott Frodsham]

Someone said today that they would like to see racing start very early, say 10 am, and be finished by mid day, with no breaks in between.  What a good idea!  Makes more sense than BEGINNING racing at MID DAY - one can't help but think of Noel Cowards' 'mad dogs and English men go out in the mid day sun...'. :luck:

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Carmel it's a very good idea if live two minutes from the race track or are able to to camp over! What about the people that have 4 hour drives. Those dogs are disadvantaged as it is, sleeping/feeding. But hey, as long as you and your dogs are OK that's all that matters? :b

I'll bite my tongue at that for fear of saying something out of place! :angry:

 

[Vicky]

Someone said today that they would like to see racing start very early, say 10 am, and be finished by mid day, with no breaks in between.  What a good idea!  Makes more sense than BEGINNING racing at MID DAY - one can't help but think of Noel Cowards' 'mad dogs and English men go out in the mid day sun...'. :luck:

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Carmel it's a very good idea if live two minutes from the race track or are able to to camp over! What about the people that have 4 hour drives. Those dogs are disadvantaged as it is, sleeping/feeding. But hey, as long as you and your dogs are OK that's all that matters? :b

I'll bite my tongue at that for fear of saying something out of place! :angry:

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I'm gonna have to agree with scott on that one :- "

We have early weigh in's (admittedly we still don't start till dinnertime :wacko: , but the dogs at least get a break after the travelling) and it's a pita if you haven't stayed over the night before. Most of the track's i've raced at have been within a couple of hours drive but i gather the ped racers from around here have to do a fair bit more travelling to get to some of the open tracks. You have to take into account people have to get children ready / see to other dogs before they travel and like scott says some dogs after a long journey are handicapped straight away.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Have to agree with Scott, we regualarly already set out at 6am to get to some opens (when not camping) so a 10am start would mean leaving her at approx 2am with the dogs and a 6 year old child?

 

[June Jonigk]

Hi Denise

Sweep's toe wasn't dislocated or broken, but the collateral ligament and joint capsule were ruptured. The vet said he could inject the toe, but in his case, as he was a young dog, he recommended natural healing. We were very patient, and gave him longer off than the vet recommended, but it was to no avail as the joint was knackered. What do non peds do for this injury? If there was anything else available for him, we would have gone for it rather than he lose the end of his toe - but I have to say, it hasn't affected his running at all. We had him to a greyhound vet who did a fantastic job.

One of my others had a joint capsule repair about 8 years ago, and it was great and never gave her any problems after - but I believe the op rarely works.

I'm interested in anyone else's experiences in dealing with this injury.

Sorry to hear about Shellshock, he's been running so well for Vince and Julia, and I know he's been their little star (or big star actually!) Hope he's better soon :thumbsup:

 

[Judy]

Talking to Vince and Julia today and there big boy Shellshock also did a ligament and small fracture on one of his back toes at the Champs 

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Are the championship meetings the only place that dogs get injured due to a poor running surface?

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There are probably always some injuries on all tracks but more if the ground is hard and seemingly, more again on a bend. As Paul Chappells statistics on the WCRA section show however, there are an awful lot of pad injuries at the June bend champs (last year and this one anyway) that don't seem to happen anywhere else. You hardly ever hear of slipped pads normally. Certainly not enough for it to be so obvious that it is the ground conditions rather than bad luck. I think the problem is that the Morton cricket ground is so well looked which is normally a good thing but of course the grass is kept so short in the cricket season that it becomes quite slippery on the bends. There were a lot of dogs sliding on the first bend. I can't think of any other tracks on a cricket ground so that is probably the reason its worse at the champs.

The other injuries might well happen in the same sort of numbers on any bend on hard ground - Youdo hear about them happening, but not the pad injuries.

I still find it amazing though that no matter how much everyone emphasises that they don't blame the WCRA - some of them are still so sensitive about it, bless 'em.

 

[Smiffy@VeronnaV]

Like you, I don't live 2 mins from any track, and unlike you I don't camp over, but drive to the venue on the day. I would have thought the main objection would be the time scale for getting the track ready for the day rather than the convenience or otherwise for the human owners. As it would take all hands to the pump to have a field ready for a 10 am start, rather than us all standing around watching the old reliables doing it all. One only has to consider the response yesterday to the request for help to know the truth of that. Possibly the largest club and they were scrabbling around for helpers - so what hope would there be of getting a track ready for 10am?? No a hope in hell. I was one of the guilty ones yesterday, like most of the club, I waited for someone else to do it.

I hold the view that we owners are not the important ones in this debate, as we don't do the running - but of course, I could be wrong in this. Besides one could think laterally and wonder if holding the meeting earlier means that people won't travel so far, and would thus, be more than happy to club race rather than get up before sunrise to be somewhere for 9am!! I wouldn't get up any earlier than 5am to be somewhere, but that's just me. Neither can I see any problem with holding meetings on Saturday evenings during the summer months, but I'm told that's not possible either!! However, it doesn't mean I don't think they are ideas worthy of consideration and debate! Differing view points are what make us think, and agreement is not thought provoking. :luck:

 

[Smiffy@VeronnaV]

I still find it amazing though that no matter how much everyone emphasises that they don't blame the WCRA - some of them are still so sensitive about it, bless 'em.

Hmmn, well had the WCRA listened to the club who proposed a move for the bends and the owners at the talk-in last year, and bowed to their request for the bends to be moved, then the catalogue of injuries from the last champs would not have happened. Yes, I know, there would still have been injuries. If I recall it correctly, the vote was in favour of a move for the bends, but the floor was over-ruled from the top table. As I have said in another post, I cannot recall the rationale behind the decision, just that it was a No. So sadly, the committee must take responsibility for holding that particular meeting, with that particular distance on that particular day. Had the dogs been running in a straight line rather than bend running would the pad injuries have been lessened? How long is a piece of string???? But the stats are telling, look at the pad injuries sustained at finals level ... the ground got harder as the day went on, and the feet of the dogs got progressively worse with every round of racing.

I understand that owners DON'T have to run their dogs, but for the governing body to use that as a valid reason for holding a 240yards bend meeting in high summer and then be somewhat surprised at the response of the rank and file to the level of injuries sustained is nothing short of amazing! Particularly as racers had asked for the bends to be moved for safety reasons. :luck:

 

[Mark Roberts]

In the realy world the owners do matter cos if you don't have the owners you don't have their dogs racing.

speaking as someone who ran a club for 5 years I dare any club to atempt a 8-9am weigh in and then racing starting at 10am, they would find their entrys greatly reduced also run straight through withoput a break? good god dont these little creatures that we force to run deserve a break in between runs?.

When I ran the Northern we often set the track up the night before leaving only the electricle stuff to be put out Sunday (5 minute job)

you can't expect owner to get up at 2am to drive 4 hours to an open to start racing for 10am Jesus it's bad enough for anyone from the North as it is without stupid weigh in times being brought in as well.

For me the main critiria is making sure the ground gets watered, surely a freindly call to the local fire brigade and a crate of lager the evening before would ensure the grounds got a good soaking.

 

[Judy]

Carmel - There was a vote taken about changing the order of the Champs at the last talk-in but it was voted down by the club reps, 6 For - 18 Against according to the minutes sent out to the secretaries. Can't blame the top table for that one.

 

[Strike Whippets]

Well we can all sit hear and debate until the cow's come home .......but unless we send sensible club rep's to the WCRA talk in, nothing will change :b .........We do need to put this idea of changing the bend's to the beginning and end of the season in writing from as many club's as poss, as this is the only way that the WCRA will be able to change the running order of the bend's etc .......(and our club rep's have to vote the right way aswell :thumbsup: )......but after that it's simple .........As we all know we are told that the WCRA are there to listen to us and "go" with what the majority of us racer's want :thumbsup: .......So we best all get writing then

edited as I can't spell :lol:

 

[June Jonigk]

I think a more sensible idea would be to hand out an options form with every programme at the next Champs, and get a general view from everyone - as 20 people from one club might be for it, but if their 3 reps are not, where do they stand then? You cannot make your reps vote for you. In a perfect world they would all take a vote from all their members before the event, but we know this doesn't happen.

The WCRA once handed out papers to get racers views on venues for Champs, and Moreton was by far the most popular. It worked well then.

I wonder if the 18 people voting against the idea actually understood what they were voting for, and did they understand the consequences of voting against the proposition?

I believe the WCRA do want to listen, but if it was voted out by reps, how could they possibly change things then? The majority of WCRA Committee members I have spoken to are for changing the bends to either end of the year. Lets hope we get the chance to vote again.

 

[Scott Frodsham]

One only has to consider the response yesterday to the request for help to know the truth of that.  Possibly the largest club and they were scrabbling around for helpers - so what hope would there be of getting a track ready for 10am?? No a hope in hell.  I was one of the guilty ones yesterday, like most of the club, I waited for someone else to do it.

I seem to have read this before from you Carmel?

NPWRC open last year? Why don't you get out of your deck chair and do something rather than coming on here after the event critisizing and saying what you SHOULD have done? :b

 

[Vicky]

I believe the WCRA do want to listen, but if it was voted out by reps, how could they possibly change things then?  The majority of WCRA Committee members I have spoken to are for changing the bends to either end of the year.  Lets hope we get the chance to vote again.

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Postal vote maybe?