DockDogs National Championship

This chilly weekend was the 10th Anniversary of the DockDogs National Championship... talk about a blast!

The black dogs and I arrived Thursday evening... Lisa and I went to grab sushi before the crew was finished setting up all 4 docks. When we came home we all went out to the bar -- it was so fun to see friends from all over the country and catch up... plus, I met plenty of new friends there too.

Friday was extremely busy starting at 8am and stayed hectic until late into the evening... Dylan jumped in the Senior Big Air Qualifier (14' 10") and was in the Express Speed Retrieve Qualifier (8.325). I wasn't worried about Dylan and the cold... I was, however, worried that Rumor would have 1 good jump and that was it b/c it would be too cold for him. Luckily, I was wrong! He jumped great all weekend! Rumor had the Senior Big Air Qualifier (21' 6") and the Master Big Air Qualifier (21' 9"). He also had Turbo Speed Retrieve but I was quite the handicap for him on that Qualifier (7.281). The Luau Friday night was fun... Rumor ended up winning an award too! So that didn't hurt :)

Saturday was another busy day... Dylan improved his Senior Big Air jump (16' 1") and hit a personal best in Speed Retrieve of 7.970! That placed him in 8th, overall, so he made it into the Express Speed Retrieve Finals I was trying just the 'chase' method with Rumor in his Senior Big Air jumps and it clearly didn't work... jumped 16' 2"... so, I gave up on my horrible throwing the rest of the weekend. His Master Big Air jump was way better with a 22' 4" jump! We also improved to a 6.431 in Turbo Speed Retrieve, but that was not enough to make it into the Finals. I was just glad Rumz jumped well enough to make the Senior Big Air Finals... I knew we had a good chance there! Saturday night was the 10th Anniversary Banquet... it was a blast... everyone dressed up in formal attire and looked fantastic! It really was a great evening...


Sunday we started off the morning with the docks frozen solid and the pools had some ice in them... uh-oh... I thought that would really bother Rumor. Luckily, by the time it was the Senior Big Air Finals it had warmed up quite a bit. Rumor's 1st jump was fantastic... he busted out a personal best of 23'!!! That allowed me to breath a bit easier... going into our 2nd jump I was 2nd to last so there was a lot of pressure on the last person. Our 2nd jump wasn't as good, but we still won the division -- I was sooo proud of Rumz! Dylan didn't want to be left out so he pulled out another personal best in the Express Speed Retrieve Finals of a 7.818 to finish 4th! I was thrilled with both of them... they did awesome this weekend :)