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  MARROS MOUNTAIN IS TWO DAYS OF TOP CLASS COMPETITION

  For the second year running Phil Hinman set a course that was as intimidating as it was fun. At Milton Farm, Llanteg on the Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire border he has a hill that lends itself to a double fetch competition so he has one on Saturday and another on Sunday with over 40 dogs pre-entered for both days.

  What a Saturday it was for Kevin Evans. He won with Jaff beating his own Zac into second place from a field of 28 dogs that turned up. On Sunday the scoring was closer and 35 dogs went to the post from which Eirean Morgan emerged as the winner with Scott beating Malcolm Ellis’ Taff by two points.

  The righthand first outrun is some 430 yards and long before they reach the sheep the dogs enter steeply rising ground which puts them out of sight of the lift. There is a fence that guides them all the way up and reduces the risk of crossing. The point of turnback is when the first packet of 4 sheep has passed through the fetch gates. The second group are waiting, again at the top of steeply rising ground some 600 yards from the handler. Sooner or later the dogs reach a dip in the ground which goes almost all the way and if followed lavishly gets the dog into the wrong position. As it was however only a handful of dogs took the command to climb out of this gulley in order to find the right line. Once again the dogs were looking for unsighted sheep and were relying on a mixture of instinct and obedience.

  The drives were short but then Phil had made the ring work much more difficult by requiring 4 unmarked sheep to be shed off thus leaving the collared ones to be penned.

  In Ceredigion there were 3 trials in the week, 2 Nurseries and 1 Open National at which the Ceredigion County Team was chosen. Jeff Evans was the host for the first Nursery, held on Wednesday and he provided excellent sheep that worked well on the field used earlier in the year for an Open Trial. Uniquely Ceredigion has both a National and South Wales class at each Nursery and on this occasion John Davies brought out 2 dogs both of which won, Nell in the National and Moss in the South Wales . In winning the Puppy classes in each style Bert Evans was successful however with the same dog, Taff.

  For the second Nursery, held on Saturday, the competitors moved to the other side of Aberystwyth where John Price, again on the same course as last year. Between the two classes there were 33 runs and this time it was the turn of Islwyn Jones to come out on top twice with Gael. In the National Puppy class the winner was Gareth Davies with Sweep and in the South Wales Puppy class the honours went to Martha Morgan with a young bitch called Becks. The lambs that John Price kindly provided were challenging and showed up the inexperience of some of the dogs who were not sufficiently steady in their work and thus found managing their charges difficult.

  The Davies Family hosted the YFC Open National and Team Selction Trial at Goyallt Farm, Llangeitho. The course was laid out on sloping ground to provide a 250 yard uphill outrun. An unusual feature of the driving section which totalled around 400 yards that the second drive was a pull- through with the sheep being drive past the gates and then turned back and through. It was an 8 minute course and there was a shed before penning. Although this was a National competition that was open to all- comers only handlers from Ceredigion came and between them they ran 51 dogs. From that number John Davies emerged as County Captain with Hope but it needed the olf rule to decide between him and Evan Hopkins with Chip.

  For the first Nursery Trial of their group the handlers from Glos/Gwent went to Malpas, nr Newport at the invitation of Peter Best. Here an uphill course was able to provide an outrun of 300 yards, decent length drives with the first one to the left and at the end there was a shed before penning. The only place where the sheep were at all difficult was in the shedding ring where, being so docile and well-behaved, they did not want to split. From the 20 dogs that entered the Nursery Class Dick Montgomery’s Jinty had a clear win scoring 10 points to achieve a margin of 20 over Angie Blackmore and Chip, The Novice class of 27 entries again provided the winner George Martin with Wag with a comfortable margin of 14 points over Colin Evans with Dot.

  RESULTS

  MARROS MOUNTAIN . Double Fetch: Day 1: 1, K. Evans (Libanus) Jaff lost 28 points; 2, K. Evans, Zac, 38; 3, G. Lewis (Gwynfe) Spot, 42; 4, L.N. Watkins (Llangadog) Peg, 48; 5, J. Davies (Talgarreg) Fly, 49; 6, L.N. Watkins, Bob, 56.

  Day 2: 1, E.L. Morgan (Aberystwyth) Scott lost 20 points; 2, M. Ellis (Duffryn Rhondda) Taff, 22; 3, R. Ellis (Duffryn Rhondda) Maid, 26; 4, I.G. Jones (Llangadog) Cap, 29; 5, E.L. Morgan, Fred, 36; 6, M. Jones (Maesybont) Nan, 37.

  CEREDIGION YFC. Open National: 1, J. Davies (Lampeter, Hope lost 10olf; 2, E.A. Hopkins (Pontydygroes) Chip, 10; 3, E.L. Morgan (Aberystwyth) Fred, 17; 4, E. Lloyd (Llanrhystud) Mac, 19olf; 5, G. Davies (Llangeitho) Moss, 19olf; 6, E. Lloyd, Gail, 19. Novice National: 1, J. Davies, Hope, 10; 2, I.B. Jones (Capel Bangor) Gail, 18; 3, E. Lloyd, Mac, 19olf; 4, G. Davies, Mac, 19; 5, W.G. Davies (Llangeitho) Rock, 20; 6, E. Lloyd, Jim, 23. CERDIGION TEAM SELECTION: 1, J. Davies, Hope, 10olf; 2, E.A. Hopkins, Chip, 10; 3, E.L. Morgan, Fred, 17; 4, I.B. Jones, Gail, 18; 5, E. Lloyd, Mac, 19olf; 6, G. Davies, Moss, 19olf; 7, E.J.O. Evans (Llanafan) Roddy, 19; 8, J. Davies (Talgarreg) Fly, 20olf; 9, W.G. Davies, Rock, 20; 10 M. Morgan (Tregaron) Shep, 21; 11, W.P. Lloyd Jones (Tregaron) Don 23olf; 12, H. Lewis (Aberystwyth) Jan, 23. Reserves: 1, S. Jones (Llangeitho, Ben, 28; 2, D.P. Jones (Tregaron) Juno, 29; 3, J.R. Jones (Ponterwyd) Don, 31; 4, H. Owen (Tregaron, Queen, 34. YFC with dogs: 1, R. Evans (Talybont) Mist; 2, D. Jenkins (Talybont) Sam. YFC with quad bikes: 1, O. Jones (Llanddewi Brefi); 2, R. Evans (Dihewid).

  GLOS/GWENT NURSERY. Nursery: 1, R.C. Montgomery ( Bristol , Jinty lost 10; 2, A. Blackmore (Ledbury) Chip, 30; 3, G. Glanville ( Bristol ) Tess, 31; 4, J.A. Watkins (Bedwellty) Meg, 32; 5, A. Blackmore, Wyn, 35; 6, N. Nichol (Pontypool) Lyn 41. Novice: 1, G. Martin (Lydney) Wag, 14; 2, C. Evans (Coedkernew) Dot, 28; 3, G. Jones (Blackwood) Meg, 29; 4, R.C. Montgomery, Jinty, 31; 5, G. Glanville, Tess, 34; 6, G. O’Brian (Blackwwod) Taize, 38.

  SHROPSHIRE & HEREFORD NURSERY. Nursery: 1, L. Owen (Obley) Jill lost 15 points; 2, D. Brick (Much Wenlock) Bryn, 21; 3, M. Andrews (Brown Clee) Nap, 24. Novice: 1, D. Brick, Sally, 9; 2, C. House, Joe, 19; 3, W. Humphreys (Ruyton XI Town) Lyn, 22.

  CEREDIGION NURSERY no.1. National: 1, J. Davies (Lampeter) Nell; 2, B. Evans (Bronnant) Taff; 3, G. Davies (Llangeitho) Sweep; 4, I.B. Jones (Capel Bangor) Gael. Puppy: 1, B. Evans, Taff; 2, G. Davies, Sweep; 3, W.P. Lloyd Jones (Tregaron) Cymro; 4, R. Davies (Lampeter) Rose. South Wales : 1, J. Davies, Moss; 2, W.P. Lloyd Jones. Don; 3, W.G. Davies (Llangeitho) Rock; 4, I.B. Jones, Gael. Puppy: 1, B. Evans, Taff;’ 2, M. Morgan (Tregaron) Becks; 3, S. Jones (Llangeitho) Juno, 4, G. Davies, Sweep.

  CEREDIGION NURSERY no.2. National: 1, I.B. Jones, Gael; 2, W.P. Lloyd Jones, Ben; 3, G. Davies, Sweep; 4, S. Jones, Juno. Puppy: 1, G. Davies, Sweep; 2, S. Jones, Juno; 3, M. Morgan, Becks; 4, R. Davies, Rose. South Wales : 1, I.B. Jones, Gael; 2, M. Morgan, Becks; 3, E. Evans (Tregaron) Nell; 4, W.G. Davies, Rock. Puppy: 1, M. Morgan, Becks; 2, S. Jones, Juno; 3, G. Davies, Sweep, 4, E. Evans, Moss.

  DIARY

  OCTOBER 16. GLOS/GWENT Nursery, Mount Farm Buildings, Lisvane, start 8.30am . NORTH WALES NURSERY, BALA,  Heat 3, start 10am .

  OCTOBER 17. GLAMORGAN Nursery, Stembridge Farm, Llanrhidian.