Irish Terrier & Lurcher Championships

[AlbertJ 569]

We are delighted to announce that we will be staging three Great Terrier & Lurchers Shows in Ireland in 2010 in association with what we consider will be Ireland’s premier Game & Country Fairs.

 

In 2009 the Irish Game Fair at Shanes Castle had a record crowd for any Irish game or country Fair, while the Irish Game and Country Fair at Birr Castle, in spite of dreadful weather on the Sunday, had an attendance second only to that achieved by Shanes Castle. This year the Game Fair at Ballywalter joins our portfolio and with an action packed programme crammed into one day we consider that it will move into third spot in the Irish game and country fair league table.

 

The first terrier, whippet and lurcher show with racing and main arena displays will take place at Ballywalter Estate, Co . Down on Sunday the 2nd May 2010. The prize fund is growing rapidly and will be announced on our web site www.ballywaltergamefair.com in about 10 days time.

 

The second terrier ,whippet and lurcher show and undoubtedly Ireland’s most prestigious show the 22nd annual ALL Ireland Terrier and Lurcher Championship

( Open to all comers no pre qualification necessary) takes place at the Irish Game Fair at Shanes Castle, Antrim on the 26th ( Racing Day) and 27th ( Show Day) June 2010.

 

This year apart from the normal excellent array of prizes the winner of the Terrier Championship qualifies for the FIVE Nations International Terrier Championship Final to be staged at the Birr Castle Game and Country Fair.

 

The third terrier ,whippet and lurcher show is the 4th Annual ROI Terrier and Lurcher Championships ( Open to all comers no pre qualification necessary) at the Irish Game and Country Fair at Birr Castle, Co.Offaly on the 28th &29th August 2010. Racing Saturday and Show Sunday. Once again fantastic prizes are on offer and this show offers the final qualifying opportunity for the FIVE Nations International Terrier Championship Final to be staged under a three judge system in the main arena at Birr.

 

I am personally delighted to offer Irish terrier enthusiasts the opportunity to compete on home soil against top quality opposition from qualifying shows in Scotland, England ( 2) , Wales and of course NI and the ROI. As UK co-ordinator ‘Foxgun Tom’ has stated terriers from any country can qualify at any show. Terrier owners from the UK are most welcome at our two Irish qualifiers and who knows they might just pick up an Irish title! Special ferry and accommodation rates are available for both Shanes and Birr Castle.

 

The prize fund for the Five Nations International Terrier Championship will be of the order of c €2,000 in value and reflect the prestige of the event. The runner up and all qualifiers will receive quality commemorative trophies and other prizes. It is hoped to organise a similar competition for lurchers in 2011.

 

Details of the Irish qualifying shows and prize fund will be posted on the www.irishgamefair.com and www.irishgameandcountryfair.com web sites.

[tullyeyed 90]

sham sham sham

[jeterrier 4]

grow up!!!!!

[AlbertJ 569]

sham sham sham

 

Tullyeyed,

As I said on his thread I had no desire to hijack Foxgun Tom's thread about a serious working terrier show in Scotland and the extremely imaginative event he came up with to promote working terriers, to argue or debate with you.

 

I consider that you have been rather unfairly abusive to him, as he is simply someone who genuinely is interested in and wants to promote working terriers and lurchers without getting involved in real or imagined parochial disputes.

 

I do not wish his serious thread to be polluted any further, so I will not be answering any points you make on that thread AND in fact I see little point in debating at all with someone like yourself who apparently cannot make any cogent arguments.

 

I would like to point out that you, having welcomed the concept of the Five Nations International Terrier Championship being hosted by Birr, have gone into a strop against Tom and me because your show wasn't given qualifying status. I don't really mind your abuse because from my viewpoint the opinion of anyone who can only express his or her opinion in abusive terms from behind an alias isn't really worth an awful lot. BUT I do object and I hope others on this forum will take exception to your attacks on Tom for simply coming up with a good idea to benefit all terrier & lurcher owners on these islands.

 

In spite of your carping from the sidelines, I know our Terrier & Lurcher events at Shane Castle and Birr Castle will be two of the largest events in Ireland and I know the Five Nationa Terrier Championship will be a huge success, to be followed by a similar lurcher one in 2011. Tom's energy and commitment will be fully met by our own in making these events a success and I cannot understand why any terrier or lurcher owner in Ireland would not wish this prestigious competition well.

 

I think you do the image of your own show little credit by your comments on this forum and perhaps your show would be better with another spokesperson. Nevertheless I do not see that our shows compete in any way with the Tullylish Show and even if we did, I would wish it well as another opportunity for terrier & lurcher enthusiasts to show their dogs under different judges.

 

I invite all Irish terrier owners to join with us in making the Five Nations a success in its unaugural year and as you will see from my later thread I have offered special admission rates this year for terrier and lurcher owners to enjoy our shows.

 

I bear your own show and competition no ill will whatsoever and hope that you too will have a successful event.

 

Alberj

Edited February 26, 2010 by AlbertJ

[tullyeyed 90]

albert j, i put my full name after my first post on this topic, never was i offesive to tom, anything out of sorts i said i apoligised for to him. i know things on the mainland for this event will go well and the right dog will represent each nation, that will not be the case here, good luck with the whole thing, we will be there with our entered terriers to support it as we do with all the northern shows, doutfull if i,ll see you or any of the mid antrim at ours, if you do fancy a run up to banbridge backwater, i,ll leave a free entry pass at the gate for you,s lads.

[AlbertJ 569]

albert j, i put my full name after my first post on this topic, never was i offesive to tom, anything out of sorts i said i apoligised for to him. i know things on the mainland for this event will go well and the right dog will represent each nation, that will not be the case here, good luck with the whole thing, we will be there with our entered terriers to support it as we do with all the northern shows, doutfull if i,ll see you or any of the mid antrim at ours, if you do fancy a run up to banbridge backwater, i,ll leave a free entry pass at the gate for you,s lads.

Tullyeyed,

 

Thank you for a civil reply and I thank you for your kind invitation to your show. Your aside about the 'Banbridge backwater' brought a smile to my face at this late hour and I stand properly admonished for my jibe. In the spirit of your invitation I do apologise for that back handed insult!

 

Unfortunately with Ballywalter, Shanes and Birr to organise this year my schedule is horrendous and on the 10th April I will be at Shanes Castle for the gundog qualifier for the Shanes Fair - in my capacity as organiser of the Fair and President of the club running the tests. However we will be happy to carry your results in the magazine and/or if you wish I will put up some subscriptions as prizes. Paul Pringle who edits the magazine is keen to carry more material on terriers & lurchers if clubs want to submit it or suggest it.

 

I think you are unduly pessimistic about the dogs being selected to represent the quaifying heats in NI and the ROI. Although if you really don't fancy the judges selected to judge the terriers at Shanes and Birr you are at liberty to try to qualify at any of the other four qualifiers. Equally competitors from the UK are at liberty to try to qualify at Shanes and Birr. Our objective in this competition is to allow Irish competitors to compete on Irish soil against the best terriers in these islands NOT necessarily to win at Shanes, Birr or anywhere else - although it would be good if they did! That will be up to the judges in the qualifiers and the three judges in the final.

 

As you are aware I do not show or judge terriers or lurchers myself, I train and run golden retrievers ( when I have a good enough one) and I also occassionally show my working golden retrievers at club shows because I am an officer in the club. I used to show them more widely and with some success until there was a big divergence between the show and working types. I do judge occassionally at Open & Championship level and I would defy anyone to say that my judging is not fair. When I have judged I always draw a very large entry - this year the 2nd largest in the breeds at an all breed Championship show - because although people know I prefer the old type of golden they know I will judge fairly. My BOB was given to a girl I didn't know and had never seen before over a very good big winning dog owned by a friend. I was delighted to see her dog go reserve in the group under another judge. I would be truly appalled If I genuinely felt that any judge judging at any event within the Fairs that we run was biased - all judging of dogs is subjective especially when it is based on conformation but even sometimes even in trials and tests as well. When you enter a show what you are getting is the judge's opinion on that particular day. You may not like that decision - few people do unless they win as there is a great deal of kennel blindness in all dog showing.

 

The selection of judges for Birr and Shanes is the responsibility of the Mid Antrim Club. Like all our competitions at the Fair we delegate full responsibility to the organisers - we simply supply the venue and some of the prizes. But I can assure you I would intervene if I thought the judges selected were not competent or fair.

 

For the FIVE NATIONS Championship Final there will be a three judge panel headed up by Tom Chalmers - although he will have the same scoring rights as the other two judges. I think you realise from his forthright views that he is very much his own man. The second judge will be selected by Tom and Fran with NO input whatsoever from the Mid Antrim Club or me. The third Irish based judge will be selected by me on the basis of recommendations from the Mid Ireland, soundings I will take elsewhere and on similar criteria to that which Tom & Fran will use in the UK. He/she will have my full confidence as someone who has kept good working terriers,is independent minded and has no personal axe to grind. Apart from judging the final he/she will have no input into the judging of terriers at Birr.

 

I am pleased that you will be at Shanes to compete and will be happy to meet you and try to put any residual ill will behind us. I have no personal axe to grind against any terrier or lurcher owner and I think you will find a genuine desire to treat them as I treat those competitors in my own interests in gundogs and shooting.

 

I am delighted to have been able to facilitate this international championship in terriers and lurchers at the same time as we are attracting more international clay shooters and gundog competitors to our fairs.

 

Albertj