First and foremost - an apology to Bill Berhow who somehow managed to leave off the list of former champions who made the double lift. I'm pretty gutted about it, and certainly no disrespect intended but I don't know how I missed him since he's won the Open Finals three times, the Nursery Finals at least four times, and the Canadian Finals at least once (with Mike, the same dog he was running in the double lift at Klamath). So, my apologies to Bill.

My thanks to Geri Byrne, Lora Withnell, Ellen Skillings and all the other members of the both the local trial committee and the USBCHA trials committee for putting on an outstanding trial. The field was great, the sheep were great, and the hospitality was great. What more could you ask for? I thoroughly enjoyed this trial from start to finish.

I'll try to get some pictures up tonight.

Jen is away and a good outrun but the sheep are heavy at the top and she's having trouble shifting them on to the line. They are coming slowly down the fetch on the same line Alasdair had with  Star and Jen is getting frustrated coming all the way around her sheep on the fetch. Derek has them moving across the course now, down the ridgeline but still coming in left of the panels. Strong work by Derek to  get the sheep back to the line and make the panels. Derek put the sheep right on the drop post, where they stayed. It looked like Jen was going to take the first turnback but she came forward and bumped the sheep  off the spot. Once they were moving, she didn't want to leave them and it took several tries before Derek could get her back to the second group.

The second group lifted like they have for most runs, a little harder than most handlers would like. I'm wondering if they can see sheep down the field. Jen got them slowed and stopped but as soon as she lifted them again they came hard down the filed towards the first group and missed the fetch panels on the left.

Sheep joined up and it was a good first leg of the drive. On a good line coming across and  hit the panels square.

Derek gave Jen a few minutes to cool off in the stock tank before starting his shed.

Good solid work in the shedding ring with no resheds required but unable to solve the puzzle of sheep who don't really want to leave the ring and time ran out with three or four left to shed off.

Score: 68 80 84 76 - 308

Alasdair MacRae and Nap are 2009 Champions and Alasdair MacRae and Star are the Reserver Champions

Good first outrun. Not much off the lift and a good start to the fetch. Good first line to the panels and Ross took the tunrback whistle well but started tight so Haley laid him down gave another turnback and a long away flank to put him on the right track back to his sheep. Good second lift but the sheep came off the top fast. Good work by Haley and Ross to hold the line coming down at speed. Really nice flanks on this dog. The sheep got left just above the panels and Haley had to hustle Ross over to stop them an put them back on line. Very nice work to make the panels at a walk.

Good lines on the drive all the way around but the sheep drifted low just coming into the cross drive panels and  Haley had to put Ross around to the front of the group to stop them and push them up into the panel.

The first group of nine came off easily and congregated around the pen. Haley worked a while to get the next one off and while she was chasing that one off, eight sheep left the other side of the ring. Bringing them back in, one collared ewe broke for the shed group and Haley caught her foot in a hole on the field and stumbled, preventing her from getting in front of the sheep or directing her dog. She had to regather and reshed but quickly got another nine off. Still eleven minutes on the clock but that slip may have cost her a shot at the  championship spoiling a near perfect run to that point. Eighteen minutes in the shedding ring and just couldn't get those few remaining sheep to move out. A stylish run and I really like how Haley handles a dog so disappointing that she did not get to complete her round.

Score:  118, 121, 199, 120 - 478

The last team, Derek Fisher and Jen with a chance to spoil a possible 1, 2 finish and 10th Championship for Alasdair MacRae is on the course.

Tess is away and like several dogs today, the side hill coming up the rise started to pull her in but she took Lavon's redirect on the fly and bent out to cover and lift her sheep nicely.  A good line on the fist leg of the fetch and safely through dead center of the panels. Tess took the lookback on the second whistle and had a good outrun back to the second group. The first group were dropped softly and stayed grazing 40 yards down from the drop spot. A perfect second lift, and a good  line at the top of the second drive. Tess is workig well off her sheep and having to cover a lot of ground on her flanks but had a great line on the second fetch. With the second group waiting quietly, the  join up was easy.

Really really nice drive all the way around. Got a tad high in the middle but put them back on line and through the middle of the panels.

Lavon shed off his first two groups of four or five easily but shedding on the back edge of the ring near the pen, he pushed the ten remaining sheep out of the ring twice. Lavon had eighteen minutes left on the clock entering the shedding ring and got his shed with thirty seconds on the clock. Not enough time for the pen which is too bad because this run was a contender were it not for sheep out of the ring a few times and the time out at the pen.

Score: 119, 120, 133, 122 - 494