LOCAL LIFE
Hawkesbury hosts Flyball Nationals
by Greg Martin
Norwest Thunderdogs Flyball Club – one of the most powerful and successful in the country – will host the 2024 National Flyball Championships at Hawkesbury Showground on October 5-6 .
Flyball is a canine team sport which is founded on the activities that dogs love to do – run , jump , fetch , and retrieve .
The action on both days will be fast and furious with the dogs and owners converging on the showground from all over Australia . With so many entrants across all divisions , the flyballers will be flying on the track before 8am on both days .
They say that “ the best things in life are free ” and those intending to see man ’ s favourite friends fly , will be able to do so , free of charge !
Thunderdogs president , Amanda Penniciuk says the club is thrilled to be
Credit : Norwest Thunderdogs Flyball Club Facebook .
hosting the 2024 titles . “ All of us are just so excited at the prospect of seeing the fastest flyballers in the country converging on our home patch ,” Amanda said .
“ Sadly though , I won ’ t have a competitor for the first time in many years , with my darling Australian Kelpie , Sonic , running his last race at the end of August . By running his last race I mean that he has retired from the racetrack !” Amanda said .
Amanda , one of the founding members of Thunderdogs in 2004 , will still have her hands full at the championships as the “ ring-caller ” – the person responsible for getting the dogs to the starting lines on time .
Amanda asked if I could give a plug to long-time sponsor Hypro Group - producers dog feed and treats , and Richmond Trophies ’ Steve Hiles who will be providing the , yes , trophies .
The championships format consists of a relay race between two teams of four dogs . Each dog must jump over four hurdles , retrieve a ball by triggering a flyball box and then return over the hurdles to the start / finish line . The team which has the fastest time with the least number of errors wins that race .
Almost any dog can participate in Flyball , regardless of their size , speed , or breed . Flyball is known as ‘ drag racing for dogs ’ because of how the Flyball ring is set up . Events are usually run on grass but the
2024 titles will be run on matting in an indoor arena at the showground .
Two racing lanes are set-up side-by-side , and between the lanes is a set of drag lights waiting to count down each race heat . There are also timing gates at the start / finish line to record the team times during the race and ensure no early passes are done during the heat .
Each lane is 51 feet ( 15.54m ) in length and consists of 4 hurdles ; the first being 6 feet ( 1.84m ) from the start / finish line and the rest at 10-foot ( 3.05m ) intervals . At the end of the lane is the flyball box with a tennis ball in it .
The flyball box is situated 15 feet from the last hurdle and requires the dog to trigger the box to release the ball . The dog then performs a swimmer ’ s turn onto the box , catches the ball , and continues back to the start / finish line .
The Norwest Thunderdogs Flyball Club is now one of the largest specialised Flyball dog training clubs in Australia . The club has enjoyed many successes including over 20 National Championship titles and is home to some of the fastest Flyball dogs in Australia . In fact , the Norwest Thunderdogs currently hold the Australia record for the fastest time of 15.987 seconds – beating 12 previous national records since 2007 .
Havin ’ a ball ! A flyball speedster snatches a tennis ball and prepares to return to the finish line . The fast and furious action is sure to attract a big crowd to the 2024 National Championships at Hawkesbury Showground .
All of which were set by Thunderdogs teams ! The current record , set in 2022 , is held by Thunderdogs speedsters , Ivy , Link , Swift and Inferno , all of which will be in action at the ’ 24 championships !
The Norwest Thunderdogs Flyball Club trains at Castle Hill every Tuesday . Flyball started as a dog sport in the early 1970s , in Southern California .
Some dog trainers combined scent hurdle racing , with the dogs bringing back a tennis ball to the finish line . Then a tennis ball-launching apparatus was added and the first flyball box was born .
The first flyball tournament was held in 1983 in the United States and since then the sport has now expanded into many countries including Australia , Canada , South Africa , South Korea , Japan and many European countries .
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THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au ISSUE 172 // SEPTEMBER 2024 11