AKC National Agility Championships - and the winners are!

This news just in from the AKC website:

(Photo courtesy American Kennel Club)

The 2009 AKC National Agility Champions are:

Front Row Left to Right:
26" Champion – Olga Chaiko & Border Collie "Yankee"
20" Champion – Kim Terrill & Border Collie "Steeple"
24" Champion – Robert Yi & Border Collie "Cap"

Back Row Left to Right:
Andy Hartman (AKC Director of Agility)
16" Champion – Paulette Swartzendruber & Shetland Sheepdog "Rush"
12" Champion – Dee Anna Gamel & Shetland Sheepdog "Kelsi"
8" Champion – Daneka Hedges & Papillon "Allie"
John Lyons (AKC Chief Operating Officer)
Curt Curtis (Assistant Vice President - Companion Events)

You can see all the final results here!

Looking over the results we saw a great showing by Spec and Jean LaValley, ending with 11th place in their first Nationals. They just got their MACH about 3 weeks ago, definitely ones to watch. Also saw Jean Hood and Tanner (who also just got their MACH) ended with the 7th place spot in the 24" class just inching by Marcus and Juice, an amazing finish for a first timer and a young pup. Another one to watch.

The BC's couldn't hold on to all the placements in the 16" height class. A sheltie (Rush) took the top spot, with a Pyr (Luka), RT (Dylan), and an Eskie (Denali) right up there with two BCs (Tango and Driven).

BC's took most all the top spots in the 20" class, with a Golden (Beamer) coming in at 11th place. Familiar and not so familiar names in the top spots for the 24" class. And some familiar BC's in the 26" class took many of the top spots.

Congratulations to everyone participating. I hear there were some challenging courses, great competition, some late upsets, and some super fun runs and times. Kudos to Eric at AgilityVision, we also hear that the live streaming video was wonderful, and much appreciated!

Eric's AKC Nationals DVD of the Challenger Round and Finals will be available for $24.99. And if you miss the live stream and don't want to wait for the DVD you can purchase a high resolution .mp4 Video Download of the Challenger Round and Finals for $14.99. Here's more info.

I'll be looking forward to reading everyone's blogs upon their return.

On to Tulsa March 26-29, 2010!