By Alan Rees – Captain of the Wales Team
Now having arrived home, fielded all the telephone calls, e-mails and texts, around 38 of them in total – please accept my thanks to you all for your congratulations and well wishes.
Leading up to the Game Fair this year I was pleased with the team, their attitude and commitment to do well. We had new faces in David Williams and Nigel Probert, both delivering wonderful performances for the Team at the CLA. We had stalwarts in Alistair Ross and Aled Jones (running his Spaniel Championship Winner of a few years ago) and both these also put in a shift for the team. A very special mention must go to Craig Perry running two dogs due to a late withdrawal, both turning in impressive scores of 86% each, this laid a great foundation.
Wales pushed mighty England to the wire this year ending up 20 points behind England in second place, with over a thousand points available over two days, with ten dogs per team (five Spaniels and five Retrievers). Scotland in third was 24 points behind Wales, and further back was Ireland, 8 points behind Scotland, all in all a close competitive event. Three of our Spaniels in the top ten, two of our Retrievers in the top six, all with very high scores were really great to see, leaving us encouraged for the future.
My gratitude is extended to this year’s team for all their effort and commitment to the cause.
Spaniels
Wesley Thomas, David Pither, Alistair Ross, Aled Jones and David Williams.
Mark Bettinson, Craig Perry, Nigel Probert, Craig Perry and Alan Rees.
My biggest thank you must go to CSJ – to Ceri and Phil for their continued support, not only financially, but also by their presence at this prestigious event, a very big thanks to you and the gang there at CSJ.
Thank You One and All
Alan Rees (Team Captain).
