Dogs on Course in North America: North America Challenge Championships

Dogs On Course in North America, LLC

Preparation begins for 2009 DOCNA National Championships

The official dates of the 2009 DOCNA National Championships are October 9-11, 2009. There will also likely be several pre-championships titling events on Thursday, Oct 8, 2009.

Again in 2009, DOCNA will offer a Western and an Eastern Championship (competitors can enter either), with the hope of adding a Midwest and Southern championships in the future. Understanding that not everyone can take multiple days to travel or incur airline and large hotel bills, DOCNA would like to offer a championship where everyone can have a chance to play.

The official dates of the 2009 DOCNA National Championships are October 9-11, 2009. The Eastern Championships will be held in Bloomsburg, PA, indoors on packed dirt, while the Western Championships will be hosted by DOCNA and will be held in Prescott Valley, AZ. DOCNA's representative club in the east will be Bloomsburg Agility Runners (BARC).

All competitors entering the 2009 DOCNA National Championships may choose which of the locations they wish to enter. In doing so, the competitor realizes there may be differences in surface, and weather conditions, including but not limited to (wind, rain, sun, heat, etc).

Qualification to Enter - Qualification Criteria for the 2009 DOCNA National Championships event.

To qualify for the 2009 DOCNA National Championships event, competitors will be required to earn one (1) North America Challenge qualifying round with a maximum of 12 faults (or less) between April 1, 2008 and August 3, 2009, and in addition they must have competed in a DOCNA Sanctioned Trial between Aug 1, 2008 and Aug 3, 2009.
Qualifiying runs earned during this period that were applied towards the 2008 National Championships, may also be applied to the 2009 National Championships requirement.

The Cutoff date for qualifying is August 2, 2009. Entries will likely close by August 8, 2009.

Proposed List of Events (Subject to change)
October 9-11, 2009
3 Day Show

3 Rounds of Standard, 3 rounds of Jumpers, 1 round of Traditional Gamblers, 1 round of Traditional Gamblers, 1 round of Strategic Time Gamble, 1 round of Snakes N' Ladders, and 1 Round of Trigility.
The North America Challenge Event will be run on Saturday.
The Final Schedule of Events will be published after all entries have been received so that we are able to most efficiently balance the number of runs each day.

Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Traditional Gamblers	North America Challenge Championship Event	Strategic Time Gamble
Round #1 Standard Agility	Round #2 Standard Agility	Standard Agility Finals
Snakes N Ladders	Trigility
Round #1 Jumpers	Round #2 Jumpers	Jumpers Final

The North America Challenge Championship Event:

NAC will be scored in the same manner as a normal weekend trial. Regional placements will be awarded at both locations. Scores from both (locations) will be placed together and National Champion Awards will be presented based on these results.

Regional Events:

Each of the locations will offer Regional Events at the INTERN and SPECIALIST levels in Standard Agility, Gamblers, Jumpers, Snakes`N Ladders, and Trigility. The scoring and placements for these events will be either Western or Eastern location based (not combined). Beginners are welcome and encouraged to enter the INTERN level.

Regional awards will be presented for Standard, Jumpers, Traditional Gamblers, Strategic Time Gamble, Snakes N Ladders and Trigility. Standard and Jumpers will have awards for Round #1, Round #2.
3 Rounds of Standard, (1 each day Friday and Saturday with a Finals on Sunday), 3 rounds of Jumpers, (1 each day (Friday and Saturday, with a Final on Sunday), 1 round of Traditional Gamblers (Friday), 1 round of Snakes N’ Ladders. Friday), 1 round of Strategic Time Gamble (Sunday), 1 round of Trigility (Saturday).
The top 25% scores of combined runs in Standard 1 and 2 and the top 25% scores of combined runs in Jumpers 1 and 2 will move on to a final run in each event on Sunday. After the Final round is run, all 3 scores from Round 1, Round 2, and Round 3 will be totaled and the lowest total score is the Overall winner for the class. There will be up to 3 placements awards in each jump height in each division. The overall winner is determined by adding the scores from Round1, Round2, and Round 3 together (cumulative) with the lowest overall score being awarded the winner for this class.
After Rd #3 of Standard and Jumpers, awards will be presented for regional “Standard Agility Champion” or “Jumpers Champion” for overall scores from a cumulative score of Round #1, Round #2 and Round # 3 (lowest score, time plus faults). There will be no Rd # 3 individual awards, as this is a cumulative award.
DOCNA Championships Standand and Jumpers Scoring Document (PDF)
To be eligible to move to round #3 of Jumpers or Standard, competitors must have entered in both Round #1 and Round #2 of the event.
There will be NO qualifying scores awarded for titling purposes. However, we are offerering Thursday warm up runs at each location, 1 Standard Agility and 1 Jumpers where competitors can earn a qualifying score.
There will be NO Training in the ring at the championships.

Wrap-Up and Results of the 2008 DOCNA National Championships

On the weekend of October 3-5, 2008, the DOCNA National Championships were held. These championships were a combined Western and Eastern Championships (competitors could enter either) because DOCNA is sensitive to the fact that not everyone can take a week off of work to drive across the country or incur large airfare and hotel bills. This arrangement provided an opportunity for more people to enter our national event.

The Eastern Championships were hosted by DOCNA with assitance from 3D Dog Training, LLC and were held in Barto, PA, while the Western Championships were hosted by DOCNA and were held in Prescott Valley, AZ. The Eastern Championships were attended by people from MA, NJ, NY, PA, and VA. The Western Championships were attended by people from AZ, CA, CO, UT, and ID. Ann McQuillen from Sommerset, CA judged the Western Championships, and Art Malott from arrow, ON, CA judged the Eastern Championships.

Each of the locations offered the following events as are run on a normal DOCNA show weekend: Traditional Gamblers, Strategic Time Gamble, Snakes `N Ladders, and Trigility. The scoring and placements for these events were regional (not combined with the other location).

Also offered were special Standard and Jumpers classes. One round of Standard and Jumpers were run on both Friday and Saturday (2 rounds total). Each round had a unique set of placements awarded and was scored using a time plus faults method and the results for the two days were combined (Regionally, not nationally). The top 25% of each combined class became eligible to run in a 3rd Final round. On Sunday, a final round of both Standard and Jumpers was run. The scores from all 3 regional runs were combined and regional placements were awarded to the final top 3 winners. Here is the scoring method that was used at the Championships for Standard and Jumpers:

DOCNA Championships Standand and Jumpers Scoring Document (PDF)

On Saturday at both locations, the North America Challenge Event was run. Judges set the course by mid-line tape measure on Friday night after the last event. Each course was set to the best of the abilities of the course building teams and the courses were measured multiple times to ensure accuracy. Both courses were adjusted for distance until yardage in both locations was the same. All dogs entered ran on Saturday in both locations and regional winners were announce and awarded rosettes and medals. The results from the east and west were them combined and rosettes and medals were awarded in both locations to the overall national winnders.

Judging by the public yahoo list comments, a great time was had by all on in both locations. The results are published here:

DOCNA 2008 National Championships Final Results (PDF)

DOCNA 2008 NAC Merged Final Results (PDF)

DOCNA 2008 WEST Standard Finals (Cumulative after 3 rounds) (PDF)

DOCNA 2008 EAST Standard Finals (Cumulative after 3 rounds) (PDF)

DOCNA 2008 WEST Jumpers Finals (Cumulative after 3 rounds) (PDF)

DOCNA 2008 EAST Jumpers Finals (Cumulative after 3 rounds) (PDF)

This page may become outdated; Please consult the DOCNA Rulebook (Appendix B) for the official information on qualifying and entering the championships.