MOTHER and son duo Vicky and Jackson Morris are both part of the King Country team contesting the "Ranfurly Shield of dog trialling" this weekend. PHOTO SUPPLIED
WAITANGI Day in Aria will be the setting for a team-based and regional dog trial battle, following other dog trialling action at Aria Sports Day.
The Bayley’s Shield was modelled after rugby union’s Ranfurly Shield, conceptualised and promoted by Dave Schaw. It was first competed for at the Waikato Show in October.
Since then, the shield has been contested a handful of times, primarily by Waikato and King Country regions, with some interest from Hawke’s Bay.
King Country team coordinator Chris Baker said the shield competition adds a team element to the usually social but individual sport.
“When you’re out there competing, you’re focusing on doing your best, but the social aspect is part of dog trials. It’s all about people catching up with one another and it’s a real community thing.”
Teams of five in the shield competition were made up of two open competitors, two intermediates and one maiden.
For this contest, the team was comprised of Stuart Child from Te Anga and Graham Wellington from Aria as the open competitors – who Chris said had done “extremely well” at national level competitions previously – Ruth Coleman from Mahoenui and Vicky Morris representing Aria as the intermediate competitors, and Jackson Morris representing Piopio as the maiden competitor.
Each individual member of the team runs their dog and then all scores are added together – highest score wins.
“Everyone starts with 100 points,” Chris said.
“Then as the judge sees faults in your run, you get points taken off. The most any team could get is 500, but you’re never going to get that.
“If you can have a score that around 450 and above, then you’re doing pretty good.”
For the King Country team, there was a fair bit of rotation of members, but this competition introduced a special dynamic – a mother and son duo with Vicky and Jackson Morris.
“That’s pretty neat,” Chris said.
The next shield challenge after Aria will be hosted in Waikato, regardless of who wins at the weekend, Chris said.
Attendees of Aria Sports Day at St Helen’s Domain on Monday can watch King Country contest the Bayley’s shield after lunch.
It will be preceded by a separate, standard dog trial as part of the sports day activities.
