2014 MNRC Blog: DAY 6: Flight C: Mike Collson and Corrine Clavey; Test 4 "Speed Bump" Con't

"Speed Bump" is a water triple with a blind using all ducks which takes place in a pond with a small island in front of the line and another small island to the left of the line. Bird number one is located on the far side of the pond, thrown to the right at 61 yards. The second bird also lands on the far bank and is thrown to the left at 48 yards from the line. The third bird down comes out from the handlers left, landing in the water 35 yards from the line. The water blind is straight in front of the handler. They must swim the first piece of water, cross the left-hand point of the right-hand island, continue swimming to the far shore where they pick up the bird, located at 68 yards from the line.

We visited today to find the 90 contestants in Flight C being challenged by their test, "Speed Bum." The sun was bright and there was almost no wind down by the water. Today, the bird on the left was landing in the water more times than not, and the middle bird seemed to land in the brush at the base of a tree. The middle bird continued to be the hardest bird in this test for the contestants. Five of the first seven dogs that we watched had to handle on this pesky middle bird. Some dogs would miss it on the left, some on the right and most would continue past the shoreline and up the hill, having to eventually be handled back to the bird. Two dogs put the brakes on by themselves, by turning around and snatching the bird out from the cover. The word in the gallery says that there may be some dogs in this series that have three handles.