The 1998 National Non Slip Retrieving Trial Championships were this year conducted by the Royal New South Wales Canine Association . The venue for the 1998 Nationals was the Braidwood area to the east of Canberra. The trial site was a property called "Khan Yunis" located approximately 60 kilometres south of Braidwood on the Shoalhaven River. The river, small tributaries and surrounding terrain were the focus of the eight runs comprising the 1998 National Championship.

For the first time the National Non Slip Retrieving Trial Championships of 1998 was conducted over three days from Friday 11 September to Sunday 13 September. This proved a popular choice with competitors as the additional day enabled the two officiating judges to provide a program which allowed each competitor to have adequate time to complete each run and to ensure runs were completed before failing light affected dogs competing at the end of the day.

The judges for the 1998 National were Mr Peter Halford and Mr John Palmer from New South Wales. Both judges are still actively running dogs in trials, have had many years of judging and trailing experience and have competed at National Championship level in recent years. This depth of experience was evidenced by the way the runs were set up and the equality under which each competitor was able attempt each run.

A total of 60 dogs were entered for the event with 57 dogs making it to the starting line after 3 dogs were scratched. Of the field of 60, 35 were dogs and 29 were bitches. By far the majority of the competing dogs were Labrador Retrievers 47 . The field also comprised 7 Golden Retrievers, 3 German Shorthaired Pointers, 2 Springer Spaniels and 1 Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Handlers and dogs came from all States in Australia, including 11 entries from Victoria, 3 from Tasmania, 3 from South Australia, 9 from West Australia, 12 from Queensland, 5 from the ACT, and 17 from New South Wales.

The National formalities commenced with the draw dinner on Wednesday 9 September at the Braidwood Services Club. The honour of drawing dog No. 1 went to Mr Jake Christianson with his bitch Poltalloch Jenna R.R.D. This dog was to be a scratching along with previous winner Byron Kendall with NTL. R. T. Ch. Bambillay River Sands CM.

Each of the judges were to put on four runs, with two runs scheduled for the Friday, four for Saturday and two for Sunday.

The Friday dawned with good weather but with increasing cloud cover later in the day. The first two runs were to be run concurrently with dogs 1 to 30 contesting Run 1 first and dogs 31 to 60 contesting run 2 first. Mr Palmer was assigned to judge run 1 and Mr Halford to judge run 2.

Run 1 judged by John Palmer consisted of a double rise on land through cover at approximately 120 facing the South with a white diversionary bird which was cast from left to right at 45 degrees to the left and at a distance of 60 metres. This diversionary bird was not to be retrieved. A double rise retrieve consists of a retrieve of two birds where the first bird is cast and two shots fired at the bird. When the dog has retrieved the first item of game and is returning to the handler a second item of game is placed in the vicinity of the fall of the first item of game. The dog is expected to retrieve this second item of game without further assistance. This first run proved to be a good eye opener for what is in effect the best retrieving trial dogs in Australia. A total of 10 dogs failed to complete this run and were eliminated from the championship.

Run 2 judged by Peter Halford consisted of a two bird retrieve with a diversionary white bird cast from left to right at 45 degrees to the right of the first bird cast and at a distance of 60 metres. The two bird was cast from towards the handler at 70 metres and 30 degrees to the left of the first bird retrieved. The handlers had a limited view of the dogs to the first bird to be retrieved which was at a distances of 140 metres in heavy tussock cover. This run proved to more difficult for some very good dogs than first impressions. The white decoy bird proved to be an enticement for many dogs with a number of dogs failing the run by picking up this bird much to their handlers disgust and efforts to cast the dogs away from the bird. A total of 8 dogs were eliminated on this run including NTL. R.T. Ch Hallcourt Woodpecker CM handled by Mr Doug Cocks the winner of last years National in Queensland.

Day 1 finished with a total of 39 dogs being left in the event to contest day 2.

Day 2 of the National, the Saturday, the weather was fine in the morning but with rain forecast later in the day and with the judges attempting to complete four runs, this would prove to be a long and taxing day for all remaining competitors.

Run 3 which was judged by John Palmer was a double sighted and a blind including a walk up. After leaving the gun steward the dog was initially placed in a hide and the handler walked away to fire at the blind which was located at maximum distance (150 metres) on a river flat below the handler. After firing at the blind the handler called the dog and proceeded to walk to the left for 15 metres when the walk up bird was released directly in front of the dog at a distance of 80 metres on a hillside and at 70 degrees to the left of the blind. After firing at the walk up the handler and dog proceeded a further 10 metres to the control point where the second sighted was fired at. This second sighted was 20 metres to the left of the blind find, in heavy tussock cover and also at 150 metres. The order of retrieve was the blind first, followed by the long sighted then the walk up retrieve. This sighted bird proved to be very difficult for all dogs. Ten dogs failed to complete this run including Russell Whitchurch's, R.T. Ch. Coalvalley Contender C.M. who ran second in the NSW Championship the week before.

Run 4 judged by Peter Halford was also a double sighted and a blind incorporating a drag. After leaving the gun steward the handler had to initially place the dog in a hide and then proceed to the firing point and fire at a blind which was located at a distance of 90 metres on the edge of a billabong. The dogs had to cross swimming water first to get to this blind retrieve. The dog was then called and a sighted was cast left to right at 90 metres up a rise and at 30 degrees to the blind retrieve. After the first sighted was cast a second sighted was hand cast at 40 metres and to the right of the long sighted. This last bird cast was white and was then dragged up over a ridge in full view of the dogs. The order of retrieve was the long sighted followed by the blind retrieve then the drag retrieve. The temptation of the drag retrieve proved to be too much for some dogs. A total of 13 dogs failed to complete this retrieve including Garet Tawton's, R.T. Ch Gaemist Robert who has won two state championships this year.

This left 17 dogs to go into Runs 5 and 6 which commenced at 2.30 pm. The late start for these runs resulted in Run 5 being broken at 5.30 when the sun went down below the horizon leaving 7 dogs to complete run 5 on Sunday morning.

Run 5 judged by John Palmer was another double sighted and a blind and included a long channel swim on the blind leg which was located on the bank of the river at a distance of 90 metres. The dogs were once again left in a hide whilst the blind was fired at. After calling the dogs both sighted birds were fired at. The first sighted was at 110 metres diagonally across water at 80 degrees to the blind retrieve and landing on a ridge of a hill opposite the handler. The second sighted was cast left to right to land at the top of the river bank behind cover at a distance of 70 metres from the firing point and landing between the blind and the long sighted. The order of retrieve was the blind and then the sighted birds in any order. The trap in this run was if the dog did not do the channel swim and left the water short on the blind retrieve there was no way the handler could see the dog onto the short cast bird. This channel swim proved too much for 3 dogs including Jack Lynch's R.T. Ch. Coalsgard Nina who won the NSW Championship the week before, Roy Davies, R.T. Ch. Coalsgard Bannerji and John Lawton's R.T. Ch. Kadnook Sports Extra who came third in the NSW Championship the week before.

Run 6 judged by Peter Halford was a treble sighted with the added difficulty of the handler moving to fire at each bird from different locations. The first bird cast was a short retrieve of 40 metres up a rise to the right of the handler. The second bird cast was at 110 diagonally across a creek and landing in broken tussock cover and the third bird cast was at 130 metres across the creek. The last leg of the retrieve was most difficult as the bird was landing 100 metres behind the opposite river bank which obscured the final fall of the bird from the dog and prevented the handler controlling the dog onto the bird. The order of retrieve was the same order as the birds were cast. Only one dog failed to complete this retrieve. This was Sam Haigh's NTL F.T. & R.T. Ch. Garjanhauf Bronco who went rabbiting on the long bird across the water.

Twelve dogs were left to attempt runs 7 and 8 after the completion of runs 5 and 6. As run 5 was to be completed on the Sunday morning all dogs were to proceed to run 8 prior to run 7.

Run 8 judged by Peter Halford was a double sighted and a blind. The dogs were initially left in a hide once again whilst the handler fired at the blind. The dog was then called and a short sighted fired at about 60 metres directly in front of the handler and at 30 degrees to the right of the blind. The a second sighted was cast right to left at 80 metres and 45 degrees to the left of the blind. The blind leg of the retrieve was at 150 metres with the dogs having to cross water for the last 10 to 20 metres before the bird. The order of retrieve was the short cast bird followed by the blind retrieve then the bird on the left across the river. The extent of tussock cover and blackberry bushes and the lack of view of the dogs made this run especially the blind leg the most difficult of the trial. Of the 12 dogs commencing this run 6 failed to complete the retrieve leaving 6 dogs to contest run 7, the last run of the National. Those failing to complete run 8 included Trevor Stevens' Golden Retriever bitch R.T. Ch. Marrintara Setab Queen and Steve Hall and his very promising young dog R.T. Ch. Bambillay Brave Heart.

Run 7 judged by John Palmer was another double sighted and a blind. The handler first of all fired at the blind located at 90 metres diagonally across the river with the dog at his side. After reloading a bird was cast from right to left at 80 metres from the handler to land on the same side of the river as the handler and at 40 degrees to the right of the blind retrieve. The second sighted bird was cast left to right on the opposite side of the river at a distance of 80 metres and 30 degrees to the left of the blind retrieve. The order of retrieve was the blind retrieve, followed by the bird on the right bank then the bird over the river. All 6 dogs completed the last run which was fitting end to the National. The dog doing the best retrieve on run 7 proved to be the eventual winner of the National Non Slip Retrieving Trial Championship for 1998, Truclass Rough and Ready RRD handled by Geoff Cole. Geoff is the first handler to take two different dogs through to National Retrieving Trial Champion.

Results:

1st    Truclass Rough and Ready (A.I.) RRD    Geoff Cole    Lab Dog (NSW)    358 pts
2nd    R.T. Ch. Firefield Yankee Belle (A) (AI)    Noel Eltringham    Lab Bitch (VIC)    327 pts
3rd    R.T. Ch Beereegan Dr Jones    Mark Davis    Lab. Dog (VIC)    324 pts
4th    R.T. Ch. Dancingate Templa Troyca CM    Paddy Brendish    Gol. Ret. Bitch (WA)    308 pts
5th    R.T. Ch. Lindenlake Niki    Peter Betterridge    Lab. Bitch (NSW)    301 pts
6th    R.T. Ch. Cobargo Libby Lass    Brian Pritchard    Lab Bitch (QLD)    298 pts

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