Westmeath Foxhounds Dog Show Sunday 18th June 23

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Westmeath Foxhounds Dog Show Sunday 18^th June 23

As the Westmeath Foxhounds Dog show is widely acclaimed as being one of the top dog shows of the year, again this year it certainly lived up to its name. The sun beamed down all day and brought with it a magical atmosphere for all to enjoy.

From early morning the crowds rolled up in force with dogs and family in tow, with the sound of barking dogs wafting over the southern hillsides. The show ground was in superb condition with well spaced out show rings, backed up with  ringside parking, country sports stalls, and a burger van on site to keep hunger at bay.

It was nice to see the usual show goers back at the show this year, along with new faces to the show scene in the ring.  Again these good canine people travelled from North and South of the border, and further afield.

The Raffle generated a flurry of excitement as usual, with some happy punters going home with armfuls of goodies.

At 12noon Kevin Maguire kicked off the show with the ever popular digging competition.  While Joey Walsh marked out the digging squares , David Geoghan kept us all well informed minute by minute of the digging teams progress with his lovely southern brogue. As these brave men began to dig, the wolf whistle from the women folk took over, and the fun began.   As the count down began, after 30 minutes of hard slog,very soon the winners was declared and definitely all very well earned. 

Overall Digging Winners were:

**Westmeath Diggers 

Mark Riggs/Eoin Kelly

Reserve Digging Champions

**Co Armagh Team

Aled Davis/Lee Chapman

Congratulations to both teams and well done.

Time passes so quickly and very soon it was time for the childrens handling class. These little people are very important people to the country sports show rings. Long after we have gone out of the ring and the field, these little people will be carrying on our Country Sports traditions in another tomorrow, and another generation.

1/ Cayce Coyle with Zena

2/ Conor Brennan with Luna

3/ Cahill O Cloghan with Ryder

4/ Aodaghan Jermyn/Hunter Donohoe with Loki

Congratulations to above winners. Every child in the ring on Sunday was a winner in my eyes.

Onwards and upwards, here are the adult Showing Results on the day.

Overall Champion Lurcher

Raymond Sloan with Billy

Reserve

Owen Kelly with Tom

Overall Champion Terrier

JP O Hagan with Peggy

Reserve

Jed Donagh with Thug

Overall Champion Whippet

John Shaw with Maddy

Reserve

Patrick Cass with Luna

Overall Champion Hound

Granville for Kildare Hunt

Reserve

Wigwam for Westmeath Hunt

 

And finally, a very big thank you to Nicola Walsh and Aoife Lambert for helping me in the whippet ring. Also to the judges who done a wonderful but difficult job in very warm conditions on the day. 

Childrens Handling Class : Nicola Walsh

Whippets : Margaret Mc Stay

Lurchers : Graham Brennan

Terriers : Sean Kelly 

Hounds : John Henry/Fergus Stokes 

And Finally, Finally, this top of the range show would not been possible without a good man at the helm, helped by an ever  willing team of Country Sports people. 

 Kevin Maguire and your excellent back up team David Geoghan/Joey Walsh/John Hendrix/Nicola Walsh/Aoife Lambert and your ring stewarts, Kevin you pulled out all the stops and turned the day into a memorable family dog show, and a great window for Country Sports . 

It was evident Kevin a lot of hard work and sleepless nights went on behind the scenes to make this Dog show so successful. 

Kevin, thank you for trusting me to be your Whippet judge on the day and thank you also for a most enjoyable well run show day out.

To we meet you all again God Bless for now.

 

Margaret Mc Stay