Did you know that your local Flyball club, based in Rainham, are British Champions 2016?
Aces High Flyball Club are made up of 30 members and over 40 dogs and are one of the largest Flyball Clubs in the UK.
Flyball is a dog sport in which teams of dogs race against each other from a start/finish line, over a line of hurdles, to a box that releases a tennis ball to be caught when the dog presses the spring-loaded pad, then back to their handlers while carrying the ball.
Flyball is run in teams of four dogs, as a relay. The course consists of four hurdles placed 10 feet (3 m) apart from each other, with the starting line six feet (1.8 m) from the first hurdle, and the flyball box 15 feet (4.5 m) after the last one, making for a 51-foot (15.5 m) length.
Aces, winners of Division 1, hold a PB of 15.87 seconds for all 4 dogs completing their runs and have won the British Championships in 2015 and 2016!
The club encourages dogs of all breeds to compete in various divisions which include spaniels, terriers, collies and whippets to name just a few! The diversity of not only the dogs, but also the members who range of ages 4 years old to 60 years old makes this a real family sport!
The dedication of the members is immense, with training not just limited to their twice weekly sessions at their outdoor training venue, but also includes a lot of work at home with stamina training, fitness upkeep and technical movement training.
Their very own superstar whippet “Hustle” was a huge success at Crufts this year and was pronounced “the quickest Flyball dog I’ve ever seen” by the commentator! Indeed, the club are very excited about Crufts 2017 where 6 of ther dogs will be competing!
The sport has grown significantly in recent years, and indoor racing on matting has become increasingly popular as well as traditional outdoor racing.
Aces High Flyball Club are keen to find an indoor venue locally in Kent where they can use their own matting to train the dogs – can you help? Do you have a hall / barn / agricultural shed that could be hired out to the club once a week? They would love to hear from you! Please get in touch with [email protected]!
Additionally, please look at the facebook page – this has lots of information about their achievements!
https://www.facebook.com/aceshighflyball/
Photos by Anna Webster and Paul Harrison