Course Running
Course Running Days at
International Insight
2024 & 2025 Dates
Agility Team GB Try Out Specific Dates
@ Dog Sports Derby
(Indoors, Juta Surface, Galican equipment, Try Out Judges Course Designs)
December 11th 2024
January 15th 2025
January 30th 2025
How The Days Work.
These days are designed to progress people in their aspirations to competing at a higher level and support their acclimatisation of international courses and the environment they will compete in at those type of events.
Each day is focused towards a specific championship or event.
On each of these days you will run 4 courses, 2 Agility and 2 jumping courses. The designs will be taken from recent events so you are being tested on courses that are currently being designed by the appropriate judge. They are run under competition rules, with 8 minutes course walking, running orders and judged under international rules, all of this to help acclimatise you and your dog to this structure and environment.
The Benefits
Environmental Pressures - Firstly, you are arriving at an event where you do not know the courses that you will face, they are chosen by someone else and built by someone else, which helps prevent any of your own bias when you are choosing courses and building them on your own. With strict course walking times, running orders as well as being watched by your peers, it adds a level of “competition stress” environment similar to the championships. This kind of structure and courses need to feel the “norm” for you and your dog so when you are competing when it really counts, it is something you are comfortable with and have been through countless times.
Detailed Analysis
You can assess your performance on these courses and if any weaknesses are exposed, you should be able to make a comprehensive list of training exercises needed on the record keeping sheets provided.
After the event, data from the 4 courses is sent to everyone to again help with your own performance analysis. Each partnership is given a letter so that their data has a level of confidentiality, yet allowing everyone to make comparisons on how their peers perform compered to themselves and areas where they need to improve considering what others are achieving on the courses.
The fault data enables you to see what faults you had and where and by comparing to others, you will see if this highlights a personal weakness or is a general one - was this a specifically difficult area of course for example. By attending more course running days your own analysis will show if you consistently have the same faults or if over time these faults have been resolved in your training.
Each course is divided into 3 sections, with split time data sent to you recording your time in each of the sections as well as your total time to complete the course. Metre per second (MPS) data is sent allowing you to make many comparisons. Are you achieving similar speeds as other dogs attending, are there certain areas on course where your speed deteriorates compared to others. This could identify weaknesses in your training, as well as handling and route choice decisions you make. For example, does your dog start fast and gradually slow through the course identifying perhaps fitness issues in dog and/or handler or does your dog start slow and speed up, perhaps identifying reward timing issues as a trainer. In comparison to others are you losing time when a specific obstacle is included in a section or a specific handling manoeuvre?
Mental Prep and Routines
Solid routines and habits are key to performing at a high level. On these days you can practice many things to help your mental game. Testing, tweaking and perfecting your pre run routine with your dog. Course walking skills are refined to help you with identification, remembering and decision making on different aspects of the course. One vital skill at big events is to “park” the last run, be it good or bad, and immediately refocus on achieving your best result in the next course. Finding the correct strategy for you by practising these skills on the days will be invaluable at championships.
Goal Setting
Everyone has their own goals and these course running days can be used to ascertain what level you are currently performing at. Are you able to turn up and hit the level of consistency you are aiming for? Another goal maybe to turn up to try to achieve the fastest times. Perhaps a goal is to practice switching from a “team run” mentality to a “individual run” mentality between the different runs.
Whatever your reason for attending these days and whatever your own goals, we believe the most important thing is that you learn from these opportunities, identify what needs to be improve, go home and tailor your training to resolve identified weaknesses. Future days can then be used to assess that training and to identify the next issue to work on to take you to the next level.
