Saturday saw the annual Rusland Show take place down at Whitestock Meadow in the Rusland Valley.
The Society, or show, began back in 1871 when a group of six farmers and gardeners came up with the idea of holding a small flower show and plant sale.
The show now exhibits home produce, handicrafts, photography and film as well as fell races, egg throwing, tug of war and much more. The show also hosts five hound trails which run alongside the show field.
The trails don’t usually get many runners as it is the peak of the season with lots of other venues taking place around the same time.
But for those who make the annual trip down to Rusland it is usually a pleasant day’s trailing and there is always some good crack on the trail field.
The seniors got things off to a start with six runners. The Miterdale team enjoy a trip out to the show as its relatively local to them and they always do well.
They had Miterdale Honesty running and she would be in with a good chance of winning with strong competition from the Bland kennel as Denise had Huntsman’s Rebel running.
Although the former puppy champion hasn’t been at full power so far this season she has been chipping away and getting the odd win.
You don’t tend to see much of the trail while they are out running but as they crossed the last road it was Miterdale Honesty that had a few yards on Ron with Huntsman’s Rebel some way back.
However by the time they came onto the finish Huntsman’s Rebel had overtaken both hounds and finished first for Denise and Co.
Miterdale Honesty for Sophie and her team finished second with Ron some way back in third place for Tom and Ryan Bell.
The fourth hound to finish was Eagle Love for Linda Neale, Mark, Josh and Georgia Bryden while the last hound finishing the race was Zeta who would have normally been running in the short race.
Stephen and Caroline stepped her up for the first time to the longer race to see how she fared, so not bad for her first senior trail.
The win for Huntsman’s Rebel moves her up to third place in the senior championship table, three behind Silver Dream and four behind the current leader Rodney Raider.
The pups were next with six again. The Miterdale team had a strong representation with three runners but they would have to beat the current puppy championship leader Huntsman’s Time who was back out running.
She had been unlucky on Tuesday and had just been beaten by Baroness Ava, who was also running, so although it was a small field it had the potential to be a good race.
As they returned to the trail field it was Huntsman’s Time who perhaps runs slightly better second time round a venue who came with a nice lead to take the win for Denise and her team, making it a double on the day.
The win is also her seventeenth win of the season and moves her to three points clear of Thornton who will no doubt be running at Wythop today with connections hoping to pull one back.
In second place was Miterdale Rumble with Miterdale Rambler in third as they had a good race against each other coming in with Rumble just getting to the line first.
In fourth place was Baroness Ava still in the capable hands of Stephen Irving and Caroline Graham while owner James and his family are still on holiday.
Then it was another of Sophie’s team Miterdale Ruler who finished in fifth place followed in by Classmate for Barry Laidler and Caroline Clough.
The open maidens were next with a slip of nine hounds. This time there was a strong representation from the Foxparke kennel hoping to get five out of the six tickets.
The competition for the first place would come from Miterdale Dust as Sophie was looking to gain more points to try and keep up with Eden Romina and Thorn Thunder in the open maiden points competition.
As the hounds showed on the finish there was plenty of hounds with Miterdale Dust just getting up to take the first ticket by half a length from Tony Jackson and Ian Rudd’s Lucky Moon and then the charge of the Foxparkes as they took the next four tickets with Foxparke Dealer, then Foxparke Elliot’s Lad followed by Foxparke Danny Elliot and then finally Foxparke Majesty.
Poor old Foxparke Joey Elliot was the only one from the kennel in the race not to get a ticket.
With the six points Miterdale Dust moves up to just one point behind Thorn Thunder but he is still adrift by twenty five points from the leader Eden Romina.
The open restricted were next to slip with nine runners again. There was another strong team from the Foxparke kennel with three runners in the race.
As they showed back on the finish they were in for better luck as they claimed first place with Foxparke Honk Honk, and the main kennel handler Grace was over the moon with the win.
Sophie and her team bagged second with Kinniside Bobby, with the local hound Black Eyed Shadow for the Lyon’s team finishing well in third place.
The Foxparke team managed to get their other two hounds in the tickets with Foxparke Sassy Girl and Foxparke Lady Ava fourth and fifth and Kirkhead Rebel finished sixth for Roy Laidler and Sophie.
Last, but not least, were the veterans with a slip of twelve the biggest of the day.
Miterdale Duchess was the favourite to win given her running record round the course.
As they showed on the finish she won easily for Denis Pear and Jackie Gill, from Kinniside Jacko for Tony Jackson and Ian Rudd.
In third place was Howgil Lil for Iain Bell and Adele finished in fourth.
Sarah Harper had made the long trip down to Rusland from Rockcliff and she bagged the fifth ticket with Delta Script with Zola for Stephen Irving taking sixth ticket.
The time of the race was actually faster than the previous three short trails, two minutes faster than the puppy trail. Not bad for veterans.
The win for Miterdale Duchess takes her to one point in front of Adele in the Veteran points competition.
August 17 – Rusland Show
Hounds – 1. Huntsmans Rebel; 2. Miterdale Honesty; 3. Ron; 4. Eagle Love; 5. Zeta. 6 ran, only five finished. Time 29.54.
Pups – 1. Huntsman’s Time; 2. Miterdale Rumble; 3. Miterdale Rambler; 4. Baroness Ava; 5. Miterdale Ruler; 6. Classmate. 6 ran, time 19.33.
Open Maidens – Miterdale Dust; 2. Lucky Moon; 3. Foxparke Dealer; 4. Foxparke Elliot’s Lad; 5. Foxparke Danny Elliot; 6. Foxparke Majesty. 9 ran, time 18.50.
Open Restricted – 1. Foxparke Honk Honk; 2. Kinniside Bobby; 3. Black Eyed Shadow; 4. Foxparke Sassy Girl; 5. Foxparke Lady Ava; 6. Kirkhead Rebel. 9 ran, time 18.12.
Veterans – 1. Miterdale Duchess; 2. Kinniside Jacko; 3. Howgil Lil; 4. Adele; 5. Delta Script; 6. Zola. 12 ran, time 17.38.
August 15 – Rydal Sheep Dog Trials
Trails cancelled due to weather conditions.
