At Mather Regional Park, Sacramento CA.
Test Chair Sharon Prassa
Test Secretary Karey Krauter
Chief Track Layer Sue Larson
Judges: Roy Fair (OR) and Kamrin MacKnight (CA)

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Contact TRACS if you’re interested in working this test!

TRACS held its annual TD test on Feb 16, and it was crazy-successful!  Our judges were local faves Roy Fair from Oregon and Kamrin MacKnight from the bay area PLUS apprentice Lizanne Kaiser (a local we’re all excited to see training to be a judge!), all so familiar with the Mather test site that they can lay tracks there blindfolded.  Weather: a spectacularly clear cool-warming-to-summer day, conditions green but very dry (this being one of the California’s driest Jan-Feb’s on record so far).  One of the nice effects of this dryness is no tule fog in the morning – easy crack-o-dawn driving on the roads and no flag/sightlines lost in the mist.  The test draw was a luxuriously late 9am.  It was suggested we might back this start time back to the more traditional 7am, but I gotta say – it was really nice not having to get up at o’dark-thirty to get there in time!  We still ended by noon, temps staying in low 70’s, enjoying a delicious lunch.  5 of the 7 tracks passed!  Apologies to the TD test next weekend, for ravaging their entry!!! Track 1 was a GSD bitch who was a steady and honest worker up to the final turn, when she seemed to run out of gas and couldn’t locate the final turn, this was a heartbreaker but a good omen for next time. Track 2 was Terry Southard’s golden, penciled every turn, finished in 4 minutes. Track 3 was Mary Roseberry’s lab, also pretty much penciled every turn, passed in 6 minutes. Track 4 was moi, Karey Krauter’s BC, which the maps show as nailing every turn, taking 11 minutes, but I swear we endlessly circled at every corner and took at least an hour!  A very fun track, a bunch of stimulating little short legs and then one long final leg that made the ending exciting and suspenseful, something we all love when we’re tracking! Track 5 was Deborah Crain’s ACD, worked hard and earned that pass, 6 minutes! Track 6 was a bloodhound bitch, their first tracking dog and first test ever, looked very strong on the first three legs but then turned the wrong way and couldn’t recover.  This team showed some strong skills that bode well for next time. The alternate track was run by Anita Aborn’s young tervuren, who had an exciting run-away start (not something to brag about but definitely drive that everyone wants!), and then settled into a confident steady track to the end, taking 6 minutes. Congrats to everyone on successes big AND small, and THANK YOU to our volunteers whom we can’t thank enough: Test chair and day-of secretary Sharon Prassa Chief Tracklayer Sue Larson Hospitality Cathy Beam (including her famous fresh blueberry muffins, not to mention the yummy homemade mushroom soup) Tracklayers Meg Azevedo, Debi Best, Paul Brink, and Nancy Strohmaier Driver Dianna Brink Thanks also to Sue Green for being able to generously lodge one of our judges.