Today, we woke up before the sun to make it to the international in time to watch our new friend, Dean Mcauley, run his dog, Joe. But before Dean ran, I had the pleasure of walking the course with one of the other USA Team members, Lise Anderson. It was a beautiful morning, and then after we could be extra meticulous in watching each run because we knew where the markers were!

Above is a picture taken from the cross-drive panels looking towards the spectator area. It was a beautiful morning, and it was the perfect temperature for a light jacket. Below, you will see the first seconds of Dean’s run with Joe.

One of my highlights of the day was watching the brace class. I’d never seen brace in person before, and watching it was really incredible. I can’t imagine the amount of mental effort it would take to remember each dogs whistles as well as telling each where they need to go at the exact moment they need to do so. For our friend Eamonn Mcauley, the sheep did not want to cooperate when at the pen, but the run was still fun to watch. As Eamonn and his dogs, Jonny and Tam, were first up, they served as my first exposure to brace! It was fun to watch our friend go about this course, and see how his dogs worked in what seemed to be a science.

Above is a picture of Eamonn and Jonny attempting to pen, while Tam holds the other five sheep away from these five at this pen.

One of the things I learned while watching the brace competition, is that you absolutely have to have eyes in the back of your head during the penning. The dog may flip around to the other side of the sheep and begin bringing them towards you when you want the opposite to happen, yet you have five sheep you need to focus on penning right in front of you. We watched Seamus Campbell and his dogs struggle with that.

One of the neat things about brace, in my opinion, is seeing that split second where each dog is ready to begin their outrun. It is a fun snippet of symmetry right before the attempt of completing a most challenging course.

Congratulations to Kevin Evans and his dogs, Knockmaa Bec and Hendre Gwen for winning the brace class. It was a fun run to watch, and it was really neat to see how his dogs worked in unison.

If you look closely in this picture, you can see one of Evans’s dogs guarding the opening of the pen encasing five sheep, and the other working on bringing the other five to the pen where Evans awaits.

It was wonderful to watch so many lovely runs today, and talk to friends old and new. I am very much looking forward to watching the double lift championship tomorrow!