Dogs will have their day in Kiama on Sunday with a special Flyball Racing charity meeting.
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The November 26 event at the Kiama Quarry Sports Complex is being hosted by the Wollongong Wonder Woofs Flyball Club.
Club member and accredited judge Frank Lux said the event will see teams racing against each other with the dogs running in relay over four jumps set up in parallel, to collect a tennis ball from a spring-loaded box, and bring the ball back over the four jumps to their handler.
‘’Teams are allocated to divisions so they compete against teams with similar run times,’’ he said.
‘’Any breed and speed of dog can take part in the sport. That’s what makes Flyball such a competitive, exhilarating sport.
‘’It is exciting to both compete in and watch, while promoting team spirit and sportsman like behaviour in the handlers and obedience and exercise for the dogs.’’
First run in America in the 1980’s, Flyball is now an international dog racing sport with associations all over the world.
That’s what makes Flyball such a competitive, exhilarating sport.
- Frank Lux
Flyball, which has been described like drag racing for dogs, came to Australia in 1996.
The Australian Flyball Association was formed in 1998 and now has clubs in NSW, the ACT, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania.
Mr Lux said in a ‘’massive coup’’ for the only active Flyball club in the Illawarra, the Wollongong Wonder Woofs have also won the right to host the Australian Flyball Association’s National Race Meeting next year.
This three-day event will be held at Kiama Quarry Sports Complex in September, 2018.
‘’It will bring some 50 teams and more than 300 dogs from all over the country to the Illawarra,’’ Mr Lux said.
‘’This is a massive coup for our club and for the region. We are a fairly new club, so this is a big win for us and our community.
‘’I expect hundreds, if not thousands of people will drop by the region for the nationals next September.’’
Wollongong Wonder Woofs Flyball club was formed in 2015 by a team of experienced Flyballers.
The club trains at grounds in Albion Oval, Albion Park Rail at 7pm on a Tuesday and at 9am on a Sunday.