Tony Bryant is celebrating taking the top spot after entering one of Britan’s largest gundog events for the first time this year.
Mr Bryant was crowned winner of the BASC Chudleys Scurry League 2018 at this year’s Midland Game Fair with his labrador Skye with a score of 88/100 points.
He beat off competition from 19 other finalists.
Mr Bryant said: “I was, to say the least, a little shocked to win the event on our first year of competing against dogs and handlers who I hold in great esteem.
“I was hoping for the top 10 and ended up winning. We have worked hard since my first time at the Northern Shooting Show where I was encouraged to have a bash.
“Skye ran perfectly for me on Saturday and I am so pleased – this is beyond any expectation I may have had.
“I think it’s a great little story that someone not from a competitive gundog background can enter something that is equal and win, it does take commitment, effort and patience but if I can do it anyone can.”
Glynn Evans, BASC’s head of game and deer management, said: “Congratulations to Tony and Skye for their impressive achievement in winning the scurry league competition in their first year of competing.
“The final was a great culmination of the scurry league event and was hotly contested in a very sporting way by all the finalists with Tony and Skye coming through to be popular and deserving winners.”
More than 700 unique dog and handler combinations entered the scurry competition which ran at shows throughout the spring and summer of 2018.
Second place was awarded to Nick Wilkinson and his dog Kiwi with 83 points, third place was taken by Steve Townsend and his labrador Dee with 73 points. Fourth place was taken by Lucinda Southern and her labrador Macey with 63 points and fifth place was awarded to Alan Davies and his labrador Bertie with 58 points.
The finalists were those who had accumulated the highest total number of points at 10 events throughout the year involving various disciplines including obstacle scurries, water retrieves, long retrieves and pick-and-mix retrieves.
The final involved five individual scurries over a testing course that included mixed marked and unseen dummies, long retrieves and jumps.
Jimmy Ireland, canine brand manager at Dodson & Horrell – the manufacturer of Chudleys dog food and main sponsor of the BASC gundog programme – presented the prizes to the winners.
This year the total value of prizes presented in the final was in excess of £8,000 and included Chudleys dog food and a host of other prizes including a commissioned portrait of the winning dog by Jessica Lennox, a Lintran dog box and Sporting Saint vouchers.
Rob Bunning, who gained the most points in qualifying for the final with his dog Drake, won a Charles Wall tweed suit and all 20 finalists received a coat, trousers and wellies from Percussion clothing.
ENDS