This race was intended to test out an initial set of guidelines and protocols to see if such a program could work. The basic framework worked well, and there were about a half dozen parts that (in my opinion as the designer) need improvement. I'll bore you with the details later on.

As far as the event went, the weather was fine, the company excellent and the racing very good. Special thanks to Cora Miller and the crew at Hound Hill for the super facilities. ALSO (while thanks are being handed out) to NEWC for hosting this shindig, Linda (Garwacki) for the wonderful ribbons, Mary Hope for running the boards, Christian Cuadrado for lending his scale and expertise, Carol (Huff) for making the weighing jackets and, well, everybody else for having patience while we fumbled our way through the day.

The system worked in this way. All the whippets were first weighed and then inspected for soundness and season. Then they were divided into three weight divisions of under 28 lbs, 28 to 36 lbs and over 36 lbs.

These divisons were selected as a mixture of guess work and second hand information on whippet weights. It worked ok, but needs some improvement. Now that we have actually done it, improvments will be easier.

Once we had our three divisions, the boards for each division were drawn using WRA averages or NOTRA waves (if they had not run in the WRA) and we spread the FTEs through the division.

We had 7 whippets in the light division, 12 in the middle and 3 in the heavy division. The lightest whippet was 21 lbs and the heaviest was just under 50 lbs.

Each division ran three programs called nominating races. At the end of the three programs, the top dogs in each division were nominated into a final "feature" race for that division. The number of dogs nominated is another point needing fine tuning, but for this day it worked well enough.

The lead dog in each feature race was clocked by a pair of "timers" using stop watches. The times were averaged for the final results. The overall finish of each feature race determined the top placments for a given division.

The fastest time was declared the meet winner. This maintains one of the main principles of the program which is to keep dogs of widely different weights from running together. The top nominees in the light and middle divisions elected to save them for the next day and I can't help but wonder how close it would have been if they had run the feature...

The stated goals of weight graded racing are safety and to avoid penalizing dogs and breeders for producing truly moderate sized whippets. I personally feel we came very close this time. The races stayed very tight and were by and large exciting as heck. We gathered enough data to refine the protocals and with the help of some perceptive voluteers I am positive the next race will be for points.

The intelligent, insightful (and polite) questions from the participants were fabulous. In addition I arrived with five healthy dogs and I left with five healthy dogs (though tired). The WRA meet the next day went equally well and I have to call the weekend an unqualified success.

Meet Winner

Drover -- UnsinkableGalacticWateringHole, OTRM

1. 16 -- Henree -- Shoreline's Danced All Night -- Mark -- FTE
2. 13 -- Nibbler -- Indigo Unsinkable Dark Matter, CGC,CR,JC -- Huff -- C
3. 12(PS3) -- Millie -- Bitterblue's Nnyktimene -- Loube -- B
4. 9(SF) -- Hawk-H -- Indigo Sky Hawk, CD,CRX2,SC -- Huff -- D
5. 9(SF) -- Pi -- Mom's Mystic Princess Pi, CRX2,FCh,OTRM2,SC,CGC -- Matusz -- D
6. 9(SF) -- Sprite -- Indigo Water Sprite, CRX,SC,OTR -- Huff -- D

1. 11 -- Truffle -- Bitterblue's Nepenthe, CRX2,OTR -- Garwacki -- B
2. 7 -- Evie -- Indigo Unsinkbl Event Horizon, CGC,CRX,OTRM,FCh,SC,CD -- Mark -- C
3. 17(SF) -- Uma -- Umatilla River Du Tepee D'Amour -- Cuadrado -- C
4. 13(SF) -- MsMike -- Mystic Micro Force, JC,CRX3,OTRM -- Matusz -- B
5. 12(SF) -- Eureka -- Kentfield's PDQ Eureka, ORC,FCh,CRX4 -- Garwacki -- B
6. 11(SF) -- Voltaire -- Voltaire -- Hilsky/McDonald -- FTE
7. 9(SF) -- Rose-H -- Indigo Shoreline Black Rose, CRX2 -- Huff/Campo -- C
8. 7(SF) -- Delta-M -- Mystic's Delta Charm, ORC,CRX4,FCh -- Matusz -- D
9. 6(SF) -- Channa -- , -- -- FTE
10. 5(SF) -- Brain -- Indigo's Linear Accelerator, CRX4,OTRM -- Huff -- D
11. 2(SF) -- Spell -- Hound Hill Cast a Spell, CR,OTR -- Strickland -- D
12. 0(PS2) -- Naomi -- Bitterblue's Soul Sister, LCM,CRX3,OTRM4 -- Garwacki -- C

1. 17 -- Drover -- UnsinkableGalacticWateringHole, OTRM -- Schoenfeld -- FTE
2. 16 -- Nestor -- Bitterblue's Nestor, CRX2,OTR -- Garwacki -- B
3. 9(SF) -- Baingan -- , -- -- FTE