National Lure Coursing Championships

Fable and I travelled to Muncie, IN over Halloween weekend to participate in the 2021 National Lure Coursing Championship (NLCC). In order to qualify to compete, dogs must have at least 3 points towards their FC. The event consists of three days of coursing, the first two days are regular Lure Coursing trials and the last day of competition takes the two Best of Breed winners from the first two days and the next highest scoring dog to a run-off for the NLCC Best of Breed for the whole event. Those BOB winners then run-off against each other for the overall NLCC Best in Event award.

The majority of the weekend was cold, rainy, and muddy. While we didn’t have to worry about dogs cutting paws open on dry/hard ground, the conditions were still not ideal. During the first day of competition, Fable won the Open stake. He then went on to run-off for Best of Breed. After the scores were in, Fable and another dog (Karen Radke’s Jesse) tied for BOB and had to run-off again. After this run-off, Fable came out on top, winning BOB and securing his last major (5points, defeating 11 Ibizan hounds) to finish his FC! Fable was moved up to the specials (champions) class for the next day and he took second after another run-off (defeating 7 dogs) and earning his first points towards his Lure Coursing Excellent (LCX) title. On the final day of the NLCC, Fable, Azula (the other BOB winner), and Halo (next highest qualifier, Fable’s cousin) competed to determine BOB in Event on the longest course he’s ever run at ~1200m long. Fable won by 2 points. After a short break (about 15min) Fable was back to run off for Best in Event against the Borzoi BOB winner and the Scottish Deerhound BOB winner. This was the first time Fable ran against non-Ibizan Hounds and while he didn’t win, he held his own very well while running with the larger and faster Borzoi (who went on to win Best in Event!).

Overall, Fable coursed 9 times at the NLCC and ran over 7500m during the weekend. To say that I am proud of my boy would be an understatement. We went into the NLCC with no expectations and just hoping to have fun with friends and end the day safely. While the rain, wind, mud, and cold put a damper on things, watching so many strong running dogs do what they love was awesome!