Perfect weather for perfect competition in Switzerland!

An incredible weekend has wrapped up in Uster, Switzerland. A 2 day event that saw the cream of the crop of European disc doggers show up to compete for the 2018 UFO European Cup title. With 2 days of nearly perfect weather, it was 'game on' in canton Zurich!

The weekend started with the EC Last Chance Major. 43 teams were looking for World Cup points and those last minute qualifications for the Sunday event. With only 1 good field to work with, the staff had to get creative and come up with an alternating "offset" running order, mixing T&C with FS. With 2 sets of judges, this worked well, and the event ran smoothly. At the end of the day, Naima De Luca and Trimpower, from Italy, took the top spot on the podium. The Italians swept the combined with Matteo and Bill and Tito with Lucky rounding out the top 3.
Freestyle was also dominated by the Italians, with Marco Pianelli finishing in first with his dog Anna. Naima with Trimpower and Tito with Lucky finished 2-3.
The T&C was where the Italians showed some weakness. Germany finished in positions 1 and 3 with Guido Averesch and his new dog Phoebe in first, and Karsten König with Remus in 3rd. Grabbing a little pride for the host country, Roman Blattler from Switzerland finished in 2nd with Merlin.

The day ended with plenty of sunshine to play and relax in before the onsite handler's dinner. Partying lasted until well in the night, as is typical for these fun Swiss events.
The complete results of the Saturday Major can be found here:
http://www.ufoworldcup.org/content/Results/Major/Major-event.php?year=2018&id=112

Sunday started very early. With 50 Combined teams checked in to play, and over 60 teams that were going to be running T&C, it was going to be busy. 8am came with the competitors assembled on the field.
After welcoming teams from 9 different countries to the EC Final, the competitors shared a special moment. The first throw of the day was made by Angela Tederke for her amazing pup, Lucie. Lucie, at 13 years old, has been nothing short of a European ambassa-dog during her career. An 8 time World Finalist, make 6 trips to the USA to compete in various championships there, and 4 European Championships to her name, Lucie stole the show with an excellent grab of her opening roller.

The action was incredible all day long. It seemed that everyone was on fire in Switzerland, and these were the best teams-qualified from the season long European Cup series. How many dropless rounds might you do in a lifetime? 2? 3?
How about 2 in one day? Amy von Piekartz and Kate did just that. Mario Solo and Ulah put up another. Angela and Dr. Pepper had only 1 drop. It was one more amazing performance after another in the top 15 which left the judges absolutely flabbergasted. Simply unreal.

In the end, the top Freestyle dog for Europe ended up being Eddy, the big blue-merle aussie owned by Luca Castioni from Italy. The multi-state podium had Mario and Ulah from Spain in second and Amy and Kate from the Netherlands in 3rd. These teams qualfied for the World Cup Finals in Freestyle with this performance.

The T&C division was full of fast dogs and good arms. Seeming nearly bulletproof, Evanghelos Christofellis and Nove of Greece took the top of the podium with 2 incredible rounds, 18 points and 16 points. They were followed by Thomas Duppenthaler and Shea of Switzerland, and Simone Villani and Trouble in 3rd.

Finally, the combined division. The overall, the big prize. In the top spot, putting up 3 incredible rounds, Melanie Fydrich and Trouble were crowned 2018 UFO European Cup Champions. In second was Marina Fangareggi and Venus of Italy, and third was Luca and Eddy.

Hats off to the amazing organizers Marcel and the Swiss Disc Dog Challenge team. Great weather, great hospitality and completely extra-terrestrial competition!

Results of the EC Finals can be found here:
http://www.ufoworldcup.org/content/Results/ECFinals/ECFinals-historical.php?year=2018&id=199

- The UFO