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Interntaional Agility Link (IAL)

Introduction  |  Rules  |  Global Administration  |  Country Representatives

Introduction

The International Agility Link (IAL) first started in 1996. The IAL concept was fostered by Nancy Gyes of San Jose, California, USA and Steve Drinkwater and Cathy Slot of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The IAL is patterned after the National Agility Link Association (NALA) of New Zealand, which Steve and Cathy participated in before they undertook the immense task of putting together the Regulations and concepts for this new global Agility organisation. The basic concept is one of clubs from any country all competing on the exact same course over a set time frame and then comparing results. The first competition year started in August 1996 and finished in August 1997 with 13 countries, 57 clubs and 1053 dogs competing. During 1998 the second year of competition included 17 countries, 102 clubs and close to 1800 dogs participating. At the end of each year's competition the winning clubs and individual dogs from each Class receive an IAL Certificate of Achievement.

The IAL Regulations No 3.1 (1999) came into effect on 1 July 1999.

During 2002 four (4) courses will be available to run by each of the clubs on any one day, each within one quarter of the year, by any club wishing to participate, anywhere in the world. Individual dogs participate in four (4) separate jump height Classes of, Toy, Mini, Midi, and Maxi.

The four time frames for the course to be run in 2002 are:

Course No 1 dates: 1 Jan 2002 to 31 Mar 2002 (inclusive)
Course No 2 dates: 1 Apr 2002 to 30 Jun 2002 (inclusive)
Course No 3 dates: 1 Jul 2002 to 30 Sep 2002 (inclusive)
Course No 4 dates: 1 Oct 2002 to 31 Dec 2002 (inclusive)

Dog and Handler teams participate in two ways, competing as an individual against all other individuals participating around the globe (Dog of the Year Awards for each Class); and the dog and handler may also participate in the Club competition in one of the four jump height Classes if there are at least 3 dogs in the Class (Club of the Year Award for each Class).

The course distributed is the same for all participants around the globe. Exact measurements are described on each course, so hopefully it will closely resemble the course which is run in all the other parts of the world. Courses are sent by electronic and/or postal mail to the club by the Country Representative. Courses must remain secret (club officials and the judge only) until the day the course is run. The club may only keep the course open for official runs (that are recorded for the IAL) for that one time period on the day that the club has chosen (within the period allowed).

Each club participating in the IAL, may at its own discretion, charge a fair and reasonable entry fee to handlers/dogs that participate. The entry fee would be in order to recover cost of ring hire, lights, hire of judges (if any) and any rosettes/ribbons and/or prizes.

Club results are submitted to the Country Representative, and then forwarded (by email) to the Global Results Coordinator, Ton Meijer from the Netherlands. General administration and course designs for submission are sent to the Global Administrator, Steve Drinkwater from Queensland, Australia.

In addition to this introduction to the IAL, you can view the Regulations and the Results of past courses or view the last course.

If you are inquiring about participation contact the Global Administror, Steve Drinkwater, at:

Steve Drinkwater
yunde@powerup.com.au
IAL Global Coordinators
85 Blackwall Road
Chuwar, Queensland
Australia 4306

Phone (+61) 7 3202 2361
Fax (+61) 7 3281 6872

If you are inquiring about course results or sending results in for recording, contact the Global Results Coordinator, Janne Litgov, at:

Janne Litgov
ial@litgov.dk
IAL Global Results Coordinator
Bjarkesvej 3C, st.tv.
DK-3000 Helsingør
Denmark

Phone (+45) 49 26 53 16
Fax (+45) 49 26 53 16