The audience at Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show will be asked to ‘shush’ at times at this year’s event on August 27, as just part of an electrification of the already thrilling sport of hound trailing and a boosting of this year’s competition and hound focus.
The request to be quiet is all part of a building of atmosphere around the hound trail races. The near silence should allow the trail hounds to hear the calls of their owners and clanking and banging of dog bowls – a tactic used to encourage the dog to head back to the starting point, with no deviations enroute.
With this being an attention-grabbing moment for nearby spectators at the best of times, there will be massive interest across the showground as each hound trail race concludes.
This year, there will also be commentary, just prior to the dash to the finish, which will strike up the minute the dogs are seen appearing over the crag and making their descent down to the Show Field. At this stage, the binoculars will be trained on the pack, to see who is in the lead, having followed the aniseed trail with great skill and speed.
Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show is looking forward to a great hounds trail occasion this year, having already lit the blue touchpaper. A Look Round Trail event was held on August 7, with the hounds able to follow the exact same aniseed trail they will be asked to pick out at show day itself, on Sunday August 27.
The event was well attended, with a new prize of £200 divided between the handlers of the dogs, which collect the most combined points from the Look Round Trail event and the main event, up for grabs. Prizes for the winners of each main event race will remain unaffected and still be available.
Those out in the lead for the new prize, having won the Look Round event, are Huntsman’s Question in the hounds division, Money Talks in the pups and Jenny’s Oracle in the open restricted.
Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show is also offering a Meet a Puppy opportunity at the show, a chance to see footage of past hounds races and another new feature – a trail hound puppy show.
This puppy show will have prizes for up-and-coming hound trail puppies who will be competing in races next year.
Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show’s manager, Deborah Black, says, “All of this activity is giving a huge injection of interest to this year’s hound trail events, which are always compelling but sometimes over in the blink of an eye, without spectators realising the dogs are on the way back. That will all change this year, giving this traditional sport its own place in the Grasmere Sports limelight.”
Best value tickets for a show that brings many elements of Cumbrian sporting tradition and culture together, and which heavily features Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling and fell racing, are those bought online.
