regulations for the European Open

The European Open 2013 is an Agility competition which is officially recognised by the FCI and is based on the FCI-Agility Regulations of 2012. The competition is OPEN to all dogs, with or without pedigree. All National Member Organisations of the FCI or National Organisations with a close relationship to the FCI are invited to participate in this event. For organisational purposes the number of competitors has to be limited to approximately 750 dogs. Of these a maximum of 50% may be in the category large.

 

All competitors have to be citizens of the country which they represent, or they should have their main residence there. For all participating dogs a record book or a license has to be presented, issued by the sending National Member Organisation of the FCI or a National Organisation with a close relationship to the FCI. Each handler is allowed to compete with max. 4 dogs.

 

All countries showing an interest in participating, will receive an allocation of 32 dogs (max. 16 in Large). Belgium as organizing country receives a higher allocation (60 dogs, max. 30 in Large). The Individual EO-winners 2012 are automatically qualified without imposing on their country’s number allocation

 

Each National Organisation has the right to nominate competitors to the extent of the available allocation and to send the entries to the organiser at the latest by May 31st, 2013. A list of reserve dogs and handlers may be attached to the entries. The reserve may take the place of an original entry, should the original competitor have to scratch. The reserve may also be allocated an entry in case of available entries spots after closing of entries. If countries choose to have a selection process, this must be OPEN to all dogs (with or without pedigree). A list of all those countries choosing to send entries through their respective National Organisation will be published separately. Countries in which the national qualifying results will only be available after the closing date, have to let the organisers know before May 31st, 2013 how many entries they intend to send. In these cases no late additional entries can be added. A complete list of all competitors needs to be handed in by latest end of June 2013.

 

Competitors of all other countries may send their entries – as before – directly to the organiser between May 1st and May 31st. If the allocation of a country is filled further entries of that country will be put on a waiting (reserve) list. Sending entries by competitors is only possible in countries where the respective National Organization do not use their right to nominate an official team. The organisers will check how many entries are still available after the first closing date (May 31st, 2013), resulting from countries not fully filling their allocations. Any available open entries will be offered to those countries which have an additional demand for more entries, viz. all countries with a waiting list.

 

All countries are requested to nominate a Team Leader. Any and all communication between the organisers and the countries will be done through the Team Leaders. Each Team Leader is asked to bring a flag and a CD with the national anthem of the respective country with him.

European Open - Qualification for the Team Event

The qualification for the Team Event takes place on July 26th, 2013 and is held in the category Large and a combined category Small/Medium. The total number of competitors per country in the Team Event is limited by the number of competitors in the Individual Event. The number of competitors in the height category Large is limited to 50% of the total number for each country.

 

A Team in the height category Large consists of a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 4 handler and dog teams. A Team in the height category Medium/Small consists of a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 4 handler and dog teams, whereby the composition of Small and Medium dogs is not prescribed. Mixed Country Teams may also compete (one Team composed of handler and dogs from different countries).

 

In the Team Event one Agility round and one Jumping round will be run as qualification for the EO Team Final. For each round competitors will be ranked according to faults and time. The first placed handler and dog will receive points according to the number of competitors in that round (= number of Teams x 4), the second placed handler and dog team will receive one point less, the third placed team 2 points less and so on. A disqualification receives 0 points. The points of the 3 best runs of each Team will count towards the Team result for both rounds (= sum of points received). The 15 Teams with the highest point score after both rounds in the category Large and the category Small/Medium will be qualified for the EO Team Final. In the case of a tie, the points of the 4th Team member will be taken into consideration. In case of a further tie the highest Individual score will count.

European Open - Qualification for the Individual Event

The qualification for the Individual Event takes place on July 27th, 2013 and is held in the categories Large, Medium and Small. In the Individual qualification an Agility round and a Jumping round is run in all 3 height categories. Both rounds are scored separately for faults and time for all competitors.

 

In the category Large the first 25 placed competitors in both the Agility as well as the Jumping round will have qualified for the Final, in the categories Small and Medium each time the first 15 placed competitors. Where a team qualifies for the Final in both the Agility as well as the Jumping round, the worse of the 2 scores will be scratched and the next ranking team in that class will move up until all 50 places in Large and all 30 places in Small and in Medium have been filled for the Finals. In addition, all competitors of every country will be ranked separately for each round in each height category. The best team (handler + dog) of each country in each height category gets as many points as there were competitors of that country in that height category, the second best team one point less, the third best team two points less and so on. An elimination is scored with 0 points. The total points gained of both runs combined determine the internal, country-specific selection order for the EO Final. In the case of a tie the Agility-run will break the tie, in the case of a further tie a draw will decide.

 

The top team from each country and each height category qualifies for the EO Final, provided they have not qualified in one of the both “Top 25” (L) resp. “Top 15” (S/M) already. In that case the next highest qualifier of that country will qualify for the Final, provided that the total number of points is more than “0”. The qualification for the Final is not transferable to another team.

 

Further the EO Winners of 2012 in all 3 height categories (large: Silvia Trkman & Bu - Slovenia, medium: Krisztina Kabai & Rio - Germany, small: Maho Yamaguchi & Suzuka – Japan) have qualified for the EO Finals of 2013, without imposing on their country’s number allocation.

European Open - Finals

All Finals of the European Open 2013 are held on Sunday, July 28th, 2013. First the EO Team Finals and then the EO Individual Finals.

 

The EO Team Final is a relay race where 4 separate courses are built in one (extended) agility ring, partly using shared obstacles. The time is started when the dog of the 1st team member passes his starting line and stopped when the dog of the 4th team member passes his finish line. Eliminations of team members are counted with 100 faults for the respective part, and the time for the whole team is in this case automatically the fixed maximum time. The 15 Teams start in reverse order of the qualification score, so the best Team in the qualification will run last at the Final.

 

All Teams have to start in the Final with the team members who were running the qualification before. If a Team with only 3 members is qualified for the Final one member of this Team has to run twice. The winners of the Team Final will be the “European Open – Team Winner 2013” in the category large and the category small/medium. The EO Individual Final is an Agility round at A3 level.

 

The running order in the Individual Final is determined as follows:


First the winners of the country qualifiers. They will start in reverse order of their Individual Agility round. That is the fastest qualified team will run last, irrespective of the number of faults they had. Qualifiers to the Final without a valid time from the Individual Agility round will run first. 

 

The 50 (L) / 30 (M) / 30 (S) qualified Teams from both jumping and agility and in reverse order and alternating (i.e. second to last will be the winner of the Jumping round, and last the winner of the Agility round)

 

The EO winner of the previous year will run last at the Final.

 

The winners of the Final will be the “European Open – Individual Winner 2013” in their respective height category.

prize giving ceremony

The prize giving for the EO-Qualification for the Team Event will be held on July 26th, 2013, after the completion of all team qualification runs. The 3 first places of the qualification for the Team Final in both categories, Large and Small/Medium, will be announced as 1st/2nd/3rd of the EO-qualification for the Team Competition 2013 (without national anthems).

 

The prize giving for the EO-Qualification for the Individual Event will be held on July 27th, 2013, after the completion of all individual qualification runs. The 3 first places of both the Agility and the Jumping rounds in all categories will be announced as 1st/2nd/3rd of the EO-qualification for the Team Competition 2013 (without national anthems).

 

The prize giving for the EO-Finals will be held on July 28th, 2013, after the completion of all final runs. First the top 3 placed Teams of the EO-Team Finals in both categories will be announced, the anthem of the winning country will be played. Should the winner be a „Mixed Country Team“, the European Anthem will be played. Thereafter the prize giving for the EO-Individual Finals will take place. The top 3 places of the Final round in all categories will be announced, the National Anthem of each winning country will be played.

Finally the flag of the EO will be handed over to the organising country for the following year.