Quadruped / Colorado Canine Challenge - Denver, CO

The Quadruped. For those that know of this event... nuff said. For those who don't, this competition is more than just a long distance competition. It is one of the longest running competitions in the sport of Disc Dog.

Yes, the object of the competition is to throw long. But only as long as is needed to make it to the next round. This means that strategy can play a big role in your overall performance giving even a mediocre arm a chance to win. The strategy must take into account, the order of throwers, the previous throws that are still in play, the wind, and most importantly... the psyche of your competitors.

Let me explain. The quadruped works by dividing the field into three heats. In each heat there rounds that eliminate players until there is only 1 player left in the heat. That player moves on to the finals. If there are enough competitors to have at least 4 teams in each heat then the first round eliminates all but 3 teams. The second round eliminates 1 team, so that only two are left, and then the last round determines the team that moves on to the finals.

Since there are three heats, three teams are selected in this manner to go to the finals. But the finals include 4 teams. The fourth team is chosen in a final round called the last chance qualifier. All the remaining teams, that did not make to to the finals yet, get three throws. The team with the longest single throw after all teams have made their attempts moves on to the finals (This is how I got into the finals last year).

This year all fingers were crossed for good weather following an extremely windy and soggy Saturday. Our prayers were answered as Denver treated us to a beautiful day. We had a mischievous little wind that kept changing directions, but it just added a little excitement, and never really blew very hard.

This year Jeff Hoot was keeping tally of an overall total for the Quadruped Series champion of the year. This included 3 competitions throughout the year. The title of Quadruped series champion attracted all the big arms from across the country who had a shot at the honor. This just meant that this year's Quad would be that much tougher with names like Nate Bednar, Matt Diano, Chris Sexton, Gary Duke, and John Troelstrup throwing their hats into the Denver Quadruped ring. I had no chance of repeating or topping my third place finish of last year... Well, only a small chance perhaps.

Too add to my trepidation was the site of arms like Jason Holland and Roo Yori flinging 90 yard practice tosses!!! Ugh! I don't throw 90 yards in my dreams.

Unfortunately I do not remember the makeup of each heat, nor the details of the drama. We'll just have to wait for the Hootster's play by play when it arrives on his site. I do remember the winners of the heats though, in no particular order:

Heat Winner: John Troelstrup & Rooster
Heat Winner: Roo Yori & Wallace
Heat Winner: Joel Zucker & Bailey (Yes, amazing ain't it?)

And the last chance qualifier winner: Gary Duke & Bayer, with the longest toss and catch of the day at 80.6 yards!!!

It was amazing seeing my boy Bailey hauling Labby butt after 50 and 60 yard tosses! He looked as good as he has ever looked out there! No signs of injury or discomfort.

So the final was set.

In the first round, Bailey chased down a throw of about 60 yards, Gary got about 59 yards, and John had Rooster snatch one at about 58 yards. Roo Yori, an arm that can throw 90+ yards, takes a seat as he and Wallace fail to connect on a major bomb and cannot eclipse the shortest throw of about 58 yards.

That leaves Joel Zucker & Bailey (me), Gary Duke & Bayer, and John Troelstrup & Rooster.

In the second round John Troelstrup gets off a throw in the mid 60s. I manage a nice toss to a flying Bailey in the low 60s with my second throw and I know its a good toss considering the wind conditions. Now it was time for a little strategy. I know I have about a minute for my last throw. Gary Duke is last to make his three throw attempts after me. With the wind changing the way it was, and seeming to be getting worse, I though I should just wait for the wind to pick up then forfeit my final throw and let Gary deal with the wind. Sure enough, the wind picked up, and I trotted off the field waving off my final throw to bewildered spectators. It came down to Gary Duke & Bayer vs the wind. Blam! Strikeout! (Actually, I don't remember if they struck out or not, but I think so)

It is down to Joel Zucker & Bailey (me) and John Troelstrup & Rooster.

Now John gets to choose whether he wants to go first or second for this last round. In this round, we will alternate throws for a total of three throws. It is ALWAYS an advantage to go second in this format, but with a little chiding from me, and a strong sense of justified self-confidence, John elects to go first and let me have the advantage.

I don't remember what both of our throws were for our first toss. But on the second of John's throws he uncorks a 77 yards BOMB! Ugh... Now I now my chances are pretty bleak at this point, but during practice I was getting them out to about 77 yards, so I knew it was possible. My boy Bailey tenses at the line, waiting for me to send him on out, I wait for the wind. GO! I let go my best throw of the day. Bailey races out there. Go get it Bailey, SNATCH! He catches it! YEAH! We wait for the distance. 67 YARDS! Wow, that was great! But still 10 yards short.

John takes his final throw, but does not eclipse the 77 yard BOMB. Then it is me and Bailey up at the line again. The last throw of the competition. I hear John in the background telling me to take my time. Wait for the wind (he was great, always supportive, and always wishing others to do their best). No one rushed me. We just sat out there, I don't know if it was 30 seconds or 5 minutes... I just soaked in the moment. This was great. Half a year ago I didn't know if Bailey would ever be able to compete again. Two months ago he almost died of a lung injury, and now we were standing here, everyone waiting with bated breath. Bailey panting with a HUGE smile on his face, just waiting for me to give him the GO!!! And away he went! I wanted to make this either the winning catch, or no catch at all. Nothing short of 77 yards was going to be satisfactory, so I put everything into the toss. And as usually happens when you try too hard, the throw was abysmal. ARGH! SO anti-climactic. But so thrilling all the same.

Bailey and I took 2nd Place at the 2nd Quad we have participated. Pretty darn cool!



John Troelstrup and Rooster not only took 1st place at the Denver Quadruped, but they also won the Quadruped Series Championship!

Congratulation John! And it was a pleasure to get to meet you and Rooster.

Jeff, thanx for another great Quadruped experience. Looking forward to 2009.

Men's Open Div.
1 John Troelstrup ROOSTER (77)
2 Joel Zucker BAILEY (67)
3 Gary Duke BAYER (80.6)
4 Roo Yori AJAX (72)
5 Chris Sexton BANZAI (70.5)
6 Matt DiAno MAGGIE (67.5)
7 Casey Whittwer ROO (67)
8 Jason Holland FLIPP (64-60)
9 Mark Jennings MOJO (64-58)
10 Nate Bednar MARCY (62)
11 Mark Brisse ZIPPER (58)
12 James Commuso STITCH (57)
13 Craig Rogers RIGGS (53)
14 Russ Green MARIAH (53)
15 Darell Earle NITRO NANA (51)
16 Larry Hotchkiss ORA