Linda became involved in the IMCA & PAWC championships when her son was invited to join a team from Stour Valley Agility Club with his two dogs in 2014 in Voghera, Italy. Although the invite came from Dianne Maylam (who was the leading force of Stour Valley Agility Club at the time) unfortunately that year she was too ill herself to attend. Richard Partridge was the Team Leader on our first experience of the event, with the team that year being made up from ladies from Stour Valley along with Bonny Quick and Daniel Croxford. Richard had been the Team Leader from when he and his wife Sheila competed in their first IMCA & PAWC event in 2006 – Richard in IMCA and Sheila in PAWC.

In May 2015, after many years as the Team Leader, Richard decided to give the role up and kindly asked if Linda would be interested in taking over the role. Linda of course accepted but found that we didn’t have enough time todo an open team selection before the entry closing date for that year’s event in Austria, so the team that year was mainly made up of juniors Daniel had competed with in the YKC for many years, along with a few of the mums to make up the numbers in the team classes. I was so proud of our team of youngsters that year and the performances they gave in a big international competition and so also was the Austrian Team Leader who took the time to come and congratulate Linda at the end of the championships on such an impressive young team that we had entered.

It was in 2016 that we decided to hold our first IMCA Tryouts for the championships being held in Czech Republic that year. These were held at a large indoor arena in Faversham, Kent

After a very successful year in 2015 with the Juniors, we were looking forward to the 2016 tryouts and the final team selected. The temperature outside was between 80 & 90 degrees but we were all sitting in the arena stands with jumpers and coats on as it was freezing in the arena due to it being held in an ice hockey arena! Above the ice rink there was boarding and the astro turf was placed on top of the boards but was lovely and cool for the dogs!

2016 will be etched in my memory as that was the year that Leah Gardner and Theory had won the Large Jumping class earlier in the week and went into the Individual Agility final on the Sunday afternoon running last. The course was put up with a dog walk down the right hand side of the arena and there was a jump and a pipe tunnel at the end of the dog walk and we were all thinking please don’t let it be the jump to the side because Theory hardly touched the dog walk with the speed he traveled over it and Leah doubted if she would be able to stop him to turn if it was the jump! Luckily it wasn’t and it was dog walk to pipe tunnel. Leah had so much pressure on her as all the team with their team member in 2nd place was hanging over the balcony making as much noise as they could (to put her off) but Theory was a star and with the speed he went over the dog walk and flew in to the tunnel all everyone could do was hold their breath for another clear round resulting in Leah and Theory being the Overall Large Dog Individual World Champion.

In 2018 the UK hosted the event for the first time at the Wood Green Animal Centre and our judges were Jorges Pires, Bart de Decker and Neil Ellis. Although Linda has organised many large UK shows, the IMCA & PAWC championships had a number of different rules and requirements, alongside the many official requirements of Wood Green. It was a great show for the UK with many wins and overall podium places making the UK that year the Best Overall Country.

In 2023 when competing in the Netherlands, the UK Team achieved 28 podium places (overall in both IMCA & PAWC) which is the most we have ever won, which included many Overall Champions.

In 2026 the UK Team are hosting the championships once again. We aim to provide a great event for our European friends to enjoy.

Linda advised this is just a small part of the experience and memories that the UK Team has had over the past 11 years since she has been involved in the championships. She looks forward to leading the Team’s continued growth and success and looks forward to our annual team travels to compete with the good friends we have made across Europe.