On one of the rare beautiful Spring days of this season in Holland, we drove to the Midland Race Track in Lelystad for Oval Track Racing.

On this day -for the very first time in Holland- our breed was officially allowed to join the competition as “Basenji Run”. We were grateful to the CvW (department of the Dutch Kennelclub managing the racing) for giving us this chance. Ch’ami, Dana and Moyo were entered, together with Mirtillo, and Razi and Gaia. We felt very excited!

Our racing adventure in Holland began in early Spring, as newest members of the Rotterdam oval race track. At that point we had no clue the CvW and various racetrack associations were in the process off allowing additional breeds to officially race/lure course. Our goal at that time was to let our dogs join the training, knowing they love to run. Before we knew it we were asked to give a demo on the Rotterdam racetrack, which went very well. They preferred Ch’ami and Dana to run one course together because they not only run so beautiful together, but are about the same speed. To join Moyo we invited Mirtillo. The audience loved it, we loved it, but our Basenji’s loved it the most, judging by looking at the photos where they all had a big happy smile.

Gaia, Ch'ami & Dana at the 1st official race in Lelystad (see how Gaia focuses on C&D,
which got her disqualified in Rotterdam), photo by Coby Engelmoer

We were invited back in Rotterdam for another demo during the official “Zandbaan Kampioenschappen” (Sandy race-track championships), with as many B’s as we could gather. Alas, due to “the battle of the ego’s” in the Dutch Basenji Club and their actions, the CvW was forced to cancel this participation for us, which was a big disappointment for all the owners as well as the organizers of the Championship. To compensate for this a bit, a week later we were invited specially by the Chairman  of the CvW to give a demo in Amsterdam, in honor of the opening of the new race track over there. “With preferably 6 Basenji’s or more” he asked. So there were 11 .  Our Dana as only female, accompanied by our Ch’ami and Moyo, Bas, Mirtillo, Chafuko and Buana, Yebo, Gobu, Jaya and Ango.

Last year I started a Facebook group for Basenji owners in Holland and Belgium, to be able to communicate in our own language, and with the goal to easily organize get togethers. So I had easy access to Basenji owners who wanted to join us in the demo runs.

The day of the demo itself was kind of stressful, we’d barely had time to prepare ourselves, suffering from a lack of material, and although we’ve all done lure coursing before, not every dog tried oval racing nor used the starting boxes. With lots of fun amongst us, and acting as a real team, we managed to plan at least one other breed in between the Basenji courses, so we had just enough time to exchange muzzles. We blocked the view for the audience at the starting boxes (which was easy) to enable some of us to leave the back doors open, hold them by the hips until the front doors opened, hoping to prevent “reverse starting”. It worked!  The chairman of the CvW was present, and he was very impressed. So were we, this was the first time in Holland we had a full course of 6 B’s running.

The CvW came up with the temporary solution to allow “Basenji Runs” during the competition, as licenses were expected January 2013.

As a result we were invited to Lelystad at the official Midsummer-race. Besides Ch’ami, Dana and Moyo there were 3 other dogs joining us, Mirtillo, Gaia (female) and Razi.  They were divided over 2 courses of 3 B’s each, and all of them had to run twice before the finales, where all 6 of them ran together. The Basenji’s race the same distance as the Whippets, being 350 meter. The track in Lelystad works a bit like the lure coursing. The Lelystad track itself is green with a sandy exit. The lure is pulled forward with the line guided by wooden cylinders, comparable with the lure coursing.

We were all very excited, and probably because of this all the B’s were OVERexcited, screaming and screaming, making us all deaf. I will never forget the expression on the faces of the people managing the startboxes. They were in complete shock  over so much noise. “Hey but Basenji’s don’t bark” I told them .

Aside from the screaming, all did very well!! During the finals, we got help to start our Dana (thank you Hennie) since we needed an extra pair of hands. We met so many nice people at the race track, helping us where needed, giving information and, most importantly, all adored the B’s J

Moyo won all courses, so he came in 1^st. Mirtillo 2^nd, Razi 3^rd, Ch’ami 4^th, Gaia 5^th and Dana 6^th.  Because this was the first official Basenji time run at this track, Moyo’s time is officially registered as “Basenji track record”  in Lelystad, being 350 meter in 31.53 seconds on a grass  track.

by Coby Engelmoer

The sound of the (two-stroke) engine boosts the B’s enthusiasm even more.

Moyo on the track & Ango taking a short cut - inside track, by Job Ammerlaan

We signed-up 13 Basenji’s !!! being the same group that ran the demo in Amsterdam plus Razi and Gaia. All of us were afraid the B’s would run back into the starting boxes, or even refuse to come out with this heavy rain. But a Basenji rarely does what you expect him to do, so all 13 came out the boxes and ran all their courses.

However, this is not a story of people being in control, or being professional racers. Oh the fun we had! In the excitement of the 1^st course Myrthe was a bit late at “the kill” to pick up her brindle boy Yebo. I noticed him standing behind me, and then … he was gone. Yebo went back on the track, looking for his mommy. Myrthe whistled, and that caused Yebo to do as he was taught, being “run back to the last place you saw me” so Yebo ran the complete course backwards again, to be reunited with Myrthe. Since he properly finished, he luckily was not disqualified.

Yebo by Kim van de Lest

I did warn the people beforehand the Basenji is a breed with a sense of humor, and they surely showed it that day.

One start I will never forget, I still have tears rolling down my face just by thinking of it. Kim’s Chafuko managed to stand backwards in the starting box, but realizing at the same time what he was doing wrong. He jumped backwards out of the box, very mad at himself, threw himself around and ran. He was SO funny.

by Job Ammerlaan

As was Tom’s Jaya. Jaya had a slow start, and noticed the others were already entering the first turn. Intelligent as he is, Jaya crawled under the fence, running on the grass inside next to the lure. Although we tried to persuade the judges Jaya showed he was very “haasvast” (focused on the lure) he was disqualified.

As was Gaia, one of the 2 females, for playing instead of running.

During the finals we had another problem. Moyo running too fast, as always, on the 1^st position. Now the lure has to be kept in front of Moyo causing the others losing sight of it. Mirtillo (in blue) and Bas (in black) did manage to keep up, and they ran an exciting course. We heard the speaker yelling “blue is up front, oh no wait, black is, no blue again, and black is finishing …”

by Naära de Kwant-Tirion

Bas came in 2^nd and right behind him Mirtillo at the 3^rd place. Our Ch’ami had another problem. He is not the fastest, but to make up for his lack of speed he has great endurance, plus he is very focused on the lure. Unfortunately right behind him Razi and Ango lost sight of the lure and decided to make the best of the situation, well, according to them that is. Meaning they started to play on the track. They had a ball, and then the both of them jumped on Ch’ami wanting him to join their game. I was told he had a hard time losing them, but managed, and therefor came in 4^th. Ango and Razi were disqualified.

Each separate Race Track keeps score of the track records run, so Moyo also set the Basenji Record in Rotterdam, being 32.30 seconds on the wet and very heavy sand to run the 350 meters. To compare, during trainings his time is around 30.50 seconds.

by Naära de Kwant-Tirion

Yes we had lots of fun, but also yes it was a bit messy. The time in between our 1st demo and the International Derby was less than 2 months, leaving us with too little time to recruit people to come to the race tracks to train their B’s.

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Beginning of July the CvW came to an agreement with the Dutch Basenji Club to from this date on allowing the Basenji’s to get a “Preliminairy License”, which was originally planned for January 1st. Unfortunately this killed the rest of the running season for us, since the “Basenji Run’ is now no longer allowed, every Basenji entered needs to have a license. So we face another challenge. For the oval racing you need to pass the test “baanvast” (meaning they stay on the track, focused on the lure) to receive such a license. For the lure coursing you need “haasvast” (focused on the lure) for getting a lure coursing license. For the rest of this running season we only have a few dogs that have such a license, making it almost impossible to join in the competition, where 6 are needed to be accepted, less is just a demo run. Ch’ami, Dana and Moyo received their “baanvast” already.

Dana by Myrthe Oskamp-Schröder

A few days after this announcement from the CvW we were allowed to participate (on personal invitation by the Rotterdam Race Track people) at the 1st official lure-coursing allowing Basenji’s. That we could still do. During this match the B’s were to be judged for their “haasvast”, and this being a trial period, the judges need to learn how to judge our breed, and report this to the Raad van Beheer (Dutch Kennelclub), to help set the standard.

During the lure coursing the dogs do not just win by speed, so it is not important who finishes 1^st of the 2 B-course. Judges in the field examine them on being “haasvast”: speed, agility, intelligence to find the lure, and in the end, the kill (of the plastic bag ).

We went there with 6 B’s. We had a super day, the weather was perfect, the people were nice and we were immediately accepted in this group. Bas (1^st) Dana (2^nd) Mirtillo (3^rd) and Ch’ami (4^th). Those 4 did a great job that day, they managed to pass for their “haasvast”. But Moyo, oh Moyo ….. and oh Yebo!

Chami & Mirtillo by Myrthe Oskamp-Schröder

Our boy is so used to the fact everything just comes to him easily, no efforts needed. In his first course Moyo ran with Bas. When Moyo was fooled by the lure (as all the other dogs) he behaved like a spoiled brat.   Acting it out on his muzzle (which is perfectly ok), running again, then stopping to see if he could spot the lure, wanting to come back to me “mommy help!”, decided to go after the lure again, and finally he finished. That was not an okay course, nor was Yebo’s –running with Dana- who stopped right before the finish…

Bad luck both of them had to run together in the last course. Right after the start Yebo jumped on Moyo hating him for being faster. They continued the course, untill they both lost the lure. Again acting it out on their muzzles (did they agree to do this before the start?) and ran again. Untill Yebo was faster, and Moyo couldn’t stand that. Now Moyo attacked Yebo ….No need to tell you both boys failed their test!!

Very unexpectedly we could try again the next Saturday. Both Moyo and Yebo did a perfect job and passed the “haasvast” test!!

We are very proud of all three of our dogs, Ch’ami – Dana – Moyo to be fully licensed for Oval Racing and Lure Coursing, allowing them to officially participate at the Lure Coursing events plus the Oval Racing. For us all that matters is the B’s always have a super day, either at the lure coursing or the oval racing, loving every minute of it. And we are surrounded by a group of very nice people, acting as a real team, always helping each other out. I’d call this a win situation.

by Myrthe Oskamp-Schröder

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The Basenji’s and owners that joined us so far are:

Ch'ami (African Mystery’s Chamchela,  male)

Dana (African Mystery's Dafina Kisura, female)

Moyo (Moyo Usono ti-n Abou Teka, male) Owned by Yvonne & Kees ’t Mannetje

 

Mirtillo (Elegant Elephant Mirtillo, male) Owned by Janneke de Graaf & Job Ammerlaan

 

Bas (Kokojambo's Chali Ghubari, male) Owned by Carla & Martien Robben

 

Yebo (Gahiji du Viex Bry, male) Owned by Myrthe & Marco Oskamp-Schröder

 

Gobu (Abuluka Gobu, male)

Ango (Ango Angari Tam's Tamtamy, male)

Jaya (Abuluka Jaya, male) Owned by Tom Van Loo & Anne-Mie Goesaert

 

Buana (Buana Bizi Toka Kilima, male)

Chafuko (Chafuko Amani Toka Kilima, male) Owned by Kim van de Lest/Karsten van Amstel

 

Gaia (Wanyika Gaia, female)

Razi (Dondoro Toka Kilima, male) Owned by Onno en Everliene Vellekoop