Club hits century of contests
Milestone rural event attracts a record entry of 252 huntaways.
Mangamahu Dog Trial Club held its centennial event at Mt View Station at the top of the Mangamahu Rd on March 3 and 4. For the past seven years, the trial has been held at this venue, first when Mt View Station was managed by Digby Lowe and in later years under manager Gus Spence.
Gus is a keen dog triallist and runs a tight ship up there and, as all current club members will say, will do anything to make the event a great experience for every man and his or her dog who makes the trip up the valley each year.
The Mangamahu Dog Trial Club was formed in 1923 and its annual event was initially held at Mahuri, on Creek Rd.
However, in 1925 the trials were held for the first time at Tokorangi, where they remained until 1949 when another move was made to Te Rimu where it was possible to run four courses simultaneously.
These three Kellick farms have all provided grounds for the trials. In 1965, W.R. Kellick was president and owner of Te Rimu.
He never made a fuss about the mess the vehicles made in his paddocks and at the time said his club was honoured to have the privilege of staging the New Zealand trials on its courses.
The grounds at Te Rimu proved to be a wonderful venue and New Zealand Championships were held there in 1957 and 1965. The four courses were almost in an amphitheatre with all four being visible if one stood in the middle of the grounds and turned full circle. Championships were held there during the following decades, with the last one being in 1999.
Names that have had a long association with the club since its inception are Collins, McDonell, Addenbrooke, Hunter, Campbell, Kellick and Lilburne. They are steeped in the history of the club and some of the descendants of those families still have an intrinsic connection with the Mangamahu Sheep Dog Trial today.
It is hard to imagine in this modern age how back in the early 1960s three sheep were actually taken out to the shorthead course in a sledge dragged by a horse to the liberating point.
The centennial trial was well attended with 152 heading dogs competing and a record 252 huntaways barking up those huntaway courses.
It was appropriate that all four judges this year had an association with the club and the valley. The heading judges were Wayne Falkner, who used to farm up Creek Rd, and Laurence Patterson who until recently managed Riverley at the bottom end of the valley.
Huntaway judges were Rick Orr, who owned Manawaimai Station during the 90s and now farms in the South Island, and Grant Plaisted, who worked on Mt View Station and is also now in the South Island. Laurence Patterson and Wayne Falkner are still active members of the club.
Leonora Spark was the timekeeper for Laurence on the shorthead course. Leonora was a longtime secretary of the club and still maintains contact with the people up the valley because she does the rural delivery.
New secretary Suraya Hampton, Gus Spence’s partner, has slotted into her job like a pro and is already a great asset to the club.
I’m sure there were many stories retold at the centennial and many dogs dug up and their runs and skills relived.
Sheena Martin, a regular attendee at the Mangamahu trial, travels from Wairoa every year to take in both the Raetihi annual trial and Mangamahu.
This year she won the Centennial Shorthead with Smart after taking out the same event in 2022 with Troy, who also won the longhead that year.
Smart is Troy’s son. Sheena has missed only one trial at Mt View and that was in 2023 because of Cyclone Gabrielle. It is one of her favourite trials, the courses are a good test of a dog’s ability and the camaraderie at the club is enjoyable.