Prim (2 years old) and Twix (5 years old) with owner Nick Barker.
Local dogs Twix, Prim and the Barker family travelled to the 2025 Flyball National Championships to compete on the 15th and 16th of November at the Geelong Showground in Victoria.
This year’s nationals were held by Tassie Flying Paws, a Tasmanian-based club that decided to hold the competition on the mainland due to logistical reasons with trying to get so many dogs across the water.
Mel Barker said there were 211 racing dogs entered. “One indoor arena, 2 rings, 31 regular and 14 open racing teams from all over Australia came together to compete in a total of 270, best of 5 heats, races over the weekend. That’s a possible 1,350 heats of racing over only 2 days,” she said.
“This event was live-streamed on YouTube for the world to watch, and now that it’s finished, you can catch up on the 41 hours of racing on FlyballTV whenever you want.”
Mel explained to the Junee Independent what flyball was and how her dogs fared on the day.
“It’s a relay race between two teams, four dogs race for a team with up to two reserves. They relay one dog at a time over four jumps, do a swimmers turn on a spring-loaded flyball box that shoots out a tennis ball, which they have to catch while turning, then come back over the four jumps to the owner for their favourite reward, and the next dog runs. Regular teams are made up of dogs all from the same club, and open teams are made up of dogs from any clubs from around Australia.
“Twix was needed to race in two teams, our club team X-traterestrials and one of our open teams X-press. Prim ran almost every race in team X-traterestrials even though she’s very new to the sport. 2025 Flyball Nationals is only her 4th competition, not only did she handle the environment like a pro, she earned herself enough points to officially gain the title of ‘Australian Flyball Champion’.
“Team X-traterestrials placed 2nd in division 2 with a best time of 17.140 seconds, and team X-press came 7th in open division 1. They also won the completely made-up award of best-dressed family for their matching duck outfits. This was our last competition for this year, and we are looking forward to what the 2026 flyball season will bring.”
– Jack Murray
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