Meeker Classic, 2021: Alice closes the pen with two seconds left

Key facts

Winning final run

12 September 2021

Champion

Scott Glen with Alice, 150 points

Reported pen finish

Two seconds before time expired

The decisive work came at the pen

Meeker’s account identifies Scott Glen and nine-year-old Alice as its 2021 champions and dates their final run to Sunday 12 September. The most striking detail is the finish: much of the final eleven minutes was spent trying to pen the sheep, and the gate closed with two seconds remaining. Their 150-point result therefore cannot be explained by time alone. Completing the sheep work before the limit was crucial, while the judges’ score determined the result. The description gives a concrete example of a trial remaining unresolved until the final moments of a run.

A later profile describing an earlier victory

The organiser published its retrospective in April 2022, explicitly celebrating the previous year’s championship. It describes Alice as a rough-coated tricolour dog and relates her partnership with Glen to her wider working and competition life. The story also records Glen’s previous Meeker wins with Pleat in 2005 and Taff in 2019. Those earlier victories establish the handler’s history but belong to different dogs and editions. The 2021 result should remain credited to Alice, rather than being absorbed into an undifferentiated list of a trainer’s achievements or dated to the profile’s later publication.

Why the finishing detail matters

The late pen is useful historical evidence because it links a specific obstacle, the sheep’s resistance and the pressure of the clock. It does not mean that every slow pen is a winning performance, or that elapsed time can be compared across unrelated courses. Here, the organiser preserves the completion and the result together. Its separate awards record provides another route into the edition’s formal recognition. The story is also a reminder that an older dog’s documented competition performance is a particular partnership at a particular event, not a general prescription about when other dogs should continue trialling or retire.

Common questions

Sources & further reading

References for this guide. Rules and services can change; check the responsible organisation for current details.

• Meeker Classic — Alice’s 2021 championship retrospective (opens in a new tab)
• Meeker Classic — 2021 special awards (opens in a new tab)

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