4-4-24

 Chamberlayne Elementary School. Partly cloudy, 51degrees, 10mph wind. Ground wet. Track laid @9:00 & aged 100 minutes.

 This was a short (385yd) VST track, done toward the end of spring break, so ‘probably’ not too heavily trafficked in the preceding few days. All non-vegetated surfaces were sprayed & had food every 10 steps. Some parts of the track were very close to buildings. First leg started on grass, went 80yd, then 10yd mulch on playground, back to grass (food@90), to end with a left turn. 2nd leg 30yd on grass to covered concrete walkway next to building, ending in right turn, still on covered walkway. 3rd leg on walkway 45yd, ending in left turn onto grass. 4th leg ~2ft to the left of open sidewalk, on grass, with article @10 & food @45. after 75yd crossed onto asphalt parking lot for 50yd, then 20yd into open woods with end article behind a fallen branch.

Good article & start. Checked out lots of side scents in the grass. No issue crossing into or out of mulch. Had some difficulty making the transition from grass to covered walkway, but once she got going did quite well, even making one of her nice precision turns at 2nd turn. Interestingly, early on the 4th leg, Seren tracked on the sidewalk (which was next to a building) to the right of the track in the grass. Was pulled in by article & food drop, & after the food drop stayed on the actual track. I’m guessing had something to do with wind currents. Easily transitioned on to & off of asphalt. She had some difficulty finding the hidden end article, which I thought was kind of dumb🤷. Maybe next time I hide an article I should put some food with it.