PAST AND PRESENT

The club was formed in 1962 by Bill Bowcott, Ralph Bird and George Francis. Now, 45 years later, it is still going strong, with a hard-working committee in Tony Bowen, Amanda Causier, Pauline Waterhouse, Tina Bowen, Fred & Margaret Watling and Rose Fortey .
We enjoy a healthy membership of 40+ (not bad for a whippet club this far south. Whippet racing still has a very strong hold in the north i.e. Lancashire and Yorkshire).
Worcester club first started on a Diglis playing field, we were then moved to Pitchcroft, which was unsuitable due to flooding. W.W.R.C. race all year through (Saturday afternoons or Sunday mornings in winter and Wednesday evenings in the summer months).
The next move was to land at the old Trotshill, where we were soon on the move again, this time due to building work, arriving finally at our present location, Perdiswell Park, where we have been for the past 42 years.
We have moved around Perdiswell a few times, due to the water lying on the track when we ran from what is now the children`s playground, to more recent moves due to the Golf Course.
At the moment we have a lovely track with grateful thanks to all the Council staff who have helped us tremendously. It has a slight incline, which helps a dog`s stamina, a lush, green grass surface, which is kept in excellent condition with regular cutting in the summer months which makes for a springy running surface (until some mindless person, who is too mean to pay to play on the golf course, decides to use our marks to practice their golf swings on).

A whippet will usually run on a straight course, unlike a greyhound which runs a circular track, however, some whippets do run on a greyhound track, the nearest to Worcester being at Kidderminster.
Worcester club runs over distances of 160yds. and 170 yds. alternating weekly. Whippets are handicapped according to their weight. Dogs can start as light as 14/15lbs. and do go up to as much as 60lbs. or more. W.W.R.C. run 1 yard per pound up to a 32lbs. weight limit. Dogs over this weight run in a scratch race with all dogs racing off the same level mark. A lure is used to entice the dogs to run over the distance (NEVER is live bait used) usually made of rag or, more recently, plastic strips and a washing-up liquid bottle. The dogs chase the lure from the traps. When the lure is about 10 yards in front of the traps the trapman releases the traps. The dogs chase the lure down to their owners, who stand at the far end of the track, to encourage their dogs and to catch them after each race. The winner is the first dog over the finish line with a correctly fitted muzzle. Winning dogs then go through to the next round. Whippets can run the track 5-6 times in a day in order to get to the final. (They usually run 3 times, i.e. heats, semi-finals and the final). If a dog wins the final a penalty of 3 yards is added to their weight for the rest of the season, thus handicapping the winning dogs to give the other club dogs a chance.

A whippet is usually kept as a pet in the home as part of the family. They make excellent pets, even ex-racers. There is no real money in whippet racing - NO BETTING. It`s an amateur sport. It`s a FUN THING. Training your dog to be the best through your own merits. Greyhounds are usually sent to kennels where trainers prepare them for racing. You normally only get to watch your dog race. You don`t get involved in the love, rearing and training of them. This costs a lot of money with training fees, etc.
Perhaps, this is why the whippet is known as the poor man`s Greyhound.

Amanda Causier (Secretary)