European Open 2010
Liberec, Czech Republic
July 24 & 25, 2010

MICHEL LIEKENS
(BELGIUM)


I was born in 1954. I am married to Emmy Torfs, we have a son, Nico and a grandson Nils.
My first contact with agility was in 1990 at our club “De Aarschotse Hondenvrienden”.
I ran my first competition in 1991 with our female Tervuren, Oshin. Together we have had a lot of fun, running agility and we attained the 3^rd level (highest level in Belgium).
The “agility bug” infected me so that I even gave up playing football (or maybe it was my age that had something to do with it).
I am still member of “De Aarschotse Hondenvrienden” and for several years now I organise our annual competition and an agility weekend every two years.
I became agility instructor and till today I “teach” agility at our club.
Meanwhile Oshin grew older and in 1999 we decided to expand the family with another Tervuren, Yentl (male). I trained him and when he was at the age that he was allowed to participate to competitions he became my new “team mate”.
1999 was also the year I became agility judge. In 2000 I became FCI international judge. Since then I judge more than sixty agility competitions a year, most of them in Belgium.
It has become clear to me that I’ve had to make a choice running agility or judging it. I have decided to give priority to judging and since the end of last year he is retired.
Furthermore I am deputy secretary of the Belgian agility committee and I am also member of the committee that appoints the judges in Belgium.
I have judged in about 17 different countries, a lot of National Championships and also the FCI World Championships Agility 2007 in Norway.
To me agility has become a hobby that has taken a very big part of my life. I  enjoy very much judging agility. I admire the dogs and their handlers who run beautiful rounds, with or without faults, sometimes it even gives me goose pimples.
It is a great honour for me to judge the European Open Agility, I am looking forward to it.