The World Dog Surfing Championship (WDSC) is the premiere annual dog surfing competition. Yes that is literal—dogs on surf boards riding waves.
Last year (WDSC 2023), Carson the Terrier (check out his website) had a dominant performance—he placed #1 as the overall “Top Dog”, in addition to tying for first in the “Small Dog” category.
Carson is a powerhouse. In the 2022 WDSC, he placed 3rd in the overall (Top Dog) ranking, & again won his Small Dog category.
Can Carson maintain his dominance? Or will some young pup upstarts knock the king off his throne?
This market resolves YES if Carson once again (for the third consecutive year) places in the top 3 of the "Top Dog" Overall category at the 2024 WDSC. I plan to close it the day before the championships (in case I want to add a bunch of liquidity to it).
1,000
3.00@traders The results are out! Unfortunately, Carson didn't make the Top Dog podium =(. He placed second to Delilah in the Small Dog category (last year they tied), & I can't yet find how he did in the final (if he qualified), maybe scores will be posted soon. I'd say that Carson will get 'em next year, but he's 10 years old so honestly at some point he should probably retire (he should be proud of his accomplished career!).
However, Carson placed second [1] in the Dog/Dog Tandem category, so he didn't come home empty handed. Congratulations!
The coverage in the SF Chronicle mentions Carson:
Ten-year-old Carson, an eight-year veteran of the sport, was defending his championship — last year, the rescue terrier won first in both the small dog category and overall. This year marked his fifth time competing in the Pacifica championship, said his owner, Jill Nakano.
[1] I think? The website says "Carlson", but the website is kinda useless and I'm guessing that's a typo because there's a pic of him in the event.,
TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY
The 2023 podium was:
Carson the Terrier
Faith the Surfing Pitbull
Cherie
Faith is entering once again, and will look to knock Carson off his throne. Cherie has retired (interview here), and is now Surf Dog Emeritus. Delilah tied Carson in the Small Dog category last year, and will enter again as well.
Great question! I wasn't sure, so I had to look up the answer in the rules:
The 2 highest scoring competitors from each heat category compete against the highest scoring competitors from the other heats (excluding the Tandem heats) for the Top All-Around Surfing Championship Awards.
So IIUC, both Carson & Delilah advanced from the "small dog" category to compete in the "top dog" finals (see: schedule, the top dogs heats are at the end of the day). But Carson won first overall in the Top Dog finals (and Delilah presumably competed but didn't make the podium).
<1 month til the champs! This is now a Plus market.
PRECURSOR UPDATE: Carson just placed second in the "small dog" category at the Purina Pro Surf Dog Competition at Huntington Beach. Here’s the coverage in the LA Times (with a great pic).
That's a solid podium finish (up from 3rd in 2022 & 2023!), although it's just within his "small dog" category, while this market needs him to place top 3 overall.
It seems like his training is going well, and he should be in peak form for the world champs. From his Instagram:
I've been working on reaching my full potential by keeping healthy and eating the right foods except for when I stay with G-mama she always slips an extra treat under the table.
LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO
