Whippet Club Racing Association
(WCRA)
Whippet racing increased in popularity during the 1960's and this lead to the formation of the British Whippet Racing Association (BWRA) in 1967 in order to establish a standard set of rules and organisation for the sport.
However, there was no standard to establish what was a racing whippet. Essentially, any dog was eligible to run if the owner said that it was a whippet! A number of whippets running with the BWRA has been cross-bred with greyhounds in order to increase their speed. The result was that the pedigree whippets were becoming at a distinct disadvantage running against the whippet crosses.
As a result of this, three members of the Whippet Club went to the Wetherby Racecourse, where the BWRA 1968 Championships were due to be held, together with one of the member's whippet which had won the Southern Region Qualifying Weight Class. The objective was to persuade the BWRA Committee to race only Kennel Club registered whippets at it's events. However, the BWRA's preference was to continue as before and the negotiations were abandoned on apparantly amicable terms.
As a result, the Whippet Club decided, later in 1968, to establish its own separate association for pedigree racing whippets - the Whippet Club Racing Association (WCRA), while the BWRA looked after the larger, non-pedigree side of the sport. Whippet racing clubs were then invited to join the new association and the first clubs to support the WCRA were the Stanborough WRC and the New Forest WRC, the Racing Section of the Whippet Coursing Club and the Oxford WRC (these last three clubs now being defunct).
The problem now facing the WCRA was to establish which dogs were pedigree whippets and which were not. They decided to establish an identity card registration scheme based on the National Greyhound Racing Association Identity Card. As the K.C.'s record system was "so appalling" (2), the WCRA appointed their own specialist to check all applications for identity card passports and ensure that only genuine pedigree whippets were accepted.
The first Championships were held in 1970 at Bracknell with a U-shaped track set-out on the lines of the European whippet racing system.
In 1971, the title of Whippet Club Racing Association Champion (to give the full title) was introduced with any whippet winning two Championships being gievn the title "WCRCh". This is an honourary title and does not appear on the K.C. registration documents. At the same time the current programme of two 240 yards bends and two 150 yards straight Championships were introduced.
In 1981, the Supertstars League, based on points won at WCRA Championships and affiliated club's Opens, was introduced. A Consolation League was later introduced.
In 1997, elections to the WCRA were introduced. Previously, membership of the committee was by invitation.
The 3oth. anniversary of the first WCRA Championships were held in 2000 and the Independent PWRC. Click below for further details on this event.
Bibliography.
1. Jan & Martin Boughtwood. "The WCRA in Profile". The Whippet Centenary Issue. July, 1999.
2. Antony Mathews. "The Whippet Racing Association. A Brief History". The Whippet. December, 2002.