For the second consecutive year, Vicksburg will host a national dog championship and draw hundreds of participants and competitive dogs for two weeks. Coon dogs one year, retrievers the next.

Beginning Nov. 7, more than 300 participants and 100 retrievers will meet in Vicksburg for the 2010 National Retriever Club Championship Stake, which will be open to spectators Nov. 14-20 at Ronnie and Randy Lampkin’s property off Bovina Cutoff Road.

“The dogs that are capable of performing at this level are less than one-tenth of one-percent of all the retrievers in the country,” said NRC Field Trial Chairman Dr. Joseph Broyles. “The handlers, owners and dogs will be coming in from all over the country, from Alaska to Maine — really, every state but Hawaii.”

The NRC Championship Stake is shuffled between the four continental U.S. time zones each year. In the central time zone, the event has been held outside St. Louis every four years since 1952. The contest has never been held in Mississippi.

“It’s a real high-profile event, and we’re very excited to be hosting it,” said Bill Seratt, Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director. “Each dog will come with at least two to three people. They’ll be using a lot of hotel rooms, and I think the restaurants and attractions will do well, obviously. So, it should be a great boon for Vicksburg.”

Broyles said NRC officials have been eyeballing Vicksburg for the championship for a number of years, primarily due to the pristine woodlands and mild fall temperatures.

The dogs, their owners and handlers will arrive a week before the American Kennel Club-sanctioned championship kicks off to train on local hunting grounds. The dogs will compete in two events, a hunt trial and field trials. No actual hunting takes place in the events, and the dogs — ranging from Labrador and golden retrievers to Chesapeake Bay retrievers — are scored on technique, responsiveness and their ability to take direction from handlers. The winners take home bragging rights and a trophy, but no money.

“Some dogs that win the title can go on to be pretty prolific stud dogs,” said Broyles, who added the top dogs are valued at more than $200,000. “Not a lot of people make money in this game, but there are quite a number of opportunities when it comes to breeding.”

In February 2009, the American Coon Hunters Association World Championship was held in Vicksburg for the first time in the ACHA’s 62-year history. About 200 hounds, their owners and handlers were in town for the weekend event.

The VCVB has been increasingly marketing outdoors and soft adventure tourism in the Vicksburg area, and Seratt said the NRC Championship will certainly help spread the word about Vicksburg’s outdoors offerings.

“These events really help us get on the map for outdoors recreation, hunting and fishing,” he said.

If all goes well, Broyles said the championship will likely be brought back to Vicksburg in 2014.

“The plan is to bring it back to Vicksburg in four years, unless something really catastrophic happens and depending on how much community support we get. I think when the hotels, restaurants and other venues realize the kind of economic influx an event like this brings to the community, they’ll get behind it,” Broyles said, adding the estimated impact is about $1 million.

Those who want to see the dogs in action are invited to the admission-free trials between Sunday, Nov. 14 and the following Saturday. On site caterers will have food and drinks available for purchase. Each day several of the dogs are eliminated from the championship, with about a dozen likely to compete for the title on Nov. 20.

“If you want to see the tests get really complicated and varied, that generally begins on the Wednesday of the week,” Broyles said.