Five of the eleven Finalists, including the winner, at the 2002 National Retriever Championship were trained by Handjem Retrievers, headed by Mike Lardy. 

2000 NFC Maxx's Surprise, run by Mike, is his 30th National Finalist. This number is only for the dogs Mike personally ran. When his Handjem trained client dogs are added in, the number is considerably higher. 

This achievement ties Mike with Cotton Pershall for the all-time record number of Finalists run by a Professional Retriever Trainer. Cotton's first Finalist was in 1942 and his last in 1973. This record had stood alone for almost 30 years until this November, when Mike tied it.

The five Handjem 2002 NRC Stake Finalists were:

#5.  2000 NFC Maxx's Surprise, LM
       Owner Sherwin Scott, Handler, Mike Lardy 
#18. FC-AFC Tiger McBunn, LM
       Owners, JM & LK DuBose, Handler, Mac DuBose 
#51. FC-AFC Cashman's Fat Lady Zingin, LF
       Owners, JM & LK DuBose, Handler Mac Dubose 
#62. FC Autumn Run's Tailwind, LF
       Owners, Irwin & Sue Purtell , handled by Dave Smith
#65. FC-AFC Chicamauga Choo Choo, LF
       Owners, JM & LK DuBose, Handler Lynne DuBose 

Prior to the Winner being announced, all the Finalists are individually named and given awards. 

There were 11 Finalists at the 2002 National Retriever Championship. Five of them were trained by Mike Lardy’s Handjem Retrievers. 

Three of the Finalists were run by clients Mac and Lynn DuBose, one was run by Associate Trainer Dave Smith, and one was run by Mike.

Lynne DuBose with Chicka and Dave Smith with Breezy
waiting for the announcement of the winner.

Mike applauding others
getting their Finalist’s awards.

Mac DuBose with Zinger and Tiger
after they got the Finalist awards.

More totalretriever.com reports
and photos from the National:
- The Winner
- Pre National Training
- Ninth and Tenth Series
- More National Pictures

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