LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- Last year's gold medal winner of the ESPN Great Outdoor Games retriever trial competition does not intend to let age get in the way of a repeat performance. Jerry Day, 62, and his 11-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, Super Sue, are considered to be the team to beat in this year's competition.

"We're planning to come back. We are a little older, hopefully in better shape and a little wiser to defend our title," Day said. "If we can do our best, we've got a chance to win it again."

	Retriever gold medalist Super Sue and handler Jerry Day had their day in the sun last year.

Day and Super Sue, of College Park, Ga., are well seasoned, having competed together for more than 10 years. Sue -- about 75 years old on a human scale -- holds nearly every advanced retriever title possible.

Their skills will surely be tested this year with an all-star retriever lineup at the 2002 ESPN Great Outdoor Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., on July 11-14. ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will broadcast the games, including the sporting dog competitions, July 20-23.

"We are going to come and strut our stuff," Day said. "Sue may have arthritis, but she still has a big heart."

The unique retriever trial event requires the dogs to retrieve specially designed, life-like rubber ducks thrown at distances as great as 300 yards across overgrown fields, marshes and ponds. Adding to the excitement, the dogs and handlers must work as a team to retrieve hidden ducks, called "blinds." The handlers know where the "blind" is located and must direct their dogs with hand signals to the hidden duck. Each series of retrieves will be judged on the dog's skill, obedience and efficiency.

"Sue has a great natural ability. She trusts me and we are really connected," Day said. "Yes, we would like to win, but you have just got to admire the other dogs and handlers."

Some of the other dogs expected to challenge Sue and Day are last year's silver and bronze medallists: Jackie Mertens of Elgin, Ill., and Mash; and Gene Anderson of Suwanee, Ga., with Slim. Another team to watch is Dr. Phyllis Giroux, a veterinarian from Goldvien, Va., and her 11-year-old black Labrador retriever, Tardy, who won the ESPN Sporting Dog Challenge last month in Little Rock, Ark.

One of the most exciting events of the GOG is the agility trial, a steeplechase-type obstacle course. Like the retriever trials, teamwork between the dog and handler is extremely important, as the handler must direct a running dog over jumps, through tunnels and across teeter-totters. One of the most notable examples of agility teamwork came from last year's gold medal winner in the small agility dog category. Taz and Dr. Jean Lavalley, a veterinarian from Murfreesboro, Tenn., are perhaps the hottest agility team in the country today. They hope to make a repeat gold medal run this year.

"You can never tell with agility. So many things can go wrong," Lavalley said. "As long as my timing is good, she does what she is told."

Taz will face some stiff competition, including Barbara Davis and Shimmer, last year's silver medalist from Washington, and California's Barbara Lombard and Turbo, who took the small agility bronze in 2001. The field also includes Brenda Buja and Stella, an American Staffordshire terrier from Maine, and Michelle Beardsley and her miniature Australian Shepard dog, Willow, from Virginia. Another team to watch is 16-year old Kate Moureaux of Woodland Hills, Calif., and her Shetland sheepdog, Heisey, the winner of the ESPN Sporting Dog Challenge.

In the large dog agility event, last year's gold medalist, Spring, and Julie Daniels of North Sandwich, N.H., have the ability to repeat. Spring was in position to win the 2000 ESPN Great Outdoor Games, too, but fell during the competition. They will be tested by Secret, a border collie from La Porte, Colo., and handler Stacy Peardot-Goudy, the team that won the silver medal last year at the GOG and took the gold in this year's ESPN Sporting Dog Challenge.

New for this year is a head-to-head race between the competing agility dogs. The dogs will run a straight course that includes jumps, tunnels and weave poles. Agility organizers and the handlers are looking forward to this new format.

To complete the dog events, ESPN will hold the crowd-pleasing Big Air. In this event, the dogs run down a 48-foot dock before jumping into the water. World record Big Air distances were set in both previous ESPN Great Outdoor Games.

Many believe the current Great Outdoor Games record and former world record of 23 feet, 1 inch, held by last year's gold medal winner, Jerry, and Michael Wallace of Troy, N.Y., will fall into the crystal clear waters of Lake Placid's Mirror Lake. Jerry and Michael will face the team that broke their world record: John Kline and Haley, of Bloomington, Minn., who qualified for this year's Great Outdoor Games with a leap of 23 feet, 4 inches at the May 6 Super Retrievers Qualifier in Northfield, Minn. Whether John and Haley can break the Great Outdoor Games record, too, waits to be seen.

Also among the favorites to challenge Jerry and Wallace are Michael Jackson and Little Morgan of Shakopee, Minn., who tied Jerry's world-record jump at the Indianapolis Boat Show qualifier, and the team of Wally and Melissa Holden of Clinton, Miss., winners of the ESPN Sporting Dog Challenge with a jump of 21 feet, 5 inches. The field also includes the 2001 silver and bronze medalists, Nick Fiacco and Sosa of Saranac Lake, N.Y., and Tom Dropik and Tucker of Lonsdale, Minn.

The ESPN Great Outdoor Games, free to the public, feature competitions in fishing, sporting dogs, target sports and timber events. The event airs on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports beginning July 20.