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It was a hard choice deciding which dog I ran with at the
European Cani-cross Championships 2012. In
one corner there was Kez, my ultra-running companion that would run across the
world with me, but does not “assist” unless I run at 5 minute mile pace…. In the other corner there was Kroi, a
youngster that loves to pull, but does not yet know about pacing and very
rarely runs on his own. Kez is scared of
other dogs and does not cope well in stressful situations, Kroi is not scared of
other dogs and is showing all signs of being a very “chilled” dog. This was the factor that made the decision
for me. I decided to take a chance and
run the baby of the family, our only objective was to enjoy the occasion and
finish both races content.
The race on Saturday composed of individual starts and was over
a distance of 3.4k. Kroi stood on the
start line full of questions. Where was
Kez, who were all these dogs surrounding him, why did so many dogs growl and
him and want to lunge at him…? His eyes
looked bewildered and he kept turning to look at me. I calmly reassured him and waited for our
start time.
There were 30 seconds gaps between runners, and several very
small dogs immediately in front of us. I
knew we would catch up with them relatively quickly and wondered how Kroi would
manage the overtaking manoeuvre…
We started well and headed down the start straight, into the
woods, where we were met with very deep and treacherous mud. Kroi picked the correct line and glanced
behind to check that I was following. We
leapt from left to right, avoiding the worst sections. We run off road every day, we know and
understand how you run through mud. With
my trusty Salomon Speedcross on my feet, I knew that I did not have to worry
about the land beneath my feet.
As we overtook the first dog, Kroi was a little naughty and
tried to “have a wee go”, not aggressively, just a little jump over towards the
other dog. I shouted “No! On by” and off
he went, the next dog we overtook he tentatively showed an interest in playing
with, but “on by” was all it took to keep him running. As we overtook one little dog, it darted
under my feet and for a split second I feared that I was about to be up ended…..
Situation averted, back to running and we set off down the
course… confusion then arose as the
course we recced the day before had suddenly changed… Kroi ducked under the
tape and headed left, I stopped and re assessed the situation. It would appear that we were supposed to go straight
on. I called Kroi to me and headed down
the “new” course. He hesitated but
followed my command, just as a gigantic hound and his human runner came flying
past. Kroi picked up the pace and we set
off in hot pursuit…….
I watched the dog and runner in front of us, it was obvious
that the dog was totally in control. She
followed where he ran, arms flapping to help her balance. As Kroi and I ran behind, I frequently chose
a different route from the hound and his human and each time I did Kroi
responded and followed my guidance. We
leapt from puddle to puddle, the other runner slid from side to side and tried
desperately to stay upright.
As we approached the finishing straight, Kroi spotted Ian
taking photographs and ran towards him, probably expecting to see the rest of
the pack…. I tried to encourage him to
go past, which he reluctantly finally agreed to do. As we ran towards the finish, for the first
time he ran behind me – confused and unsure of what was happening. I slowed down and encouraged him towards
me. The dog must cross the line before
the human in cani-cross races. Kroi
responded and jogged across the line, just in front of me. We had just successfully completed our first ever solo race and in a time that put us in the "fast" first wave in Sunday's mass start....
(Photo courtesy of tzruns)
