Canicross Past

 

The following article was first published in the “Northern Exposure” Magazine, the newsletter of the Scottish Siberian Husky Club - Issue 25 July 2003.

CANICROSS TAKES OFF!

By Nicky Hutchison

 

Most mornings we don’t bother with a rig but run lashed to two or three Siberians depending on how adventurous/suicidal we feel. it’s a good way to get fit and helps get me into condition when I do go on the rig. It was only when reading MUSHING magazine that I found there was a name or it - Canicross - literally cross-country running with your dog attached.

Surfing websites I found out more: that its very popular on the continent and that there was actually a dryland world championship in Ravenna, Italy that included bikejoring and Canicross and that there are regular Canicross fixtures across France and the rest of the Europe. I was surprised that nobody was holding competitions here and so Canicross UK was born and the first fixture took place on Sunday 11 May 2003 in the Forest of Dean.

 

Consulting some French information there are a variety of ways of doing it but all agree that the main thing is that you cant go ahead of your dog and you are not allowed to drag Fido (not much chance of that with our lot!). Ideally the dog wears a padded harness - in France it’s a padded walking type harness - attached to a bungeed lead of no more than 2 metres in length to the human in a walkie belt. Distances are between 3-10 km on any terrain and nobody seems to run with more than one dog.

 

The sport is open to any sort of moderately fit dog and it goes without saying that both dog and human should get checked out by professionals before undertaking any sort of execise for the first time. At our race the huskies dominated although it could also have something to do with the fact that Sibe people are very fit anyway! And of course we generally have no problem with getting our dogs to run out in front although Canicross can be a useful adjunct for young dogs and potential leaders. You can teach gee/haw commands more effectively by gently guiding as you do so to reinforce the commands. ‘On by’ when up against distractions can also be insisted upon more easily with Canicross.

 

Canicross is ideal for owners who only have space in their lives for one Siberian but who want to give it the exercise and stimulation it needs - Canicross competitions means that one-sibe owners can also take part in competitions and met other husky people. To me it is an ideal way to do some off-season training providing you all take the normal precautions to prevent overheating etc. Quoting Mike Callahan who wrote the original article: “The slowest dog on the Canicross team is usually the human so Canicross is a human-speed sport whereas skijoring and sledding are dog-speed sports. Canicross will teach your dogs to pull at slower speeds and can be excellent power training for the dog if you Canicross up hills…Is it detrimental to a dog’s speed to train at such a slow pace? Not from my observations. The dog with more Canicross time than other team members often seems stronger with no loss in top speed” (Mushing magazine November/December 2001)

 

The first Canicross rally was organised in about two months – the main research on my part was a trip to Dieppe to take part in a Canicross race up a mountain (they said it was a hill but I am still disputing this) over 5km (French kilometres tend to be long & uphill kilometres). It was tremendous fun but being part of a mass start of 60 runners and dogs confirmed that our rally would have timed starts. Having said that, the chaos had its charm and the start was quite spectacular. The dogs actually all got on OK although I did worry for the fate of two snack-sized Italian greyhounds taking part. (They were fine of course). For the inquisitive the fastest time was 14mins over 5km, by an awesome triathlete. I managed just under 25 minutes and an attractive cardiac purple fae (for goodness sake, parts of the terrain was so steep that they had installed rope to help you pull yourself up!)

 

Canicross is a new name for a sport that I am sure a majority of Sibe owners have been doing for years on end. I am no Canicross guru but I love running with my dogs and as with mushing it’s a shared adventure and also gives you that closeness you can only get from working with your dog. The rally was a great success and everyone vowed to return for the next one in September. We had a great response from Scotland and think that it offers some excellent canicross opportunities – any offers? There are also mutterings from across the channel that there will be a French invasion pending pet passports etc so can I suggest that we get our trainers on and get out canicrossing. Marche!