Last weekend Syke and I attended the Tridog event at Box End in Bedford and we took part in our first official canicross event. During the last few months of lockdown, we have tried to increase our fitness levels ready for the canicross season and we have really enjoyed our running adventures together. Skye has made the transition from a timid gundog to a mad canicross dog very well indeed! Despite the ongoing challenges of covid 19, the Tridog team did a brilliant job of keeping everyone safe, while all still having a great time with their dogs.
The start was staggered with 1 minute intervals between each competitor, which gave everyone plenty of opportunity to keep their distance. As we were counted down on the start line, Skye laid down and rolled over for the marshal to give her a fuss. She had no idea what was about to happen, although she very quickly decided that this racing lark was good fun.
We set off, probably a bit too keenly, along the edge of the lake. The wind was against us for about the first kilometre and it felt as though we were running on the spot at times! As we made our first turn away from the lake we then had an ‘upward slope’ before we entered into the shelter of the trees. The paths were quite challenging at times, with different angles and plenty of twists and turns. Skye was totally awesome and coped so well with everything – we even ran past some remote controlled 4 wheel drive cars which took us both slightly by surprise.
We had an interesting moment when we had a lake either side of our path and Skye thought a swim might be fun! Luckily she couldn’t decide which way to jump so we carried straight on towards home. The last part of the race saw us again running back alongside the lake with the wind doing its best to slow us down.
As we crossed the finish line we were cheered in by the Tridog marshal, who was very enthusiastic, and Skye decided it was time to lay down for some more fussing. We received a goody bag with a medal, buff and dog treats, which were very much enjoyed by Skye on the car journey home. We both had a wonderful time and are already looking forward to our next event together.
A big thank you must go to the Tridog team who managed to host an excellent event in difficult circumstances, and a big well done to the other Tailrunners who also competed and represented our club.
Loved reading this, you make such a great team am so proud of you both. Well done!!!! Lovely happy spaniel smiles. I can relate to this….”We had an interesting moment when we had a lake either side of our path and Skye thought a swim might be fun!” Made me laugh. Sounds like a great well organised event.