Matthew Walley recently returned from Italy where he represented Team GB in Duathlon. He’s since been back in action on the canicross scene, and was kind enough to send us this report from his recent races!
A week after representing GB at Duathlon in sunny Italy, I was on the start line at Loggerheads in a damp and muddy Welsh trail race with Vixie the dog. This was the second race with Vixie of the season, the last being a hilly half marathon which didn’t really suit our skills, as we are better over a short distance. So, this only being a 5k was going to be ideal. Racing with my brother and his dog Winnie is always enjoyable, even if in a straight line they are quicker, but if the route becomes more technical, we can hold our own and this race could go either way.
We had the race briefing and the other dogs in the canicross race started getting excited. There’s nothing like the start of a canicross race when all the dogs are getting excited and ready to run. The horn sounded and off we went. With the lead swapping between myself and my brother, we pulled a good lead over the rest of the field. After working our way over a couple of stiles, we ended up at a main road, with no idea where to go.
After about 5 minutes discussing what happened and where we took a wrong turn, we ended up running along the road and looped back to join the route. We started making our way through the field but an easy 1-2 finish ended up as a 5th & 6th place finish. Over the next week, I was gutted about the result and was looking for some retribution for the mistake. Sophie, my coach from SW Sports Performance, sent me a link for a canicross race on the Saturday, then a 20% discount code came through. It was meant to be. So I booked the race.
Vixie normally grows her coat over the winter and we have it cut when it gets warmer. I got her booked in before the race as I wanted her to be race-ready. We took Vixie off to Best Best Buddy Dog Grooming for her short back and sides. She always comes back looking like a different dog.
So, a week later we went off to Brynkinalt Estate near Chirk for an Adrenaline Sporting Events Canicross 5k trail run. We got there and picked our number up, went for a little warm up and there were some impressive canicross dogs there. Getting that feeling that we might be outclassed with my miniature labradoodle, we positioned ourselves just behind the line in the second row.
Knowing Vixie would want to get a quick start, the whistle went and we were off. We were in 3rd, right behind 1st and 2nd and a gap opened up between them. Vixie decided that we could go quicker, so through we went. Ourselves and second place pulled away from the rest of the field and swapped positions between us. We got into the last half-mile in second, took a 90-degree bend then into the finishing straight, Vixie picked up the pace and we got over the line in first place. Very happy with the result and made up for the mistake the week before.
The next day, just to finish the weekend off, we were part of the Shropshire Canicross team that entered the Telford T50 Relay. This is a relay race over a 50 mile route that goes round the Telford area. The previous time was 8 hours, 20 minutes. With the team that Paul had got together we were looking to beat that time but you can never tell how it will go. Amazingly the team was able to get a collective time of 6 hours 49 minutes & 40 seconds. With the record for the route being set in 2021 at a time of 6:10, there are already plans looking to next year and challenging that time.
Thank you to Safari Don from Don Whitley Scientific for looking after Vixie whilst she had her hair cut. Sophie from SW performance for finding me the Canicross race. Not many coaches have to plan round training for me & Vixie. Mid week Easter break to Anglesey then World qualifiers, it’s already been a good month and looking forward to the next race.
Newport & District Running Club 