Extreme Dog Race night + summer race 2022

2022-08-19 - 2022-08-20

Weekend obstacle races – night run for 4,7 km and day run for 10,2 km, 19 – 20.8.2022

These two extremely difiicult races will be again unforgettable. We ran through hard technical terrain, with steel uphill and downhill sessions, and a lot of stones, roots and other unstable and uneven terrains, somewhere the paths were very bushy, full of nettles, bramble and thistles and on top of that tricky obstacles from the organisers. But we didn’t give up, ran as fast as we could and it paid off. We waded through cold water, mud and overcame other difficulties on the track. First at night and a few hours later during the day on the long track for 10,23 km and elevation almost 300 m.

For the night race we took our young canicrossers Erik Lajbner ran with Amiga and I Miroslava Lajbnerová ran with Bella, our daughter Natalie took her best running partner Vendetta. Young females do not have much experience yet, but they did very well, we just have to train more crawling under a net through mud. Amiga did not like this at all. Otherwise, we have to say they were great, all 3 of them. Erik rulled his class and won gold medal in the cathegory men 45 +. Natalie in younger women’s cathegory unde 29 years old came 9th out of 27 and I finished 4th/16 among women 30 – 45.

In the day race, there was a junior cathegory, where Natalie could start (9-15 years). To let other dogs from our pack enjoy the races, too, she took Skazka. But they are not so well used to running together, so it cost her 1st place, only by 4 seconds she finished 2nd. Nonetheless out of 22 junoirs, it is perfect placement.

For the long track Erik and I chose our most experienced runners Frozen and Diamond. The track was long and difficult, weather boiling hot. The promised cold weather and rain did not come. We started round noon in the hottest part of the day. Even though we soaked the dogs wet before start, there were several river crossings on the track, but the open meadows and fields on 6th km were exhausting. We had to slow down dramatically there, as the dogs were really hot. But as soon as we hid in the shade of the forest again, they started to go faster again. I loved the stony downhill paths this time and Erik enjoyed more the steep uphill ones, so we exchanged in the front and helped each other here and there. For next time I must train the hill more, so that I can keep up with Erik. Final score – Erik again 1st, I finished 4th.

Thanks to everybody who helped with organisation, thanks to photographers, the races were great, atmosphere lovely and experience strong. Now, we are very tired, but we have a great feeling of our and the dogs’ performance. We have a lot to remember.