Finnish Championship in Canicross

2004-09-19

Tampereen koiraurheilijat (TAKUT) arranged in Kyötikkälä at Kangasala the first official canicross race in Finland. The race had the status of Finnish championship.

Lunowa had entered for the competition two teams. Antti and Uwa run in the class junior boys. Anne's and Nome's aim was to compete in the class women, but Anne was sick in the race morning. The organizers allowed to change Anne to the old timer Jukka. The class amateurs was evaluated appropriate for him.

Antti and Uwa had to run 2.7 kilometers. They won the race and Finnish championship easily, because there were no other competitors in this class. We hope that other boys will find this fine sport, too.

Jukka and Nome were the seventh of 31 amateur competitors. The distance of amateurs was 2.7 kilometers, too. Heidi Kyyrönen with her German Shorthaired Pointer won the amateurs. To everyone's surprise the third in the amateur class was Timo Konttinen with his Chihuahua.

The arrangements of the competition were good. The terrain of the race was rather heavy. The race had altogether 59 teams. It was fine that one could see every kind of dogs in the race. We hope that there will be more canicross races in Finland in the future.

The rules of canicross deny to use shoes that can be dangerous to dogs. In Kyötikkälä there was a slippery downhill, in which studded orienteering shoes had made the running more safe. I have used many years this kind of shoes when running with the dogs in the woods. There have been no problems. In my opinion the studded orienteering shoes should be allowed in canicross. Then at least parts of the canicross race could be in woods.

Here are some photos of the first canicross race in Finland.