From mud runner to British Champ and 2nd in the World!
When I started canicross back in 2014, it was all about keeping fit with my Springador Jess and having fun together on the (often muddy) trails!
Nearly 10 years on and I’m still loving the trails, now with all 3 of my dogs and running speeds I never believed were possible for me.
So, keep dreaming, have fun and of course contact me if you would like any help with your training.
Improving together as a team
After about 3 years of fun together with Jess in the UK, we moved to Germany in 2016 where we discovered a whole new world of fun events, from dog triathlons to team relays and even skijoring!
OuR first race together in Germany
We discovered wonderful trails, a really friendly community and an introduction into a whole new world of canicross!
Cross training
As well as canicross I was still loving other challenges and completed the beautiful Zell am See IronMan 70.3.
Skijoring experience
I was excited when I realised my new home in Germany would bring good snow most winters! JessDog loves the cold and I knew we had to try…. its harder than it looks!
Our 1st International Race
After a few years in Germany and being lucky enough to take part in so many both fun and more serious races together, we decided to dream big and head to the World Championship in Poland. It was such a wonderful experience, so many incredible athletes with a huge range of dog breeds and fun trails. I was so proud to achieve 33rd Place for our first big race together, behind many experienced runners and large hound dogs!
First International Race – Poland 2018
We discovered wonderful trails, a really friendly community and an entrance into a whole new world of competitive canicross!
StrongDog LOVE
We were so lucky to be part of the StrongDog Team and spent many weekends travelling around Germany to the most fun races from biathlon, swim-runs and longer trail races.
IronDog 2019
This is one of my favourite achievements with Jess, 1st Place in the Women’s IronDog Triathlon (Swim, Scooter, Run)! It is a really brutal event on crazy trails, climbing is involved on the run, carrying the scooter over water crossings and a very cold lake to start the swim!
My first hound – Poppy Rocket
At the end of 2018 after the wonderful experience in Poland, I knew I was ready for my very own hound. After lots of research and speaking with friends and experts in the sport, I found a little pup available from a great breeder in Belgium. Her name was Poppy, a small Scandinavian hound from strong racing lines and I knew it was meant to be…
Learning to run with Poppy
Having a hound was a new experience for me and since she was already 5 months when we took her home to Germany, we had a lot to learn together. The journey we had was challenging but so rewarding. She was used to living outside with many other sleddogs, so even getting her used to being in a home (and getting her house trained) was the first hurdle!
Out First Races
It wasn’t long before we started canicrossing together once she was old enough and we gradually built up the distance together. Poppy’s focus to run on the trails is just unbelievable and I was very lucky in not needing to train this aspect at all. Commands and directions seem to come naturally to her and passing other dogs was also no problem. We raced our first season with some lovely runs in the Czech Republic and even managed to win the Fitmin Cup there together.
TDM – 2019 – JessDog Power
Unfortunately during the summer of 2019 the worst thing happened and Poppy got a really deep cut on her paw from some glass left in a lake. I was signed up to compete at the famous TDM Stage race in France in August, but Poppy was unable to run. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to complete the 10 stages with Jess alone, but she was just incredible. You can read our full story and watch the video with the links below.
Top 10 in Europe
After returning from our amazing adventure in the French Alps, the training needed to begin already to build up the distance with Poppy again and prepare for the season ahead. After her injury it took time for us to get back up to speed and we were only able to have one real practice race in Germany, before heading to Belgium for the European Championships.
Building strength together
At the start of October, only a few weeks before the Europeans we were able to compete in a competitive race in Germany on some challenging and technical trails. This was Poppy’s first 2 day race and great preparation head of Belgium.
Belgium 2019
I travelled to Belgium full of nerves and excitement, not knowing what to expect together with Poppy at such a young age. I was so delighted with how Poppy ran (for me not so good- falling over in the mud!), but still giving us 8th place and only seconds off the podium.
#1 rank in Germany
For us Belgium felt like just the beginning and we continued to progress as a team throughout our first season together. A special moment for me was winning our first VDSV race in Lauf, our ‘home’ ground. This result along with some other successes that season gave us the number 1 ranking in Germany.
Whirlwind 2020
2020 was a year like we never could imagine, but I still managed to have as much fun as possible on the trails with all the dogs. It was an opportunity to train harder, grow the bonds with my dogs even stronger and achieve paces I never even dreamt of running! You can read a detailed report of our year on our sponsor Fitmin’s website:
Mountain Man
In March we were lucky enough to still compete in a mountain race in Austria just before lockdown. We ran the Mountain Man event of 12.5km (+180m and -720m) in very snowy conditions in a time of 54:30, enough for 2nd place.
Fitmin Series Slovakia
At the beginning of September I spent 2 weeks in Slovakia so I could run all 3 races of the Fitmin Series there, which was an amazing experience. Poppy was just incredible, and we had so much fun on the varied trails they offered and were able to take 1st place for all the races and therefore win the overall Cup.
Super-Sonic
In June 2020 we collected our lovely 3rd dog Sonic, a eurohound from Slovenia. He is such a happy, energetic boy and shows great potential already. So we started just running shorter distances together and train a lot on commands and focus. I really loved our journey of learning to run together and am excited for his future.
2021-2022 Season
Many races were cancelled due to Covid, which was a shame for what was meant to be Sonic’s first season. However, we continued to train hard in the background, competing in many virtual races and building up to our first 5k together, which still remains to be our PB at 13:43. Unfortunately a stress fractured ended my season early, but I learnt so much and came back psychologically stronger with a new and adaptable approach to my own training. I fought back to fitness and it was definitely worth all the hard work when we won the title of British Champions in March 2022, literally a dream come true!
Sub 14 5k
I new Sonic and I could run well together over the shorter distances, but never dreamt we could hold that kind of pace for 5k, my dream boy!
2 X British Champions ’22 ’23
It was a tough road back from injury, as well as relocating ourselves back to UK from Germany, but we never gave up and were over the moon to win the British Champs Race.
The following year we were able to retain our title and again take the top spot as female canicrosser in the UK.
Top 5 at ICF World Champs
I’ll never forget the races in Pledran, France… Finishing Day 1 in 3rd place, but only seconds between many athletes. On Day 2 (mass start above), the lead girl fell over, causing dominos and unfortunately we got caught in the mess, only being able to hold onto 5th, but still an achievement I am so proud of.
icf vice- world champion 2023
In October 2023 we travelled back to Germany for the ICF world championships. With an extremely strong line up and over 70 competitors, our goal (if we ran very well) was to try to hold on to a top 5 ranking.
SuperSonic and I had two fantastic runs together over the weekend and our dream came true to podium at an international race, talking silver!
A memory and an achievement of a lifetime that I will never forget.
DEFEND BRITISH TITLE
My main goal for the year is to defend our British title, whilst staying healthy, having fun and enjoying the trails with all the dogs.
Run hard for our sponsorS
Of course we hope that we can race in real competitions again soon and will do our best to make our sponsors proud.
Share my passion with others
A big focus for me now is to offer more virtual and 1-1 coaching sessions to help others reach their goals.
