Ultra Running Dogs
In 2013 both of our Japanese Akita Inus made their debut on the Ultra running scene.
What is an Ultra? An ‘Ultra’ is simply a race which is longer than marathon distance.
Why would you enter one? I have no idea, it's a very good question!
In May 2013 Akiko entered and completed, along with Quintin, her first 31 mile (50km) Ultra distance cross country in in the Malvern Hills. Tok and I didn’t enter that race as we clearly had more sense at the time. So when the discussion came around about the 'Might Contain Nuts' race we decided to give it a go. After all, we have months to practice, surely it'll be fine?
JAIC Newsletter
Issue 16
8
So in December 2013 Akiko and Tokaloshi both entered the Might Contain Nuts Brecon Beacon 42 mile (66km) Ultra. This is the last race of the 4 race series of Ultra races around the Brecon Beacons area. We had entered this race along with a friend who also runs many of the cani-cross races with us. She had started the previous year but pulled out at the 26 mile mark so had unfinished business with the race.
We all set off from our respective work places the evening before the race, meeting up at the headquarters to register. There we saw a few of the other cani-crossers and had a quick chat before heading off to the pub that we were staying at for dinner and into bed. The next morning we got up early and back to the HQ in time for the briefing and a 7:30am start just as the dawn was breaking.
Unusually for Wales, it was not raining and looked like it could well be a dry, if cold, day ahead of us. The thing that I really hate is walking/running in the rain, so quite what possessed me to enter this I’m not quite sure. The start was up a gentle slope along a narrow path which made for somewhat slow going while we were still quite bunched up. The dogs were all pulling hard so we made good time up the first hill. Over a couple of stiles (it’s definitely useful to teach your dog how to negotiate stiles if you don’t want to lift them every time) and then the field had thinned out quite a bit so it was much easier running, or would have been if we weren’t still heading up the side of a mountain!
With an Ultra, unless you’re one of the front runners, the objective is to finish, ideally to finish in a good time for you personally. There are added considerations on the off-road races as while the course was well signposted, there were some interesting decisions to be made as to how to get from one marker to another where there’s no obvious path. Fortunately it had been pretty dry for the weeks leading up to the race, which meant it was merely muddy and wet underfoot over most of the course. Previous years racers had to contend with rain, swampy sections (which were just a bit boggy this year) and hail in one case.
Preparation is everything in races like this, and had proved to be a bit of a problem for me. I had been travelling quite a lot with work for the 8 months prior to the race. While I was able to take the dogs with we had done quite a lot of short runs before work, but not really done the longer runs at the weekend that we should have done. This was compounded by a hamstring problem I had been battling with for a couple of months. Added to which neither Tok or I had ever done more than a half-marathon distance before so really had no idea if we would be able to complete it.