Many of you will know Heather Jenner as one of our athletes in the World of Pete Endurance squad. Below, Heather gives her fascinating account of her recent canicross adventures in France.
After all the training, the travelling, the accommodation booking, the vet paperwork and the packing.
“The running, will be the easy bit” I say.
How. Wrong. I. Was. This championship was not easy.
We ran the 1st race like we would in training, although it was very hot even in the shade. The race distance had already been cut short, I’d had a little warm up of the air temperature running with my friends son in the junior class.
“Let’s just get it done and see” the event won’t be won today.
Our result; 1st in our AG by 1 second.
And so began our ‘holiday’; 8 days of fuelling right, driving to each race locations early to walk the routes, caring for my dogs Milly & puppy Oz, making each day fun for them. Not only had I’d been improving my own fitness in the lead up to the event with the World of Pete group, vets league and SAL. I’d been doubling up some training days by training with my canicross dog Milly to be race fit in harness. Early mornings before work, heading to the forest to run or bike and sometimes to rest my legs a friend would run her on his rig team.
We were out in France competing in a 8 stage event called the Trophee Sud Bourgogne.
I ran each race to the max, most stages there was seconds between 1st and 2nd. I had held the lead but the lady in 2nd was not letting go and I was now really battling with my nerves. I’d kept my race results off social media, but the world of Pete relay girls had been checking in with me since setting off, and now I really needed them. Their encouraging words, messages and Hayley’s go to motivational soundtrack I had on in the morning while eating my porridge on day 4. The day before had been an exhausting one, it was the first of 2 longer routes in the trophy, with a bit of road and a water crossing, by the last 2km Milly had lost her drive and I ran to the finish drawing on my cross country experience with the club. Race 4 result was a complete shock after starting the day trying to stamp out the nerves and uncertainty if my form could continue I won by over a minute. The girls came through, and I had their words repeating in my head as I ran.
Away from racing I was keeping my afternoons light, our campsite was a short stroll from a typical French village and lake to entertain the dogs at.
The start times for race 5 were revealed late….mass starts. I’d forgotten the race organisers loved to add surprises to the itinerary. The temperatures were still not dropping so start times were being brought forward. This meant my route recces were now starting in the dark with a headtorch to guide the way. Oz found this very exciting with the bikes whizzing past us into the darkness. Introducing him to the joys of racing was a nice distraction away from my nerves and loosened away any tension from the previous day of racing. No recovery or rest days here.
Race 6 & 7 we’d finished 2nd both days, our average pace was between 3:39/km – 3:54/km, I was totally astonished we could still hold this pace with a week of racing in our legs. But was our AG competitor peaking for one final showdown? Still just seconds between us, she was not giving up and neither was I.
Race 8, the race organisers had nick named ‘the marathon stage’, starting in the picturesque town of Rigny-sur-Arroux, we had to cross a little stream just to get to the start line. Then a gradual uphill on farm tracks to a short section of woodland until after 4km it was then all downhill to the finish. I decided not to walk the course, I really appreciated the knowledge of the route being shared to me by our English speaking competitors.
Little did I know the last stage would be my favourite race, we were starting fastest last. Same as the last week with seeded starts from the previous day finish times, men, women all AG’s together. I was second to last lady to go, not only were we still 1st in our AG but second lady overall. If I could just keep my competitor in my sights we could hold on. I saw her start and it was FAST!
Although her dog was still quite young I’d leant that she’d finished 2nd in the Trophee Des Montagnes this summer, the mountain version of this competition.
And I had a previous winner chasing me down. No pressure then?! We’d been battling each other all week, each pushing the other to achieve faster times, our rivalry was the friendliest I’ve ever experienced. She had a comfortable lead in her age group category but this wasn’t stopping her produce super speedy times every single day. I felt very privileged to toe the line with these ladies, let alone keep up.
The gradual uphill was a nice leg warm up, interval starts had been reduced from 30 to 15 secs, which made more exciting racing for the dogs, they had someone to chase and Milly was on the hunt.
I knew she was hot, I didn’t want to loose time stopping at the puddles on the climb up so I let her splash her way through all of them. We started picking off some of the ladies in the top 5 of other AG’s. By the time we reached the second patch of tarmac we were within a few lengths of our competitor. We just needed to keep on pushing the pace. This was the last race. The decider.
Catching up with the main pack of the other runners, was the motivation needed, Milly was passing so many dogs, our friends who had started earlier, we’d caught them all up. Not looking back we’d past our AG competitor she’d stopped to give her dog a drink. I didn’t look back. A faster male came bouncing past us, they made it look so easy.
“C’mon Heather remember those inspiring quotes, remember the hot laps of track, don’t give up now just keep on breathing.”
I’d recce’d the finish, I like to have a recognisable landmark telling me “this is it”. The long sleek trees to my right told me only 200 metres to go. A crowd cheering at the finish. One last sprint finish.
We’d done it.
Lying in the grass at the finish, I cheered the last of the finishers, some of our friends I’d past in the last km. and also my fellow competitors. Milly was doing a victory roll. I am so proud of her. We’d run the fastest female time of the stage. She’d left the best ‘til last, and I couldn’t have been more happier. Were those sweat in my eyes or tears, it was all over.
We could now call ourselves Trophee Sud Bourgogne canicross champions.
1st in our AG and 2nd fastest female canicross of the entire competition.
Our small but mighty Team GB and Ireland team mates were also celebrating numerous achievements and podium results. We had a wonderful evening at the award ceremony, the kids got huge trophies, the dogs lots of tasty treats and the adults lots of wine. What else would you expect from the region in France. I have saved mine for our next evening celebration with the WoP girls. A big thank you to them for getting me through the week. I wonder if any of them would want to join me in person next year?
