We continue our series on exciting sporting events by featuring a company doing things a bit differently. This Cornwall-based events organiser, Purple Gecko, started out hosting standard trail races, and has since responded to demand to include canicross.

Purple Gecko sought expertise from the canicross community to develop a Canicross Championship Series, and now have eight, possibly more, canicross races on the calendar for the 2023-24 season.

Where else would you want to canicross than in the beautiful county of Cornwall. Most races avoid the coastal paths for safety, but all the courses take advantage of Cornwall's natural terrain.

https://www.purplegeckoevents.co.uk/

As part of the Event Series, Louise and Michelle interview BSSF Vice-President Howard Clark about their races.

The interview raised a lot of important issues about sled dog sports in Britain however, and we chat through hopes and aspirations for the future of the British Sled-dog Sports Federation. We delve into international qualification, age categories, the challenges of finding suitable locations to race, and lots more.

NEW: We discuss changes to vaccination rules for competition

DID YOU KNOW? BSSF membership provides insurance which covers you to race.

More info on the BSSF website 

You can find Howard on his Instagram @k9velocity

Back on Episode 60, you may remember we interviewed Ellie, who had just completed the first ever edition of the Ultra Cani-Trail. In this episode, Louise and Michelle chat to organiser Johnny Fletcher as he prepares for the next edition.

https://www.canitrailuk.co.uk/ultra-cani-trail

Continuing with our exciting event series, Louise and Michelle chat to Emily Thomas about what inspired her to set up this exciting event which happens annually, early on in the canicross season.

The disciplines of canicross (running with dogs) and bikejor (biking with dogs) have been growing rapidly in the UK for the last 10 years, so Emily and her colleagues organise a canicross run, an aquathlon (running and swimming), a duathlon (biking and running) and a full triathlon.

Next year's event in September 2024 will be on sale in Spring 2024, and you can find out more on the Tri Dog website or Facebook page.

In this episode, continuing our event series, Michelle and Louise chat to Katie from Trail Dogs

Michelle and Louise chat to Dawn Crook-Richards who organises the Canix series of races across the UK.

Follow Canix on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tik Tok too

In today's episode, Michelle chats to Debs White, founder of canicross event series Lakeland Paws. Canicross in England's only mountain forest.

Photo credit: Steve Ashworth Media

In this episode, Michelle and Louise chat to Peter Howse of Devon Howlers. Peter runs the Devon Howlers club, and has set up his own event, the Newnham Bark, for canicross, bikejor and rigs. 

Join the Devon Howlers Facebook group here

In this episode, Louise chats to Pickle's vet all about grass. What does it mean when your dog eats grass, and how should you deal with grass seed