Published: Thursday, 26th November, 2009 7:55am

Meet Mitch, the cross-country-running dog!

by Graham Gibson

PERFECT PAIR: Colin with Mitch.

A CARNEGIE HARRIERS runner is proof you can teach an old dog new tricks after claiming to be the only man in Scotland to go cross-country running with his pet pooch.

Colin Reid (42), Dover Park, Dunfermline, and his three-year-old Border Terrier, Mitch, have been taking part in new sport CaniX, racing over courses of 5km.

The pair sit fourth in the UK Championship table for the 40-49 age group, as wee Mitch holds his own running over the 'ruff' terrain against Huskies, Dalmatians and Labradors.

Colin said, "I'm the only one travelling from Scotland to do these events at the minute.

"It's huge in England and Europe and we travel everywhere, from Wales to London, and Mitch loves it.

"The dogs have to pull or run alongside you, you can't drag them round, so where I lose a lot of advantage is the big dogs are actually pulling the guys off their feet.

"A top international athlete does it, he does phenomenal times, but it goes from that extreme to folk in their 60s doing it for fun.

"It's promoting fitness for you and your dog."

Colin first discovered Mitch's love of running when he took him and his other Border Terrier, Jake, along to running sessions with Carnegie Harriers.

"This worked out great except that Jake wanted to sniff, roll in everything, explore, anything but run, but Mitch was in his element and he loved to run," he explained.

Colin discovered CaniX on the internet, while searching for a harness for Mitch, and decided to enter his first race at Kielder Forest in Northumberland.

"There were lots of different dogs, most bigger and more powerful than wee Mitch," he said.

"Everyone was friendly, even most of the dogs, so wee Mitch and I started to feel a bit less intimidated.

"We went off at 15-second intervals and Mitch was flying at the start, quickly passing the runner and dog that started in front of us.

"We headed through a muddy section, Mitch up to his belly at bits but it didn't stop him, I was struggling to keep up, then over a bridge and a flat section towards the finish.

"In our first CaniX race we came in third in our age group category, which shocked a few people when they saw the size of wee Mitch."

Since then Colin and Mitch have been hooked and they can now look forward to Scotland's first ever CaniX event next year.

"Everybody is asking how the dog racing is doing because if you look about a lot of people cycle and run with their dogs.

"Anyone can do it so why not have a go as it's good for both you and your dog," he said.

"There's also a event in Peebles in April, which will hopefully get more Scots involved, so plenty time for practice and time also for me to try and get lazy boy Jake off the sofa and try him at CaniX."

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