Stephanie Mach: a look back at the first race of 2024

The first race we ran this year took place on 25 March 2024 in Hradec Králové: Canicross Křížová desítka. As part of our preparation for the FMBB World Championship, I approached this race as a “training” one, to find out what we could still work on.

The trail was in a forest, with no elevation gain, and measured 3.5 km. It looked very similar to what we will be running in a month’s time at the World Championship in Italy, so it was just ideal, because before important races I try to simulate their route as closely as possible, both in training and, ideally, in warm-up races too. However, as it was a hobby race, I asked the organisers to let us start right at the beginning, to avoid any possible pile-ups with other dogs.

Ante ran the whole route with confidence and didn’t hesitate once in the turns, and I tried to run by feel, not to go all out, but rather to enjoy it and just stretch out my stride. After the run we went off to enjoy a good coffee and waited for the results. I was pleasantly surprised that we managed to grab a lovely 3rd place, right behind well-known racers with strong European sled dogs. I was absolutely delighted with Ante’s performance, and as for me, my coach and I agreed on what to work on a little before the World Championship. So we’ll see how things go for us in Italy in a month.

More about Stephanie and Antaios on the Stephanie Mach page.