Aneta Erlebachová: a look back at the Maxičkovský saďák 2023 race

On Sunday 20 August, our favourite mushing race, Maxičkovský saďák, took place at Lake Sadská.

Because of the extremely hot weather, the starts began early in the morning. The trail, which had changed compared with previous years, was 3.5 km long. It was really nice, technical, with lots of turns, and there was even a stretch between the trees.

The first of our “pack” to start was Azeri, in the bikejoring category (cycling with a dog) with Ilona Erlebachová. For Azeri it was the very first race of her mushing career. She was a bit wide-eyed at the start, but in the end she handled the whole route like a pro, and we couldn’t have wished for a better debut. She flew round the whole trail at an average speed of 30.7 km/h, despite two bigger hesitations in the turns. So she fought her way to a superb 1st place in her category.

Just 13 minutes after Azeri, Stormy and I started in the canicross category (running with a dog). Stormy and I had to run to make it to the start, because I had been helping at the start of the previous category and was completely out of time. On the other hand, running to the start rounded off our warm-up nicely.

In the end it wasn’t our best performance, but we still enjoyed the race, and we’re taking home a lovely 2nd place!

And by the way, just like Azeri, Stormy also made her racing debut at the race at Sadská, in 2016.

And the reward for a hard-worked race? A giant ice cream for me and a mega portion of FirstMate kibble for the pooches.

Next up for us is the race at Lesná, which is also the qualifying race for the ICF World Championship in canicross.

More about Aneta on the Aneta Erlebachová page.