After last spring’s preview, once again, Bardonecchia saw the ‘Charge of the 101’, or rather the ‘1001’, as almost a thousand dogs of all sizes and breeds peacefully invaded the town for the Canicross World Championship. An event that brought together over 600 athletes from all over the world, touching 3 continents, accompanied by their inseparable dogs. An extraordinary experience, not only from a technical point of view, but also for the human relationships that were created and strengthened.
On Friday, the big event kicked off with the parade: the streets of the city centre were stormed in a festive and naturally noisy manner all the way to the Palazzo delle Feste to officially kick off the event with the greeting of the authorities and the CSEN Canicross Italia top management. Saturday morning got into full swing with the competition divided into three disciplines: running, bike and scooter (a kind of scooter with large wheels) in the presence of a large curious and interested public spread out along the track from Campo Smith to Melezet. A veterinary team was also present and available 24 hours a day on the competition site, demonstrating the great attention paid to the well-being of animals not only during the competition but also in their resting moments, as emphasised by Franco Quercia, national head of the Canicross discipline, who pointed out: ‘What characterises this sport is the great attention paid to dogs, our life companions, and it is the only sport that provides for a pre-race veterinary check.
Bardonecchia, with its enchanting Alpine landscape, provided the perfect backdrop to this event, which highlighted the importance of logistics and organisation in the mountains. Canicross, a sport that creates a unique bond between a human being and his dog, was the absolute star, and the emotion surrounding this discipline completely invaded the ‘Pearl of the Alps’. The strength of the dog-human duo manifested itself in hugs, tears of joy and smiles, in an atmosphere of sharing and mutual respect.
Great satisfaction also came from the municipal administration, with Deputy Mayor Vittorio Montabone commenting on the success of the event: ‘We are very happy to have been able to host this event in Bardonecchia and we thank CSEN and the entire movement for choosing our territory to hold these competitions. Our commitment was maximum to organise the reception of athletes, accompanying persons and their dogs in the best possible way. We can only sincerely thank all those who made this event possible, starting with the International Canicross Federation, Canicross Italia CSEN, and all the sponsors and partners, such as Lavazza, Neewa, Prolife Pet, DogSpecialist.it, Chifa, and many others. In a period of low season, albeit a beautiful one, Bardonecchia was thus able to see its streets and squares populated with the uniforms and colours of no less than 630 athletes from 27 nationalities, belonging to three different continen
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