Canicross can be run with one or two dogs, always attached to the runner.

Also see the related sports of bikejoring and canicross.

The junior-class canicross division featured an abbreviated 0.8-mile course.

Jean-Pierre Talbot is also passionate about tennis, skiing and canicross.

The adult canicross run was 1.7 miles, and Verde, a young Alaskan husky, pulled hard the whole way.

The Goldrush Canicross participants take on the very same route as the trail runners, starting 20 minutes afterwards at 1.20pm.

These competitive bikejor classes often run alongside other classes for canicross and dryland rig racing.

The breed is particularly suited to activities that a dog can share with its owner such as canicross, disc dog, and skijoring or bikejoring.

Bikejoring and canicross are both dryland mushing activities that probably developed from skijoring and dogsled racing.

Czech event organiser, Petr Toncar, said: "The Canicross race has been going since 1996.

The Czech Republic has hosted its first European Canicross and Bikejoring Championship where dogs and humans race together.

"In 1998 the Czech Republic took part in the Euro Canicross in Belgium and since 2005 European championships are organised regularly.

Organised in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Mawddach, the event also incorporates one of the best canicross (runners racing with their dog) events on the calendar.

In October 2012 CaniX UK hosted the first ECF European Canicross Championships in the UK in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.

Canicross events are held all over the UK and Europe by sled dog organisations, by canicross clubs and also many running events will allow runners to participate with their dogs.

Bike-jor and scooter tether canines to bikes and scooters, respectively, while canicross connects dog and human via an elasticized cord, hip belt and harness, creating six-legged man-dog teams that can run consistent five-minute miles on a dirt track.

Alaskan Malamutes are still in use as sled dogs for personal travel, hauling freight, or helping move light objects; some however are used for the recreational pursuit of sledding, also known as mushing, as well as for skijoring, bikejoring, carting, and canicross.