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June 29, 2009

Correlation Between Leg Length & Speed?

The sprint between Eric, Vasco and me, at the Cranmore Hill Climb finish line begs the question:

Is there a correlation between
leg length (& number of legs) and speed?


SERIOUSLY.
I dug up some answers about the relation between
height & running at
Newton's Ask a Scientist.

NOT AS SERIOUS:
The cute dog pictured above is, Vasco Smith. Do not be fooled. Vasco is a powerful mountain runner. Equipped with strong lungs and exceptional turnover in his four legs, she is barely winded on mountain ascents. With a lower center of gravity Vasco never pauses nor stumbles on technical downhills. Added pleasure: dashing through muddy puddles.

As the top dog finisher at Cranmore, Vasco Smith joins the US CANine Mountain Running Pack. Sheba Sharkey (at left) is one of Smith's frequent racing partners who did not race at Cranmore in the championships. In a recent interview, I learned that Sheba will focus on the longer distances instead. Both dogs have been overheard discussing that "running is for the dogs."

Please share your impressive canine running partner stories.
We're searching for other four-legged mountain-running talent to complete The 2009 US CANine Mountain Running Pack.

4 comments:

RawBodyGoddess said...

I am going to start taking my dog Becky, a greyhound shephard cross with me running. After seeing a shephard complete more laps than me at Mt. A I am thinking she will be fine :)

Most dogs beat me. I have no comment on this topic. Actually, the author of the post smokes me at the end of races so I'll just bow out now...

;)

Laurel said...

My Springer, Bart is almost 16 years old. He has put in thousands of trail miles in his lifetime, but has recently retired from the sport. He is now living a life of luxury, lying around and scratching all day. I know he still dreams about the trails because I see his feet going like crazy while he sleeps.

Diane said...

My dogs Tilly (21 pound terrier mutt) and Joe (10 pound Yorkie) have run up to 10 mile runs with me. They would beat the pants off the dogs mentioned in your post if their father would let me bring them to thee events!

somberimp said...

Yey! You're blogging again! Cute post :)
I almost forgot to tell you- I'm keeping a blog of biking across America- veggieviv.blogspot.com :)
Happy 4th!