interview with a PRO: Petr Fochler

Petr Fochler 20 years a promise of canicross still very young but also with a very good reason to be on an interview with a PRO. He collected excellent results in a very short time. A reason maybe is becouse he's from the Czech rep. a country where there's so many good canicrossers. He has a very clear idea on how to train and how to bring its potential to the top.
Enjoy this interview :)


First of all some warm up questions
Do you smoke ?
No, I don´t


You are young ,definitely you plays PS or PC games .Your favorite games?
 Warcraft 3, Medal of Honor, Gothic..... but today I have a little time for playing computer games


Favorite drink?
Maybe Kofola ( Czech cola )


Ok , I think is enough , let's be more serious begin with the interview 


Could you tell our readers a little about yourself
My name is Petr Fochler, I´m 20 and I´m from the Czech Republic. Now I am  studying  landscaping in Mendel University. I have 1 dog ( European sledgedog ) and our family has 2 other "family" dogs – Border Collies



Why did you start with the canicross ? What has fascinated you?
For the first time I tried canicross at the  races. I enjoyed  it so I started with traning. I like  canicross because of the cooperationbetween dogs and people. In canicross,  we must be 1 team, me and my dog..


Which other sports do you practice?
 I like many sports but „competitively“ only canicross and runnig(cross). Sometimes I play floorball with my friends and I like swimming. I think that it is very important to do more different sports  because the body needs works of all muscles.



Explain to as your typical training day.
My typical trainig day is changes  with the time of the year. In summer, is  which the main part of my training,  I must get up  up before 5 o´clock AM because later it is too hot weather for my dog. And after training the dog, I must training myself too.


If I say Sopron, 2009 which is the first image that comes to your mind ?
It is definitely rain and the crazy start the second day – it was only the second race with my young European sledgedog and he was very nervous. He was barking and jumping  to me. After  5 crazy  minutes we could start. It was incredible. And problems with starts that ´s  what we have until now.


Do you have a mentor or an "idol-role model" in the canicross?
Mentor? Myself :D And my role model is my friend and great canicross man Jirka Suchý. He is the best racer in the Czech canicross history.


This year you run for the first time at the European canicross MAN category and obtained the 4th palce. How did you feel and how did the "opponents" react to this results?
I enjoyed this year European championship. In Belgium there was great weather and the Czech group in this race was awesome. First day was the mass start of 60 racers. It was very difficult for people and mainly for dogs. Our start was bad and there we had to overtake o lot of  racers. After the first day, we has the 7th place.
Second day, we started individually. We prefer this type of start. My dog Ponča ran great and in finish we have the 4th  place. It was great for me and I was very satisfied. I think that my opponents werw surprised because we were  unknown in European canicross.
And the greatest experience came during the national relays where we obtained with Jirka Suchý and Vláďa Šáfr the gold medal. I ran the 3rd section and it was great race.


You are known as a canicross talent in Czech rep. What do you think about it? 
In the Czech Republic there are a lot of great canicrossers and it is very diffilcult to do a good result. At the beginning I run with my border collie. He was runing with pleasure and we improved together. And now I run  with my ESP Ponča.



Do you remember your first race?(How it was?)
My first race was Cakovsko – novodvorský okruh in autumn 2005. It was a race with „family“ atmosphere and I knew there many  great people. After the races I started with training and in spring 2006 we took part in our  second race.


In 2008 you made your first appearance in the European championship and you obtained an excellent result. How did you feel?
It was after the 3rd  season and European championship was in the Czech Republic. I think that it was  a great experience. We started in the junior category and we obtained  the 4th place. It was great championat and for me a big experience. I ran there with my Border Collie a nd he was running  great but unfortunately he could not run faster. But the 4th  place in the  first championship was great.

A dream that you would like to come true?
Of course I have some dreams which i would like to come true but I think that I can keep them  for myself.


You are very young and you still have a long way ahead of you. 
Do you have some plans for the future?
I don´t like some long-term plans because it depend on many things such as health, time and unfortunately money too. But this year I want to participate  at the European championship in Poland and do some good result in this race.



Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview! Do you have anything else you would like to add? 
I must  thank   my family and my friends because their support is very important for me. And also my general sponsor Mr. Kessler ( www.chovateluvsvet.cz )
And for the end our webpage www.borderaci.wbs.cz


video
Canicross Europe Campionships 2010 Belgium - RELAY
by vladazjablonce



all photos are a courtesy of Petr Fochler