Tawney takes silver

The Leamington C&AC athlete was part of a 50-strong Great Britain team competing against nine other teams from across Europe.

Tawney was leading on day one until the final 100m of the female masters’ competition when she was passed by France’s Emmanuelle Grisius.

The following day, the 51-year-old was again second, nearly a minute down on Grisius, which was good enough to claim the runners-up spot when the two times were combined.

“My rescue dog Bryn was fantastic but couldn’t compete with the massive 40kg Eurohound that the French girl ran with which pulled her all the way,” said Tawney.

“I’m really pleased to medal again. In this country canicross is a sport that people do to have fun with their pet dog.

“In Europe it is taken much more seriously and the dogs are bred especially to compete, like racehorses over here.”

The UK team also came away with bronze medals in the junior boys’ and female bikejoring, which sees dogs attached to the handlebars of a mountain bike.