A man, his dog and a big jog: The duo driving 2,500 miles for sporting glory

Forget Crufts - Matthew Millikin and his best four-legged running mate Dizzy are taking things to the next sporting level.

This week they're packing the campervan full of luggage and snacks and setting off from Comber, County Down, on a three-day, 1,300-mile drive to Pardubice in the Czech Republic.

Their goal? To take on Europe's best and emerge victorious in the Canicross World Championships - a kind of Human-Dog Olympics, in which competitors will vie for glory across various age categories.

High-energy Canicross events include bikejoring - in which a dog or team of dogs runs in front of a bike - and scooter disciplines in which dogs and their owners race through mud trails and forest tracks.

Dizzy, a seven-year-old border collie with energy to burn, was once a farm pup with sheep to chase. Now, he's swapped the fields for cross-country running.

Meanwhile his owner, 60-year-old Matthew, is getting the team ready for a three-day trek across Europe, including time for plenty of walks along the way, so they can be at the starting line for their events on Friday and Saturday.

"He's full of good looks, high intelligence, and highly athletic," said Matthew of his teammate.

"He would run all day, he is so much fitter and smarter than I am.

"In order to take part, Dizzy needs to be fit, and in order for him to be fit then I need to be fit, and getting both of us fitter keeps our minds going."

Matthew first learnt about canicross when he was out with Dizzy on a trail at Stormont Estate in Belfast.

A woman came up to them and introduced him to the sport, and an organisation called Waggy Races which organises cross-country running events.

The races, which happen two to three times per year in places like Tollymore Forest Park and Portstewart Strand, see competitors take part in 5k runs with their dogs.

Two weeks after meeting the woman, Matthew and Dizzy were signed up for their first waggy race at Mount Stewart, County Down.

"The rest is, as they say, history," he added.

So now Matthew and Dizzy are loading up the campervan for the 2,658-mile round trip.

The itinerary will see the pair take the ferry to Cairnryan in Scotland, before driving to Hull for a ferry to Rotterdam.

They will then drive through the Netherlands and Germany to the Czech Republic.

It's an exciting time - though they're not expecting it to be easy. For one thing, Dizzy's herding instinct can sometimes kick in at the wrong time when training.

"If people come towards him on a narrow trail, he wants them to go the direction that he's going, and he can sort of revert to herding tendencies.

"But that's in training. Actually, in the run itself, he just goes hell for leather."

When competing, Dizzy wears a harness and Matthew a waist belt, with both connected by a bungee rope.

"So, he runs ahead of me and pulls very bad if you're out walking with a dog on a lead, but very good if you're doing canicross. And coming up to a junction, I have to let him know whether he's to go right or left."

Canicross is cross-country running with dogs. Runners attach themselves via a harness and bungee cord to their canine friends - and then race, with the human issuing commands from behind to direct the dog.

The sport began as a training method for sled dogs and evolved into a sport, developed in Scandinavia in 1982, primarily for huskies to keep them fit when snow had melted and they were getting out of shape.

The Canicross World Championships, which is organised by the International Canicross Festival, bring athletes and their dogs together from around the world each year.

Any dog, including smaller breeds, are able to be involved in canicross, however a healthy adult dog and with basic obedience commands and good on-leash manners are able to compete in events.