How could you imagine spending months or years preparing for an arduous 13-mile marathon and then defeating it because of a puppy that had no prior instruction?

In fact, that’s precisely what occurred at the Elkmont Trackless Train Half Marathon in Canada, when an injured bloodhound called Ludivine wanted to join in the fun after being allowed out merely to relieve herself.

In order to get away, the adorable dog crawled through the garden fence and ran straight to the starting line.

Ludivine even strayed off the path many times, such as when he ran off to play with a herd of cows. For this reason, the fact that he succeeded in completing the course in an hour and fifteen minutes was the most impressive one.

The result was that the lovely German shepherd came in eighth place. He even made a pit stop at the two-mile mark to scent a dead rabbit.

In honour of Ludivine’s presence in the half-marathon, the official Facebook page for Elkmont’s Hound Dog Half has shared some of the photos from the event. It might just be the finest photo album in the world.

Following Ludivine’s incredible performance, she was awarded a medal by her owner, April Hamlin, who said:

“All I did was open the door, and she went out and ran the race on her own,” Initially, I felt ashamed and concerned that she could have gone down the path of the other runners, which was natural.

Jim Clemens, a runner who finished fourth in the same half marathon, also described how the dog would speed by him: “Every time I thought she had dropped off to go back to the house, I would hear her running back up to me and she would try to overtake me up to the two leaders.”

“She’d rush out to frolic through the streams and into yards to sniff around for a bit.”

Enjoy your success Ludivine!

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