Historic overview of Finnish basenjis in racing In Australia and the USA basenjis have been classified as sighthounds for several years now and there have been more than enough participants for both lure coursing and racing competitions. This great abundance of competitiors has meant that the settings and surroundings for these competitions have been first class. However, in Finland basenji racing used to mean just running after everything that moved or just chasing working dogs in dog parks. It was only after rumours about foreign success had reached Finland that also we Finns became interested in this subject. Basenji racing in Finland was generated among such club members who also had greyhounds. These club members would take their basenjis along as they took their greyhounds to the track. And with the kind assistance from sighthound clubs, we had opportunities to test how basenjis race. Thanks to the innate intstincts of basenjis, lure coursing proved successful and after a few good experiences the interest towards racing grew rapidly. In 1992 the chairman of the Finnish Basenji Club, Ms. Marja Kärki, hired the race track of Tuomarinkartano with its experts to test our dogs. At first only few dogs were entered to the race, with several onlookers watching close by, doubting their abilities. The dogs ran one at a time, without a muzzle, unless they came from the same family. The great speed and consistency in chasing exhibited by these first-timers amazed the sighthound people. Since then the club has hired the race track 2 – 4 times a year with more and more participants each time. The first three times have usually only been rehersals, while the last time has acted as the club’s own competition with official timing. In 1996 the first Finnish basenji, FIN Ch. Bribas El Emir, undercut 40 seconds on a 480-meter grass track. That same year basenjis were asked to participate in the Finnish championships for sighthounds as performing runners. With racing becoming more widely known, the Finnish Basenji Club set up a special racing committee in 1996. The main task of the committee was to further and co-ordinate basenji racing, and the members of this committee were Ms. Anita Sandqvist, Ms. Pia Friman, and Mr. Jouni Heikura. Some of the first tasks of the racing committee were to improve the training opportunities and to build up contacts to sighthound clubs. The dream was to some day have basenjis participating in official sighthound competitions. The committee prepared an application to the SVKL for allowing basenjis permission to join sighthound clubs and to take part in training sessions, and, finally, possibly even competitions. The board of the SVKL granted the permission and made the Finnish Basenji Club member of the SVKL. Basenjis were allowed to be entered to official races but only to inofficial starts. The SVKL set a precondition that for a period of one year they would first want to see how well basenjis would run and how eagerly their owners would enter them to races. In Finland basenjis had not yet had individual muzzles, and Ms. Tiina Jokiniemi was confronted with a problem: how to place a muzzle in a head with a broad skull and neck, but with a short nose. After some experiments in the early summer a correct version was finally come up with. Little by little the members gained experience and began to spread their knowledge to others, too. Club members were informed of how to buy a correct muzzle; of the importance of practicing; of how to teach two dogs to race simoultaneously etc. At the same time training sessions were initiated in Pori, Hyvinkää and Helsinki. In 1997, the 25th anniversary of the Finnish Basenji Club, the application of the club had reached a stage when basenjis were finally granted the right to participate in competitions as members of the SVKL from the beginning of 1998. Today racing as a hobby is on the increase in Finland. Especially in field coursing the number of participants is increasing constantly. In 1999 Gyltholmens Tomtom, owned by Mr. Jouni Heikura, was the first Finnish basenji to gain 5 CC’s from field coursing competitions.