Little legs, big dreams

VILNIUS — Cute and adorable Welsh corgis, widely known for their association with the British royal family, are in fact a breed of passionate racers. That's at least according to the 120 teams from around Europe taking part in the Corgi Race Vilnius, in Lithuania's capital, which drew an international bunch of furballs and their owners from countries including Poland, Latvia, Germany, Austria and Italy. Thousands of Lithuanians gathered in the capital's largest park on Saturday and Sunday to watch the events — a solo sprint, a contest for the "mightiest voice," costume challenges, and group racing. The event is set to culminate on Sunday with the so-called World Corgi Meetup, where dogs in Lithuania will be connected via a live broadcast with their peers in the United States, Ireland and Poland. "This is so much fun and great emotion for the entire family, something bright that many people are craving for these days," said retired teacher Janina Stoniene, who attended the race with her three grandchildren. The children said they admired the costume challenge as dogs were dressed in eye-catching outfits like Batman, a princess or an airplane. A corgi named Amigo, sporting a factory-themed costume complete with two tiny chimneys and "Fur Factory" lettering, was named the proud winner of that contest. Another called Mango, whose owners are from Lithuania, was the champion of the solo race. "So this is a mango, like a fruit mango, and we are participating (for the) second time in Corgi Race 2025," said Ignas Klimaika, a proud Corgi lover from Vilnius. "Last year we didn't manage to end the race perfectly. We had a really good training. We had trained every day, but this year we decided we just go without training, just to participate, just to enjoy all the lots of corgis," he said. But this year, Mango won the racing competition, while his owners screamed and waved to try to inspire him to triumph. "He knows what he did and he's really proud of himself," said Ignas, who is already planning for 2026.