This lovely scene, taken from high up, on a remote coastal pathway on the South coast is from one of a series of five endurance running events I was hired to cover by an international events company, Ambition Events. The project stands out as the most enjoyable, rewarding and yet most demanding commissions I have had in my career.
Endurance running events involve a special brand of person ; runners who want something more challenging than ordinary cross-country or road race based marathons. A simple twenty six miles or so just doesn't tick all their boxes.
In all five big events I photographed for the company, they ran two or more marathons back to back over varied terrain most of which was not conventional road surface and rarely was it flat! They managed in fact with very little sleep and , ever vigilant and not wanting to miss a thing or miss recording even the achievement of the last finisher in the very early morning, I slept when I could , in my car, but only for a couple of hours. each time.
At times the porject was sheer joy like here in a small village outside Stratford -Upon- Avon where I arrived by car, set up and waited several hours for all the runners to come through. While waiting there was always plenty of fresh and interesting things to photograph.
By the very nature of the sport of Endurance running, is in so many ways an indiviidual challenge with athletes digging deep into their reserves of stamina, mental strength and courage. It is a battle with the self to push to your limits and beyond. Although several of the events took place in awful weather conditions, and one , which found me high up on Pennine trails ( which I reached on foot, having gotten as near to a pre-planned map point as I could by car), got so bad with storms and torential rain in the wee small hours , was so bad that only one of these hardened individuals, who had both a mountian bike ride marathon plus a running marathon to complete ,actually completed the course.
My mission in life is to always do my best through my photography and always give whatever it takes to give my clients the best. I do a comprehensive job every time. I share the event managers priorities, the sense of duty of care and recognition of what this kind of event takes. In short I also became one of the support team out of choice, always more just a snapper.
The first one home deserves a record in images of their triumph, yes, but the last one in, often very late, one or two in the morning or later , is in many ways more deserving because you know, first hand , just how tough it had been for them, that they dug in and braved it through to the end. I made sure I didn't climb into my sleeping bag until I had photographed the last in at every event and managed ,like these guys did , on hardly any sleep.
Here is great low angle shot from the longest of the five endurance races I covered. I'd had long steep climb and lugged my camera kit and two big water bottles up to the peak. I was there some eight hours and it was dark before I came down. Not everyone wanted just to drink from the bottle. I didn't expect this guy to have a cold shower with it but was ready on the ground to get the shot! Classic!
I know as well that, since inevitably many of the runners became detached from the field and there were often big gaps of an hour or more between runners, the sight of my car and me, always Mr Cheerfull , day or night , was a welcome break to the grind and I always did my best to try and help lift their spirits as they came into site and encourage them onwards.Shared my hot Bovril and a banana or two from my stash too on ocassions!
Here we we are out in the country, middle of nowhere , in the very late evening the runners picked out in the pitch black by my flash and (car headlights !) as their cross-country route was about to cross a country road briefly and pass me.
Here is a photograph I took in the Malvern "Hills" ( It exhausted me just getting up there on foot - felt like mountains to me ! ) from very high up on the first day and leg of the Marathon of Brtian, 2007 without a doubt the toughest race in the UK for endurance athletes and the most demanding event I have covered so far. Five consecutive days of five back-to-back marathons over often the most unforgiving terrian and gradients and in daylight rather too warm for comfort.
By this time after a series of four I had covered nationally at different locations , the project had taken on a new dimension. And I took it lying down!
This image gives you some idea of the challenge for the athletes and also shows that it was up to me to get on top of this series of long ridges to get the best shots, and that was with my camera equipment rucksack. I am too old for "yomping" but that is what was needed. It makes my legs ache and my lungs too just looking back over this series of images and I didn't have to run it !
When I say lie down, I meant it. Between the event director and myself we decided that I'd abandon long zoom lens images and focus on the use of a wide angle 18mm - 35 mm lens to increase the impact of images. That meant lying down as runners came past me, between a rock and a hard place a lot of the time! It certainly did the trick and made the runners look like super humans as indeed they were !
The idea was that Ambition Events ,as a successful company, had ambitions that they needed me to help fulfil . Naseba International were interested in expanding their portfolio and my images were needed to help in a marketing presentation to the board of Naseba. This image , of a fully laden runner coming near to the top of a huge climb is one of the stand out images from my opus used in that presentation ( successfully I might add- Naseba bought the company out as a result )
The scene in Nottingham near the castle was electric as I waited for all the runners to come home. amazing scenes ! Even Robin hood here gave them a wink! Hugs from family and friends, a beautiful medal , phone calls home, and a welome beer or two and pub grub after a rub down.But the real reward for completing the Marathon of Britain was that, base camp packed away in a couple of transit vans, we all were booked into a really nice hotel in Nottingham and had the bliss of a hot shower , a proper meal and then a feast, the award ceremony , and the marketing presentation.
The marketing presentation was really impressive and my photogrpahy work played its part , did the trick it turned out- Naseba happily embraced Ambition events and thus they went global with my help. Great to see my work seen large on screen!
Finally, the standout endurance athlete, Stuart Power from my part of the world , who was streets , valleys and hills ahead of the rest of the field , winning each of the events I covered, usually by a considerable margin. A legend and a nicer, more modest bloke you could not wish to meet. We have been friends ever since and I am proud to know him. I know that both he and his family really appreciated the detailed record in hundreds of great images that I managed to get.
Footnote: There has been an explosion in emerging event management companies, nationally, and a growth in new local events to cope with the growing appetite for new challenges in the growing life style and leisure industry , especially in running and cycling related events such as triahtlon .
Some such comapnies are disguised cottage industies and whilst most are ethically run and not simply for profit , one of the areas the poorer companies tend to fall down on is skimping on prizes and goodie bags for competitors!
Typically, a speech mention , on a PA system if they have factored thaT COST IN, often no certificate or medal for all and a " cost effective " recyclable trophy and bottle or two of usually of cheap plonk or a pack of beers for podium winners . The cop out is often a "goody bag" for all, and that's usually very low value mraketing freebies from sponsors and retailers of associated products.
Such events have a number of hidden costs but of course athletes pay a non-returnable fee. sometimes it is a lot, to particpate but I know that some have , in a few cases, been really annoyed, had felt ripped off and vowed not to come back for another tilt.
From my experience I know that skimping on rewards and small items of recognition is always self-defeating and false economy. Anything is better than nothing, and , at the very least , a certificate isn't going to break the bank and just requires the thought. Such grumbles do filter through to thgrapevine broader community and always affect future choices and the reputation of the event and the company running it. It wouldn't be that big a deal to come to some arrangement with a photographer so that prints even DVD's could be made part of it to set the event appart from others.
Gone are the days when freelance professionals like myself tur up on spec to mass events , with the organiser's consent , usually at the cost of merely providing a few chery-picked shots for future marketing and website use. This in the hope of capitalising from post event sales of prints to competitiors. It is no longer economically viable, the return is always negligible. It still makes sense to hire a pro for general coverage of an event because the event website generates future business and DIY shots give out all the wrong messages in what now is a competitive and crowded market. Freelances like myself are more than willing to share copyright of images if the fee is right.
Ambition events was a professionally run company and the director had more experience than anyone of other people's marathon events as the world record holder in terms of sheer numbers he had completed . Consequently the award presentation was more like a family get together and rewards were worthwhile tokens and trophies , good quality event tee-shirts and other awards covered a wide range of categories including some humorous ones. I was even given a special cup to recognise my efforts. All that takes commitment and planning.
At the Marathon of Britian , Stuart's achievement was immense, the pinnacle of another year of triumphs but the trophy he received from Rory Coleman is the most special I have ever seen from any event. He was awarded this beautifully crafted engraved full size replica of an English broad sword, "Excalibur."
http://www.tri247.com/article_2226.html
My modest but greatly prized little trophy!
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