Saturday 30 June 2012

Weekend ahead Sunday July 1st 2012

With the weather being as random as anything going on, race planning for the weekends seems to be getting more and more short term. Well the good news is - Sunday is going to be great !! (in Sussex anyway)

So here's two things for you to get involved with on Sunday - because the weather forecast is perfect (at the moment):



1. Bewl 15 - a multi-terrain 15 mile run around Bewl Water in East Sussex. One of the most scenic races on the calendar - Entries on the day are accepted. Full information here: http://bit.ly/Bewl15-race-info-2012
Get over to Wadhurst, have a run - and there are childcare facilities laid on at the sportcentre / HQ - check the website for info. A nice chance to get out for the day !?!






2. Capital to Coast - charity bike ride.
Accepting entries on the day from Esher college, near Hampton Court - cycle down some great country lanes, including a descent of Box Hill - where the olympic road race will be going the other way - all the way down to the Kings Lawns on Hove Seafront.
There is also a circular route starting and finishing at the Kings Lawns for you Sussex based riders.
Fully supported it's a great ride with plenty of food stops and a final climb on the bike up Devils Dyke so you have the last few miles downhill to the sea.
This is going to be a great day with the weather forecast - so go here to find out more information: http://bit.ly/C2C-ride-info-2012


Otherwise, Saturday is one long party of the Hurstpierpoint St Lawrence Fair - now in it's 699th year - http://www.stlawrencefair.org.uk/  and also my Grandmas 99th - so Happy Birthday to her too !

I should add - there is a fun run at the Fair - http://www.stlawrencefair.org.uk/fun-run/ it's only a fiver and goes up Wolstonbury hill - so it's not easy !! It starts at 3:15 (the race) so make sure you're there on time to register.

Otherwise, enjoy summer on Sunday !!

See you soon,

Anthony



Tuesday 26 June 2012

Weekend Roundup June 23rd-24th 2012






It's always difficult to write an action packed blog after such a full weekend - so I always figure - direct gallery links first - and pictures and stories later.
So getting straight to the point - in start time order:

 Saturday 3:30pm
 Raw energy Pursuits River Arun Swim - Free downloads
http://bit.ly/REP-Arun-Swim-2012-Official-Photos






Sunday 7am
F3 Events, Marlow Middle distance Tri - Swim, Bike, Rub.
http://bit.ly/F3Events-Marlow-half-iron-photos-2012


Sunday 9am
The Richmond 10k and Surrey 10k Championships
http://bit.ly/Ranelagh-Richmond-10k-Official-Photos





 
 Sunday 9:30am
The Events to Live, Poulsden Lacey 10k

http://bit.ly/ETL-Poulsden-Lacey10k-2012-photos





A quick quiz Survey - takes 2 minutes - If you fancy telling me something then please complete this little questionnaire: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SGYF98F I'm already testing something given the responses so far - so please add your voice and help me to improve the service - thank you.




Quick Weekend summary:


A very good turnout by the weather in all circumstances. Saturday nights rain wasn't particularly welcome, but at least it came down during the night and not during the races themselves. Not that the swimmers would have minded (as long as they don't get swept downstream), although all the off-road running did take a bit of a turn towards the dark side (i.e. very muddy). One chap from Serpentine running club went for a swim in it, and returned head to toe in mud for the finish - nice one Cyril !

The event organisers that managed to make things happen this weekend need a great big "well done" on keeping things going despite the circumstances and conditions. I know a few that might have given up, but all of them managed to turn out complete events - taking into account a few extra safety changes. For example - it would have been very easy to change the F3 race into a Duathlon, but they kept the swim - albeit a bit shorter so everyone was within sight. How far was it ? nobody will know unless they have a garmin - but it did split up the field and made for some good triathlon racing - which is what everybody really wants.

For our part, you should have seen the carnage here in the office on Monday. With the late afternoon event along the Arun on Saturday, we just about had enough time to turn-around the kit, make the data safe, get clean, charge the batteries and get sleep / travel to hotels for a sleepless night before getting up early doors 5am for the next days 8hrs in the office. Sunday night was a train-wreck, whilst Sally managed to cataloge and edit through Richmond 10k, I passed out in front of the football and missed nothing as my cold virus took proper hold. Monday morning was a full day in the office going through the 20,000 remaining images with a full office team across all the computing power we could muster editing through the images, reducing and uploading to the gallery. Event the old laptop got drilled into some processing and gallery preparation and eventually at about midnight the last of the galleries had been uploaded. So total weekends sleep for me - 7hrs, work hours 14hrs on-site, total team manhours at events on site - 28hrs. Total Office hours so far - ~44hrs. 72hrs work in two and a half days. And I'm not counting Tuesday !


A Busy Swim Start


Strong Cycling with the wind and large puddles flooding the roads

No pressure then Ben

Just about sums up how useful tri-belts are for numbers

Great Finish for victory. See - he won - can you spot his race number. Ahh, Tri belts - useless.

Cyril went for a bit of a swim bike swim

Swim, Bike, Mud ?

The sunglasses were actually safety glasses

Thank goodness that's over said 000


Well done Mum ! ever felt like you're being followed ?


Great riding up the road from Henley

Strong hill climbing

It's so much more fun wizzing downhill


Nice running along the dry bit along the Thames on a Sunday

Cleaning off the kit afterwards in the nearby Bath.

Fast running in Richmond :

First Lady

Eventual winner, not stopping to take in the river view

Nice along the locks and riverside

A good home team turnout !


Until next time
Anthony



Friday 22 June 2012

Call for Entries - Basingstoke Half 2012 and a quick questionnaire



 Give me a weekend off photographing and I get all organisingy in the office see.

I'm very pleased to share that we are again working with destination Basingstoke Shire Half Marathon in 2012 - October the 7th is the date for your diary.

Click here to go to the entry page: http://bit.ly/Basingstoke-half-entry-2012

Last year was a wonderful event, if a bit hot and sunny, with over 1200 runners completing the countryside closed road route to the south of Basingstoke. This year they are re-jigging the start to make it a bit more roomy and taking more entries, otherwise everything is going to be pretty much the same i.e. excellent - plus it has GOLD status from BARR so that means it's right up there with all the best road races in the land so...here's a few photos at the bottom of this blog to remind you why you should enter (and soon before they all fill up).
Plus (and I don't mention this stuff half enough) we raised and donated over £200 from photo sales last year for the race charity - so this year we hope to be able to do more than that - with your help of course !

In other news:

I'm not usually one for surveys - but here's something to tell me what you know and I don't - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SGCGCKB - thank you- it will help us to figure out a few ideas we have in our heads to improve things for you.

This weekend the team from SSP will be at the following events - click on the links for more information and entry details:

 Enjoy the memories below from last year 2011, and until next time
Anthony















 Click here to go to the entry page: http://bit.ly/Basingstoke-half-entry-2012

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Ealing Half 2012 - Call for entries


The Ealing Half Marathon 2012 

Having just had a weekend off for the first time in 2012 it was a pleasant exchange of emails today to have signed and agreed to cover the competitor photography for the inaugural Ealing Half Marathon.

Race date for your calendar: Sunday 30th September 2012
Entry Size: already over 2500 entered - so don't miss out!
Race Entry here: http://bit.ly/Ealing-Half-2012-race-entry

Taking place at the perfect time of year for a half marathon at the end of September, the temperature should be just right for an early autumn half - just enough time to have done some post holiday training to sharpen up and set your second half of the year alight.

Our regular race partners Sport Systems are doing the timing - so you know it's going to be accurate and with a traffic free course - hopefully quite fast for you too.
The route map is now available on the race website - so you can see what parts of Ealing are being taken in, which parks, and where the finish is, as well as how to get there - with two underground stations nearby - that's going to be easy !

It's 100 days to go, so don't miss out, and perfect timing for those of you who want three months to get prepared for it and get some training done, now the weather seems to have switched from the monsoon season to almost summer.

If you want to know more - there is an information evening / drop in is being held next thursday on the 28th of June from 6pm. http://www.ealinghalfmarathon.com/information-evening-thursday-28th-june-2012
and we will see you there !

2012 Race Entry here: http://bit.ly/Ealing-Half-2012-race-entry

And in other news...

This weekend the team from SSP will be at the following events - click on the links for more information and entry details:
 Until next time,
Anthony


Tuesday 12 June 2012

Dorking 10 and Mid Sussex Tri 2012 now live

The Dorking 10 mile gallery is now live and online here:
http://bit.ly/Dorking10-2012-photo-gallery


The Mid Sussex Triathlon gallery with free unlimited downloads is now live and online here:
http://bit.ly/mid-sussex-tri-2012-gallery


Some Highlights from the DMVAC race gallery here:
yes it's 9am, no need to check your watches
The fog and mist cleared in time for the start of the race

Double wave - but it's only 4 miles in...

A very friendly bunch the Dorking 10 runners

This race is this long. see.

Close competition for Surrey county 10 mile championship position

Always give number 1 a shout out !

A refreshing mug of fun afterwards !
I hope that everyone in the vicinity of the area of the Mole valley is ok with the latest rain and the river being so high - I hope it's not caused anyone any problems. The rain held off on Sunday during the day, but the past 24hrs have been horrendous.




Mid Sussex Tri Highlights :
Gentle Reminder - the gallery for this race is free downloads, so just click on the download button above the preview image. The downloads are 800px on the longest side - which is larger than the gallery preview - so to those of you right-click copying them (because you are allowed to on these, and yes we do monitor it anyway and can see who you are...) - you are not getting as good a copy as you could be getting for free by simply downloading them. Anyway - it confuses me, but it is of course your choice !

Have an eye out for number 15 - Jay - and find out more here http://www.sportsmission.co.uk/ about his venture into Triathlon.
good rotation and high elbows
spotting the turn early
Caught on camera

Jay on the bike

pushing hard or laughing like a maniac ?

Concentratey face

A great team effort


Jay flying in at the finish

proper victory arms

Steves' race director serious facey

Great finishing run by the Dr

First Place - Thomas Hopkins 1:03:10

Second Place - Paul Holdaway 1:03:19 - just 9 seconds in it

Good team finish

Phoenix tri with their winners and coaches

Organisers relief
 Steve (race director) - he's famous by the way - http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/torchbearers/torchbearers=stephen-mcmenamin-3476/index.html

Excellent effort from Jay in raising money for Rockinghorse 1:44:24 overall



Right, that's it for the next few weeks, planning for the autumn, VAT, accounts for May, PAYE, my brothers 44th birthday, the Cats 5th birthday, Kids back to school and just over a month to the swim. Should keep us busy. And hopefully some orders to to keep us even busier, fed and watered in the meantime.

Until next time, enjoy the summer
Anthony