Wednesday 30 September 2015

The Ealing Half Marathon 2015 - gallery now live


522Gb later, the Ealing Half Marathon 2015 is now live and online here:
http://bit.ly/Ealing-Half-Marathon-Gallery-2015

All go at the start of the 2015 Ealing Half Marathon and it's fourth run

Christopher Cheruiyot 1hr 5mins and 41 seconds later - finishes in first place

He was number 1 - don't mess with that ok !

The last weekend in September seems to be gifted the perfect weather for running in, if the past four years at Ealing have been anything to go by. No rain, the sun not too high in the sky to get too hot, and a little bit of a breeze to flutter the flags.

We had a team of seven photographers all across the course moving about - and by the time you hit the finish line there were four photographers and 8 cameras capturing the final moments of your achievements !
Why so many cameras ? - it was busy - with over 4600 finishers and with running pacers - what happens is all those going for a specific time tend to stick with their pacer - coming in like a fresh bus-load every 5 minutes. Without that many cameras it is impossible to try to get everyone, and depending on the size of the pacing group (2hrs being the most popular), it's a bit like a wave of humanity that comes down the finish straight all of a sudden.
So here's the bad news - if you ran with a pacing group, going for that goal time - it's likely that we got fewer photos of you because you're in the middle of a crowd.

Having said that - on average with the number of photos we did take - 144 thousand online - that's an average of about 30 photos each! - don't be down if you have less than that though - many people just want to get their favourite shot - and any collection is a bulk discount if you have more than three images. The other option to get more images is to win - I think there are 131 of Christopher running around in his number 10 vest, you just have to do a bit of training to get there.

There's a few more races on over the next few weeks - here's a list if you're looking for a last minute entry:

Date Event Event type Gallery Link
Sun-27/09/2015 Ealing Half half marathon http://bit.ly/Ealing-Half-Marathon-Gallery-2015

Galleries now live
Sun-20/09/2015 Bexhill Linkroad 10k 10k http://bit.ly/Bexhill-Linkroad-10k-Gallery-2015
Sun-20/09/2015 Reigate Half Marathon half marathon http://bit.ly/Run-Reigate-Gallery-2015
Sun-20/09/2015 B2TT XC - challenge http://bit.ly/B2TT-Race3-Gallery-2015

Future Events Get entered on the event website via:
Sun-04/10/2015 Tonbridge Half half marathon http://bit.ly/Tonbridge-Half-Gallery-2015
Sun-04/10/2015 Basingstoke Half half marathon http://bit.ly/Basingstoke-Half-Gallery-2015
Sun-04/10/2015 Clarendon Marathon half marathon http://bit.ly/Clarendon-Marathon-and-Half-Gallery-2015
Sun-04/10/2015 PP Reading O2O 10k 10k http://bit.ly/Reading-O2O-10k-gallery-2015
Sat-10/10/2015 Brutal Woolmer XC - challenge http://bit.ly/Brutal-Woolmer-Gallery-2015
Sun-11/10/2015 Warrior Run XC - challenge http://bit.ly/Warrior-Run-2-Gallery-2015
Sun-11/10/2015 Chichester Half half marathon http://bit.ly/ChichesterHalf-2015-Photos
Sun-11/10/2015 Herts 10k 10k http://bit.ly/Herts-10k-Gallery-2015
Sun-18/10/2015 AAT Kellystore Guildford 10k, Half, 5k http://bit.ly/Kellys-Run-Guildford-2015-Gallery
Sun-18/10/2015 Chelmsford Marathon marathon http://bit.ly/Chelmsford-Marathon-photos-2015
Sun-18/10/2015 Abingdon marathon marathon http://bit.ly/Abingdon-Marathon-Gallery-2015

So, what did we see at Ealing as we were going through all the pictures - numbering them up with your race numbers ?...

Full Smurf Suit - heavier than a Morph suit

Taste that fresh Ealing Air

If you don't like the fresh Ealing Air, you can take scuba kit

All issues with annoyed drivers on the closed roads were swiftly dealt with

sometimes catching the moment is better than technical things like focus

sometimes catching the moment should be left to others

Early surrender at 1mile

mind you don't bosh yourself when giving it full speed

Correct Ealing Eagles finishing technique

All looking good fresh off the marks

The sweeper team set off along the course

The weather determined that sunglasses were a good idea

This is not the recommended mid race nutrition plan

Suddenly a security detail came in

BBC Tech correspondent RC-J tests his Apple Watch out 

"Yes, a Taxi to the park please, with Pizza, Beers, the works please, meet me on Ealing Broadway"

Correct Arm waiving at the finish

The temptation to hit the pacing balloon with the pace stick for 13.1 miles would have been too much for me

What it looks like at the finish when it gets busy from one side

The view from the other side on a busy finish moment


True grit at the finish. Earning the last mile

Good to see some hard concentration to run fast

Aloha !


Again correct Ealing Eagles equivalent of the mo-bot

Mandy had been on the phone for ages

sorry, explain again to me why ?!?

That moment when Strava tells you to run faster

Here's that Eagle-bot again

Top work, I sense another Mick'n'Phil in the making


Well, someone had to get a shot of the four armed pacing runner. Who to do it eh?

Paul got his Rhino home in 2:31:44 - excellent work !!


This for me was the best reaction I saw at the end of the race ! Sums it all up.
For the win !


Very well done again to Kelvin and Sandra and everyone involved in volunteering and working on the race. As a fellow small business working hard to make ends meet, dealing with feedback both positive and negative, working 21hr days, watching all your savings go gradually and not taking a living salary - then I have some heartfelt empathy with Kelvins' blog here: http://www.ealingeagles.com/2015/report/ealing-half-marathon-kelvin-walker

And - if you fancy doing it all again next year - then get your entry in now whilst you can - because you know it will sell out!
http://bit.ly/Ealing-Half-Marathon-Entry


So get your very special memories from the gallery as soon as you can. They will be online for 3 months so don't delay because that christmas thing will get in the way and make you forget, and then you'll have to pay more to get them from the archive instead which is a pain - so GET THEM NOW !!!
http://bit.ly/Ealing-Half-Marathon-Gallery-2015

very well done everyone ! (especially you)

until next time
Anthony




Wednesday 23 September 2015

Reigate Half and 10k, Bexhill Linkroad 10k and Back2The Trenches race 3 2015 now live

A busy weekends races across the region with near perfect weather on Sunday with blue skies, and a little bit of autumnal mist to set it all off. Somehow again we avoided the rain, with just a few drop of it falling in the afternoon. Links to the galleries are down a bit - have a scroll.

The start of the Reigate Half Marathon 2015
Run Reigate successfully held their second ever race on Sunday, with a modified route from last year - which removed the bottlenecks, simplified the course co-ordination, and improved the road logistics for non-runners with different road closures. The addition of the 10k race around much of the same route added a notable 670 additional runners to the day, which will hopefully turn into more runners next year taking on the bigger challenge of the Half marathon. Those 10k pictures will make excellent "remember me last year when I started running" to compare with next year when they have completed the half...

Start of the Bexhill Link Road 10k 2015
The soon to be completed Bexhill to Hastings link road had their once in a lifetime chance to go running on it on Sunday, organised by Eric who organises the annual famous Hastings Half Marathon it was a complete success. There's more information on the road here: https://new.eastsussex.gov.uk/roadsandtransport/bexhillhastingslinkroad/downloadmap as a 5k road it was an opportunity not to be missed !
Make sure you get your historic photos before they go too so you can say "I remember when all this used to be fields, but got to run on the road before they let the cars on it" to your kids. They still won't believe you, but at least you will have the evidence if you buy it...

Back to the mud slides
Back to the Trenches had a great third outing this year with their No Man's Land course layout, with new obstacles throughout the course to test over 700 people around the hills and slopes of Redhill on the 5k and 10k routes. They have another race on November the 15th, so if you don't fancy the Brighton 10k, then that will be the place to be instead...


For those of you who like a few stats (and if you know anything about me, you'll know that's what I like!) - over the past 6.5 years, this is blog post 569, and will take the blog views on the website to over 400,000. The emailed version has been read over 982,000 times and there are now over 25,000 subscribers with on average about 7,000 readers per week actually finding out just how cheeky I can be on my captions without the executive editor stopping me...
To put that in perspective - I was asked yesterday by a publication that sells for £100 per month to its business clients to pay for a minimum £1000 advertorial - and their circulation figures are worse that ours... I am clearly in the wrong business.

Gallery listing below
I've stopped putting logos on these listings - because it saves me a ton of time writing the blog having to find and import each logo from the event websites (and then sometimes edit them), and makes the list neater. If you preferred it with the logos because it saves a few seconds to find your event, then let me know.

Date Event Gallery Link
Latest Events new galleries now live
Sun-20/09/2015 Bexhill Linkroad 10k http://bit.ly/Bexhill-Linkroad-10k-Gallery-2015
Sun-20/09/2015 Reigate Half Marathon and 10k http://bit.ly/Run-Reigate-Gallery-2015
Sun-20/09/2015 B2TT - race 3 - No Man's Land http://bit.ly/B2TT-Race3-Gallery-2015
Recent events  Don't forget to get your images before they go from these recent events !
Sun-13/09/2015 REP Firle http://bit.ly/REP-Firle-Gallery-2015 - Free Downloads
Sun-13/09/2015 Hull Marathon http://bit.ly/Hull-Marathon-Gallery-2015
Sun-13/09/2015 Falmer Tri http://bit.ly/Falmer-Tri-Gallery-2015- Free Downloads
Sun-13/09/2015 ETL Bacchus http://bit.ly/ETL-Bacchus-2015-Gallery
Sun-13/09/2015 Pilgrim http://bit.ly/Farnham-Pilgrim-Gallery-2015
Next Events Get your entries in to: Event websites and entries if they are left available via the Gallery Pages
Sun-27/09/2015 Ealing Half Marathon http://bit.ly/Ealing-Half-Marathon-Gallery-2015
Sun-04/10/2015 Clarendon Full and Half Marathon http://bit.ly/Clarendon-Marathon-and-Half-Gallery-2015
Sun-04/10/2015 Basingstoke Half http://bit.ly/Basingstoke-Half-Gallery-2015
Sun-04/10/2015 Tonbridge Half http://bit.ly/Tonbridge-Half-Gallery-2015
Sun-04/10/2015 PP Reading O2O 10k http://bit.ly/Reading-O2O-10k-gallery-2015
Sat-10/10/2015 Brutal Woolmer http://bit.ly/Brutal-Woolmer-Gallery-2015
Sun-11/10/2015 Herts 10k http://bit.ly/Herts-10k-Gallery-2015
Sun-11/10/2015 Warrior Run http://bit.ly/Warrior-Run-2-Gallery-2015
Sun-11/10/2015 Chichester Half http://bit.ly/ChichesterHalf-2015-Photos

All go at the start of the Reigate Half marathon - note the remote camera on the right that I was triggering from here, and the massive white reflector of a tent next to it that really helped bring up it's image shadows

Being a remote camera, people seemed to "express themselves" more freely...

Remember - we will see you when we review the images and catalogue them... cheeky (the next frame she was all straight innocent...)

Not sure what she is describing, but it's clearly awesome

A quick update to your friends at the back that you're across the start line

Excellent to see the Patrick Evans Foundation out this year in strength

50 yards in, defo time to change the music.

Nice selfie, but I can guarantee our shots were "better" on so many levels. Like this one.

For the win in 1h:11m

Extreme contact lens searching

"Did I not like that!"

Members of Eg Tri trying to hide by not wearing club colours and running fast

Best fancy dress team I saw all day - top effort from the dream machine's team

The final walk to clear the course and the racemakers jobs are done !

They're coming !! Nice to see excited race directors !

meanwhile over in Bexhill

Fast off at the front, the road is literally all clear ahead

speedy Neil at the finish

get that fresh tarmac feeling between your toes

Good to see Eric the race organiser enjoying the route

Hey Mickey, your so fine !

not seen a catsuit before ? they don't usually look like this...

No petting on the fresh tarmac thank you
meanwhile over in Redhill, there was a bit of mud and water about
getting low to get under the netting

how to get low for the shot - amateur v professional

always a good workout on the monkey bars

his mate wasn't holding his legs up. honest.

It requires specific training these days to get past the retired army in the aisles

good technique

don't forget to stop after the slide...

booyaka sha

flashdance

attack the fire !

nobody mentioned the snipers...

sometimes the slide can lead to a bit of an enema

sort of like a multi exposure, but 's not

all chilled out

forgot the phone for a selfie

please make it stop

a good wash afterwards and all is well
so this weekend is the super massive Ealing Half Marathon. That's sold out, so don't get yourselves all in a hurry to enter. It's going to be a great event, and the weather forecast is looking just perfect at the moment, I might even pack the suncream even thought we are now officially in the last 25% of the year.
If you like planning your entries in advance, get yourself over to the Surrey Half Marathon for next march here:http://bit.ly/Surrey-Half-Marathon-entry

So until next time
Anthony