Friday 3 March 2017

English National XC Champs 2017 and Brutal Temple Valley galleries live


The start of the Senior Mens race 2017 - the closest thing to a Medieval Charge you will ever witness

What a day at the English National Cross Country Championships 2017 !
(The full gallery is now live here - with 20% additional images- http://sspimg.com/NationalXC-Champs-2017-Gallery)

We used the full Pic2Go system to give competitors their photos, direct to their Facebook accounts, live during the race, at the event.

Just think about that for a moment if you will. Over 5100 finishers, in some of the fastest and furious races there are, running full speed through mud, ditches and bogs, and we made over 90,000 images available on the system during the day. Quite proud of being able to do that !

The race sponsors Saucony, saw it as a fantastic way to bring their sponsorship of the event to the next level, and at a race where only the first three get a medal, providing competitors with their race photos is a perfect memento to their day.

Through the water jump at the start of the laps

Feedback from the athletes and supporters on the day has been fantastic with nothing but positive reviews online and in emails, and it's been truly wonderful to see.

Here's just a quick selection of the feedback and unprompted comments we've had and seen -personally I'm really really chuffed about this working so well and proud of what the team achieved on the day, and thank you to everyone who took time to let us know what you thought:
  • "A fantastic event, really well organised and I thought the pic2go service was excellent. Thanks for another great national champs"
  • "Thanks for a really great event - for both runners and spectators alike. Thanks also for the free pics - a super idea and very much appreciated."
  • "Great course, fast results and bonus with the photos, thanks!"
  • "Great event thank you and a really nice course to run. Pic2go service much appreciated."
  • "On behalf of many of the runners at yesterday's National I would just like to thank Saucony who seem to have not only sponsored the event but introduced a superb initiative. All competitors could sign in on Facebook and get a free download of photos of themselves racing. Not sure how it's been done but very impressive. Ok so it's probably helped raise the Saucony profile but it's that sort of idea that gives events like the National a boost. Certainly it's captured the imagination of many of the runners from our club. So thanks Saucony, the photographers and also all the volunteers that put on the championships."
  • "Brilliant marketing and execution of the idea. With the cost of Vitality and Great Run events to enter there is no excuse for them to charge £20+ a pic if Saucony can do what they did at the national. Really fantastic initiative that will help the sport grow and feel more professional for all levels. I'd certainly consider Saucony more for my next XC spikes purchase because of their support."
Wollaston House in the background makes a fantastic backdrop


Images identified with the Pic2Go system can still be obtained for free from the Pic2Go system here: http://sspimg.com/pic2go-register

The full gallery is now live and online here for anyone who would like to purchase the higher resolution images, or physical prints (or even a mug!): http://sspimg.com/NationalXC-Champs-2017-Gallery
There are about 20% more images with this gallery as we have manually corrected through the images where the barcodes were obscured by mud, arms, ditches or creased and folded. The purchase gallery does not have watermarking on it (if you were wondering).

The Pic2Go Team Bus and IT centre for the day

Meanwhile at the same time the Brutal Temple Valley was taking place near Winchester - a brand new location, with hard hills, steps, and even a motocross circuit to get your off-road claws into.
http://sspimg.com/Brutal-Temple-Valley-2017-Gallery


Latest and Future events listing - Click to find out more, browse or Enter a Race !

Date
Event
Gallery / Event Website
Sun-19/02/2017 Hampton Court Half Marathon http://sspimg.com/HamptonCourtHalf-2017-Gallery
Sat-25/02/2017 English National XC Champs http://sspimg.com/NationalXC-Champs-2017-Gallery
Sat-25/02/2017 Brutal Temple Valley http://sspimg.com/Brutal-Temple-Valley-2017-Gallery
Sun-05/03/2017 Berkhamsted Half Marathon http://rotaryberkhamsted.wixsite.com/marathon
Sun-05/03/2017 Leicester 10k http://www.townandgown10k.com/leicester/
Sun-05/03/2017 Steyning Stinger http://www.steyningac.co.uk/
Sat-11/03/2017 Surrey Schools XC Champs http://www.ssaa.org.uk/
Sun-12/03/2017 Colchester Half http://bit.ly/Colchester-Half
Sun-12/03/2017 Llanelli half marathon http://www.llanellihalf.co.uk/
Sat-18/03/2017 Kelly's Clandon Park Run https://charity.kellystorage.co.uk/Events/2017/Clandon-Park-Run/
Sun-19/03/2017 Salomon Richmond Half and 10k http://bit.ly/Richmond-Half
Sun-19/03/2017 ETL Spring Badger Half http://eventstolive.co.uk/collections/events-new
Sun-19/03/2017 Fleet Half Marathon http://bit.ly/Fleet-Half-Marathon
Sun-19/03/2017 Brentwood Half http://bit.ly/Brentwood-Half
Sun-19/03/2017 Hastings Half Marathon http://bit.ly/Hastings-Half
Sat-25/03/2017 AAT Bolt http://allabouttriathlons.co.uk/race/bolt-round-the-holt-run/
Sun-26/03/2017 Cranleigh 15-21 http://www.mabac.org.uk
Sun-02/04/2017 Paddock Wood http://bit.ly/Paddock-Wood-Half
Sun-09/04/2017 HONC www.HONC.co.uk
Sun-09/04/2017 PP Grand Union Half http://www.purplepatchrunning.com/index.php/grand-union-canal-half-marathon-2


The poor chap fell sideways, and the hurdler did a fab job at clearing him

Full speed around the top of the course

Sympathy from the onlooking supporters after your faceplant.

Best race of the day with total determination was the U13 boys. 

if you're in the lead by 20m, stopping to wipe your nose on the boundary tape would seem a bit lax. He snapped the plastic stake too. Then he fell over again in the lead on the second lap in the same spot. Due respect, despite this TWICE - he still won the Mens Juniors. One to watch - Ellis Cross from AFD, if only for the moments.

That look of total determination - no quibbles, just got on with it. Saw this across all the juniors - future captains of industry - all of them.

Et voila, le Nombre est dans le pocket.

Shoes off and ready to keep the carpet clean. sort of.


As if it's not really hard enough - do it with partial sight.

OOpsie, down they go.

Sorry, don't mind my spikes in your shoulder...

not fallen over yet - all going well with Wollaton House in the background

Propper pack running tactics going on around the course

Ben Connor lapping the field at the start of the last lap for the senior mens win

Remember XC is not a contact sport. Yeah right.
Like the proverbial photographer at a university reunion, the single shoe sits alone and unloved but needed, symbolically in the bog with everyone looking at it, but nobody talking to it. Probably ought to go and buy some decent Saucony Spikes instead.


So the full gallery is now here: http://sspimg.com/NationalXC-Champs-2017-Gallery with more indexed images because we sat through the lot of them and corrected all the errors due to the mud, arms, etc. This made for a long monday and tuesday !. It was a manual job, it's not automatic (as everyone I've ever met tells me - "isn't it?" - er - no), except for the barcodes that do work. (Which is pretty good these days.)
Freebies are still there from facebook with the Pic2Go technology, but do check the gallery for any more you may have missed first time around.  http://sspimg.com/NationalXC-Champs-2017-Gallery
Race numbers can best be got from the event entry list here http://www.englishcrosscountry.co.uk/the-national-cross-country-championships/entry-lists/, because they are not on the results listings (Unusually?)

And finally , if there are any other ways of getting 3 million brand views in such a short period of time, with this much engaging content - then let me know, because even faecbook or google adverts don't do this well and they cost more...

If you're a company or event seriously interested in enhancing your brand, event, or marketing - then please get in touch via info@pic2go.co.uk so we can talk through a solution with you.

Until next time,
Anthony
p.s. Charlie - was that good enough for you?



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