The Race Photo Galleries for the Sussex Triathlon weekend and the 7Oaks Junior Aquathlon are now live and online here:
Sussex Triathlons organised by Team Lifestyle
Standard Triathlon :
Sprint and Middle distance Triathlons:
Sunday : http://bit.ly/Sussex-Tri-2012-Sprint-Middle-Race-Photos
Sunday : http://bit.ly/Sussex-Tri-2012-Sprint-Middle-Race-Photos
The Sevenoaks Junior Aquathlon - organised by 7Oaks Tri Club
7Oaks Junior Aquathlon - Free photo downloads are now available:
The Sundays races
To conclude the busy weekend we had a last day of triathlons in Sussex and Aquathlons in Kent. Given the rain we had overnight on saturday I was musing about the swim element of the aquathlon being held outdoors on the track as well as the run. As it was - on the way there one of the cars in front of me gave the swimming a pretty good go at it in the outside lane of the M23, aquaplaning along the barrier. No injuries, just metalwork, but thankfully not a taste of things to come.
As I'd seen 24km of Hurt the day before with Seb, I went off to the Tonbridge School Sports Centre on the Sunday hoping to see much less pain across the faces of the junior competitors, whilst Seb who had acquired his Olympic media accredditation (for another non-rival company...) on Saturday afternoon went off to join Neil at Ashburham Place for the middle and sprint triathlons - swapping out from Mike who had covered the bikes on Saturdays standard triathlon.
Feedback - There's a bit about feedback at the bottom of this update - scroll down and have a look if you can...
Feedback - There's a bit about feedback at the bottom of this update - scroll down and have a look if you can...
Sevenoaks Junior Aquathlon - Free downloads
227 Juniors took part in the 7Oaks Junior aquathlon on the Sunday at Tonbridge School Sports Centre, organised 7Oaks Triathlon club.
A full report can be found here on the website which doesn't leave me much more for me to say. But hey...
The first bit of organisation genius was the timetable. Carefully fitted in from 1pm to 4pm the rain took due note and proceeded not to do anything at all during that time period, something which I know everyone preferred.Having been lashing down up to 1pm that was a blessed relief.
With what can only be described as near military precision, but without the guns or the shouting, but happy faces and helpful marshalling somehow all the children were in the right place at the right time doing the right thing.
Herding Cats comes to mind as an art form, but watching how well the marshalls had marked out the transition areas, managed the parents, laid out the finish line and sorted out the podium and presentations it really was a work of art.
One of the main aims for junior events like this is to find and inspire the next generation to do a bit of "why don't you...." as well as perhaps a bit of daydreaming self belief and enthusiasm for sport. So it won't be much of a surprise to find out that as well as a very well executed event, the added extra inspiration was provided in the form of a 1948 Olympic Torch (and Torch Bearer!) to give things that extra 2012 relevance and aspirational directing to the young minds. Get involved with doing this sort of thing a few times a year and you will feel like a better person, guaranteed.
Full results are available on the news items on the website http://www.7oakstriclub.co.uk/ as well as feedback on the event which makes very encouraging reading. If the smiles on the faces of the kids were anything to go by - it was a very successful event indeed.
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| Moody shot of a stunning facility. Oh to think what we could have done in our day with this type of centre... |
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| Frank Verge, Olympic Torch Bearer 1948 |
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| Aquathlon takes place in a Pool first. It is not a contact sport. |
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| Finishing strongly on the track - made for some great moments |
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| Double thumbs up - a good race all round |
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| Showing off the Bling - propper bling with big ribbons |
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| Next stop - 2020 ? or 2024 ? |
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| All the kids got their hands on the Olympic Torch for a photo |
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| Excellent achievers for 2012 Potential future Olympians. |
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| Even the sponsors had a go with the Torch |
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| Can you spot the future olympian in this crowd ? |
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| Even the BTF Race Observer had a go with Frank |
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| Still looking for Future Olympians? check here |
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| The gang that made it all happen |
Sussex Triathlon Weekend
There's a full report breakdown on the action from the Sussex Triathlon races here: http://www.sussextriathlon.co.uk/assets/sussextrireport.pdf
With the Sussex races capped and sold out at 200 places per race it does make for the smaller but well contained type of event across the three races and the two days - with 159, 177, and 103 competitors taking part in the sprint, standard and middle distances it was a 73% turnout overall, which given the weather - wasn't half bad, (although a 49% no show in the middle distance does make you wonder - although the race distances involved usually answer that question). Looking through the galleries it doesn't look like the ground around the lake cut-up too much at all, which is remarkable, and there were twitter and facebook reports of people suffering from sunburn (windburn?) on the monday morning, all in all means that it was a well turned out and great event to be part of once again !
Overall the challenge of the race bike route combined with the lovely location that is Ashburnham place - which is not usually open to the public - made for a challenging race route for everyone regardless of their distance. The great thing about a location like this is that the routes are repeated after each year - ensuring that people get a really good and fair chance to improve on their times year after year. If it's not raining locusts or fish next year, then there's a real chance now for that to happen !
Well done to Paul, Natasha and the team for making the weekend run so smoothly in the wet conditions - I know that Neil, Mike and Seb all worked hard to cover the event with early 5am starts and long 14hr days in some cases just to cover the race.
Two requests for next year - hand numbering on the swim and a cut-off time for the middle distance tri (which I hear you were discussing). Also - how about putting the sprint tri-start after the middle distance swim - enabling us to get photos of everyone on the swim exit and starting the middle distance guys off first so it finishes a bit earlier ? answers on a postcard and thoughts from competitors always welcomed.
Two requests for next year - hand numbering on the swim and a cut-off time for the middle distance tri (which I hear you were discussing). Also - how about putting the sprint tri-start after the middle distance swim - enabling us to get photos of everyone on the swim exit and starting the middle distance guys off first so it finishes a bit earlier ? answers on a postcard and thoughts from competitors always welcomed.
Here's some shots from the two days - high emotion, and physical challenge all round. Dig those hills in the background of the bike shots...not an easy course.
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| wrong type of pool |
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| do I look big in this ? |
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| Popeye exited the swim hungry for the bike |
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| Sloooow down for that corner there now... |
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| screaming can lessen pain |
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| correct victory stance, and also for one legged squats |
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| Victory was hers ! |
Sundays Competitors were a different and slightly more emotional group of athletes.., but then a middle distance triathlon can do that to you...
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| Just getting to the swim start was an event for some |
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| It's always nice to see friends at a race and give them a hi-five |
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| Copying Andy Murray so soon after his Semi-final win ? |
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| All going OK |
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| Still all going OK |
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| All is OK |
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| This is hard work - check the hill... |
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| All is not going OK |
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| OK, now it's raining. This is definetly not OK. |
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| WHY ? |
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| Sharon came third in the Middle distance. Still looking good at this point dammit !! |
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| Usain teapot, slightly hatstand. Or just too knackered to stop and do the full pose ? - which is fair enough really. |
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| If you're going to stop and pose, do it like Wim does. Catalogues beckon next... |
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| All was OK in the end apparently !! |
Feedback
Right, I've had some lovely feedback from a few customers recently, but to exact some non-revenge on one of them - you might enjoy his blog http://www.wheelturninghamsterdead.com/
He's won awards, possibly even swimming and cycling ones, so it might be considered quite a good read.
Meanwhile - I asked him if I could share what he said about us with you. He said yes, and then added stuff which was very more nice of him too. Here it is, unedited.
Meanwhile - I asked him if I could share what he said about us with you. He said yes, and then added stuff which was very more nice of him too. Here it is, unedited.
"I have bought many
photos through you and have given positive feedback before. Having just
got photos from you for the Reigate 10k and The Hurt 12k runs, once again I
want to give credit where credit is due. The photos I get from SSP always
come out far superior to other race photo providers. I have always found
other providers seem to be point at a bunch of people, press click. Rinse,
repeat. SSP photos always come out with a look that they have been
carefully taken, which considering a few hundred people coming at speed towards
the photographer, i've never been disappointed with the photos you provide. "
and this is the extra bit he wanted to add -
"One of the great things about SSP is
that a day or so after the event when you are still on that "finishers
high", the photos are uploaded. All of them. No clicking
through 200 pages of "unidentified" photos searching for more images
where the automated software hasnt picked up a number and you have to say
"I had black shorts, a blue top, was male" only to get a result of a
random dog. No need for several emails from the provider saying "We
identified more photos of you" weeks after the event when you may have
already paid for all the photos. What you see in the gallery is what
there was."
Thank you Sy for the great words and planting that warm feeling here for everyone in the office.
I'm considering employing him as my full time PR words guru, but be warned - his blog is far funnier than this feedback.
All I'll say is its always nice and very heartwarming to get unsolicited feedback from everyone that does give it, the long hours we put into getting images online, correctly catalogued (which we do manually) and making them ready as soon as possible. This business is something we put our hearts, minds and a lot of sleep deprivation into getting done, and it's very very rewarding to be told that it's been noticed. I set up this company with the aim of "making people happy through photos" - and now I have shared this with the team, they are very happy too. Thank you.
As ever - If you want to give me some feedback - good or bad, then email me Anthony, on info@sussexsportphotography.com
and to help me out with a little question or two I have - you can go here on http://bit.ly/SSP-Survey-No1 and tell me what you think - the answers so far have helped us change and test a few things on the website - so please add your gravitas too.
Righty ho, until next time - which is probably the F3 Marlow Triathlon and the Chichester Triathlon, on Sunday - if not washed away. See you there.
Anthony
All I'll say is its always nice and very heartwarming to get unsolicited feedback from everyone that does give it, the long hours we put into getting images online, correctly catalogued (which we do manually) and making them ready as soon as possible. This business is something we put our hearts, minds and a lot of sleep deprivation into getting done, and it's very very rewarding to be told that it's been noticed. I set up this company with the aim of "making people happy through photos" - and now I have shared this with the team, they are very happy too. Thank you.
As ever - If you want to give me some feedback - good or bad, then email me Anthony, on info@sussexsportphotography.com
and to help me out with a little question or two I have - you can go here on http://bit.ly/SSP-Survey-No1 and tell me what you think - the answers so far have helped us change and test a few things on the website - so please add your gravitas too.
Righty ho, until next time - which is probably the F3 Marlow Triathlon and the Chichester Triathlon, on Sunday - if not washed away. See you there.
Anthony
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