Brutal Longmoor 2013 and Year End

The Tank Wallow. Scared of the cold ? go round the edge !

That's the last race for the year !
The Brutal Longmoor Gallery is live and online with a fully searchable gallery with almost 20,000 images for you to enjoy.
Another great race from the Brutal Team, with over 500 runners on the day across the two distances - including over 100 on the day entries that obviously felt the need to shift a spare mince-pie or two. I think they probably succeeded if they did the 16k course.
If you want to get more of a feeling for all things Brutal - get over to their facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/brutal10 and give them some great feedback !

Logo	Gallery Link
	Now live almost 20,000 images from the Brutal Longmoor 2013 : http://bit.ly/Brutal-Longmoor-2013-Photo-Gallery

Last chances !
If you have not got some of your 2013 memories yet - then these galleries are still live - but they are going to be archived from the oldest first (at the bottom of the list), so don't miss out. Once they are archived we can only retrieve them with your race number and they will cost more - so get yours now !
Free download races are not free once they have been archived - so get those now too, in ten years time you will appreciate that you got them now when you could - don't regret it later !

2013 Galleries still live
Date	Event
28/12/2013	Brutal Longmoor 2013
15/12/2013	RPAC Holly Run 2013
08/12/2013	Seaford Mince Pie 10 2013
08/12/2013	The Hogs Back 2013
01/12/2013	Thetford MTB Race2 2013
01/12/2013	Jigsaw Run 2013
24/11/2013	ETL Molehills 2013
17/11/2013	Brighton 10k 2013
16/11/2013	Brutal Long Valley 2013
10/11/2013	Grand Union Half 2013
10/11/2013	Poppy Half 2013
03/11/2013	Thetford MTB Race1 2013
03/11/2013	AAT Loseley 10k 2013
03/11/2013	LBVCR 2013
26/10/2013	Beachy Head Marathon 2013
20/10/2013	Cabbage Patch 10 2013
20/10/2013	Abingdon Marathon 2013
20/10/2013	ETL Denbies 10 2013
19/10/2013	Back 2 The Trenches #3 2013
19/10/2013	Brutal Woolmer 2013
13/10/2013	Kellystore Run 2013
13/10/2013	Givaudan Ashford 10k 2013
13/10/2013	Maidstone Half 2013
13/10/2013	Chichester Half 2013
13/10/2013	Herts 10k 2013
06/10/2013	Clarendon Marathon 2013
06/10/2013	Warrior Run 2 2013
06/10/2013	Cambridge Town and Gown 10k 2013
06/10/2013	Reading O2O 10k 2013
06/10/2013	Basingstoke Half 2013
05/10/2013	Dusk 2 Dawn 2013
29/09/2013	F3 Henley Trail Half 2013
29/09/2013	Folkestone Half 2013
29/09/2013	Ealing Half 2013
28/09/2013	AAT Echo Challenge 2013
22/09/2013	Tonbridge Half 2013
15/09/2013	Chestnut 10k 2013
15/09/2013	REP Firle 2013
15/09/2013	Pilgrim 2013
08/09/2013	Alice Holt 2013
08/09/2013	PP Maidenhead Half 2013
08/09/2013	ETL Bacchus 2013
07/09/2013	AAT Hard as Snails 2013
01/09/2013	Newbury Tri 2013
01/09/2013	Tri Together 2013
26/08/2013	Canterbury Half 2013
25/08/2013	Arundel 10k 2013
24/08/2013	F3 Festival of Sport 2013
17/08/2013	Brutal Minley 2013
17/08/2013	Pride 10k 2013
11/08/2013	Bewl Tri 2013
11/08/2013	REP Adur Swim 2013
10/08/2013	The Ride of Hope 2013

New Races for you to enter in 2014

Call for entries:	Race Entry links for selected races:
	some of these still need filling in !
2014
JAN 2014
1st Wednesday - Serpentine NYD 10k	sold out
5th Sun - Sussex XC Champs @Bexhill	http://www.sussexathletics.org.uk/forms.php#form149
18th Sat - G3#1 - Guildford	free race gallery downloads
19th Sun - Fred Hughes 10miles
25th Sat - SEAA XC Champs Parliament Hill
26th Sun - Epsom Perch
26th Sun - Canterbury 10
FEB 2013
2nd Sun - Watford Half
2nd Sun - Ashford and District 10k
2nd Sun - ETL Bookham 10k
9th Sat - G3#2 - Guildford	free race gallery downloads
9th Sun - Deal Half Marathon
15th Sat - Brutal - Windmill Hill	http://bit.ly/Brutal-10-homepage
16th Sun - (Brighton Half Marathon)
23rd Sun - Hampton Court Half Marathon
MARCH 2014
Sat 1st - G3#3 - Guildford	free race gallery downloads
Sun 2nd - Berkhampstead Half Marathon
Sun 2nd - Steyning Stinger	http://bit.ly/The-Steyning-Stinger free race gallery downloads
Sun 9th - Roding Valley Half Marathon
Sun 9th - Surrey Half Marathon	http://bit.ly/Surrey-Half-Marathon-entry
Sun 9th - Lydd Half Marathon
Sat 15th - Brutal Bordon	http://bit.ly/Brutal-10-homepage
Sat 15th - F3 Dorney Half Marathon
Sun 16th - Colchester Half Marathon
Sun 16th - ETL Tempest 10 and Spitfire 20
Sun 16th - Cranleigh 15-21
Sun 23rd - Richmond 13.1 and 10k	http://bit.ly/Richmond131-half-marathon
Sun 23rd - Back 2 the Trenches #1
Sun 23rd - PP Water of Life Half Marathon
Sun 23rd - Brentwood Half Marathon
Sun 30th - Warrior Run #1
Sun 30th - Paddock Wood Half Marathon
Sun 30th - BHF Bournemouth Half Marathon
more to follow...

Having read the above fixture lists thoroughly, posted your feedback on the Brutal 10 to them on facebook, you may now enjoy the selection below :-)

It's just like Lourdes, only err, cooler.

Helpfully lending a hand to keep her hair dry

Double thumbs up man of steel

It was not that cold, or *that*deep

Ok, perhaps it was *that* deep

Brutal Runs offer contemplation, self finding, and discovery of the soul.

Puddle smashing fun !

Getting water out of ears after a quick swim

1 foot to touchdown

Bravehearted crossing of the 16k ditch

Just walk across the water, it's far easier and drier 

Fantastic bouquet from the course treats

His best "Running Free" Face

So cold, he turned blue...

Free from Santa for another year he enjoyed himself in a special way...

OK, who put this sand here ?

Year End
So, that's it for 2013, compared to 2012 we have covered almost the same number of races (150), and seen roughly the same number of competitors (just under 100,000) but have put up over 1.8 Million images, 30% up on last year, all fully searchable and quality checked before being put online !

Free Downloads
Almost 180,000 of those images were free downloads - something we know gets great feedback and is always appreciated by everyone at events, and something we love to do too - so thank you to the sponsors and event organisers who have helped us to do that for you over the past year. If we can do more we will - and if anyone has suggestions on how, please get in touch !

Coverage
Unfortunately, like this year, we won't be at some races that we have covered in past years. Are we getting too big for our boots and not covering the smaller races ? No - Not really - some of the smaller races are excellent for us to cover - it simply comes down to which races sell enough images so that the minimum incremental costs of putting a gallery online is met (which consists of salaries, kit, fuel, office admin, etc the incremental business costs). So our apologies to all those races where we won't see you next year, it's been a blast and we hope to see you at any of the other 150 races we cover.

Capacity 
We already have a very full calendar for the first half of 2014, and we are now limiting ourselves to four events in any one day - this is so we can manage things effectively and get things online quickly and accurately - if you have 20 photographers working on one day it needs a bit of organisation to get all the images back (sometimes over 100,000 images in a day) and into the right places on time, let alone organise the teams to be in the right place at the right time...

Thank You
Finally a big thank you to all of you who have ordered or downloaded images legally from us this year - without you we would not exist ! Thank you for the likes, ratings, and shares on facebook, the re-tweets, replies and comments on twitter, all the emails, and all the shouts at races as you go past ! - they all are very valuable to us and motivate us to do more and do better every time we cover an event. They all mean a great deal to us.
Thank you !

Anthony and on behalf of the entire Sussex Sport Photography team Have a Happy New Year and 2014 !

Cheers and Happy New Year for 2014  !!
(alcohol free beer, and summer silly hat/protective equipment)

 

Seaford Striders Mince Pie 10 and The Hogs Back 2013 - galleries now live

Start of the 2013 Hogs Back at Loseley House

Almost there !
The running of the annual Seaford Striders Mince Pie 10 is my seasonal marker - I try very hard to make sure this is the first time I eat a mince pie before Christmas. It's the only way that I make sure I don't start eating them too early and start getting fatter than I already am. This also means much respect to everyone who takes on this challenge across the south downs - which has some lovely views especially on a day like we had on Sunday, and even more respect for those of you who did it in fancy dress !

Also up was the Hogs Back Road Race - with Free Downloads now available on the gallery. Although there was a bit of a rain shower before hand, the race itself was dry and very fast at the front of the pack - despite the ascent up to the top of the Hogs Back - one of running's tougher challenges with an ascent of 552ft across the 7.25mile course.

Logo	Race	Gallery link
	Seaford Striders Mince Pie 10	http://bit.ly/18Rgh25
	The Hogs Back 2013 - free race downloads	http://bit.ly/1aRaCTG

Free race downloads are becoming an increasingly popular feature of our race coverage - so if you're interested in sponsoring a races coverage please get in touch and we can take you through how it works.

Next is the current race coverage planned for the next few months - I've clearly got a bit of admin to do to get this table populated - in the meantime have a search for the race names shown.

Call for entries:	Race Entry links for selected races:
	some of these still need filling in !
December 2013
15th - RPAC Holly Run	http://bit.ly/RPAC-Holly-Run-entries
28th Sat - Brutal Longmoor	http://bit.ly/Brutal-10-homepage
2014
JAN 2014
5th Sun - Sussex XC Champs @Falmer
18th Sat - G3#1 - Guildford	free race gallery downloads
19th Sun - Fred Hughes 10miles
25th Sat - SEAA XC Champs Parliament Hill
26th Sun - Epsom Perch
26th Sun - Canterbury 10
FEB 2013
2nd Sun - Watford Half
2nd Sun - Ashford and District 10k
2nd Sun - ETL Bookham 10k
9th Sat - G3#2 - Guildford	free race gallery downloads
9th Sun - Deal Half Marathon
15th Sat - Brutal - Windmill Hill
16th Sun - (Brighton Half Marathon)
23rd Sun - Hampton Court Half Marathon
MARCH 2014
Sat 1st - G3#3 - Guildford	free race gallery downloads
Sun 2nd - Berkhampstead Half Marathon
Sun 2nd - Steyning Stinger	http://bit.ly/The-Steyning-Stinger free race gallery downloads
Sun 9th - Roding Valley Half Marathon
Sun 9th - Surrey Half Marathon	http://bit.ly/Surrey-Half-Marathon-entry
Sun 9th - Lydd Half Marathon
Sat 15th - Brutal Bordon
Sat 15th - F3 Dorney Half Marathon
Sun 16th - Colchester Half Marathon
Sun 16th - ETL Tempest 10 and Spitfire 20
Sun 16th - Cranleigh 15-21
Sun 23rd - Richmond 13.1 and 10k	http://bit.ly/Richmond131-half-marathon
Sun 23rd - Back 2 the Trenches #1
Sun 23rd - PP Water of Life Half Marathon
Sun 23rd - Brentwood Half Marathon
Sun 30th - Warrior Run #1
Sun 30th - Paddock Wood Half Marathon
Sun 30th - BHF Bournemouth Half Marathon
more to follow...

The Mince Pie 10

Perfect conditions, hardly any wind to speak of (for the top of the downs near the sea), about 10degreesC with a southerly wind and a lie in until the race start at 11am. No rain, hail, sleet or snow. What more can you want on a downland run with over 500 entries and perfect marshalling from the Seaford Striders ? I guess a mince pie at the end is always nice !

Whilst it did get a bit chilly in the wind up top just standing about - for the runners it was a fast one - with Darryl Hards taking the sub-one hour victory in 57:04 - almost one and a half minutes ahead of Andrew Mynott in 59:28. Respect for the sub-hour times on such a hilly course.

It was a similar story in the womens race with Emma Richards (Hailsham Harriers) cracking 1:12:05, but again almost one and a half minutes ahead of Miki Floyd in 1:13:30. Again fast times - and I'm not sure where Miki has gained all this speed endurance from - but its very good !

Overall it was nice to see some fancy dress, sparkly tights to running Christmas trees and Santa Morph suits, amongst the tinsel belts and Santa and elf hats... 

Once again well done to the Striders for a well marshalled, organised event - these things take time to set up the day before, the administration and paperwork involved and the organisation on the day so everyone can turn up, race and leave in an organised way. It's never easy and the Seaford Striders always do a good job of it.

Santa on the Run

Miki - storming around the course

Careful with those tree lights

The view at the top of the Telscombe road as the race enters the Downs

 

Why ?!

Being chased by two Christmas trees, Dancer made a dash for it

 

Having missed the Devils Downland Dash last weekend, he gave the Mince Pie 10 some action

New winter hats to keep warm

Stopping to show the camera his Christmas Legs

The Hogs Back Road Race

Meanwhile over in Guildford it was all over before the Mince Pie began - with a 9am start on the "new" course from Loseley house it still takes in the iconic Hogs Back, but slightly safer by not being in the middle of the dual carriageway A31, which can be a bit unsettling, for the cars.

Again a fast pace set out at the front with Joe Morewood covering the 7.26 miles in 37.27 - which is frankly ridiculously quick for the course, and he was almost two minutes ahead of Gilbert Grundy in 39.25

AAT have now been organising this race for a few years, and are also setting up the new Surrey Half Marathon in March 2014 - ideal if you're thinking about going a bit longer in the new year - so check it out and we hope to see you there too !

Running up that first hill

Competitive finishing coming past the crowds

All's good for a double thumbs up

Before the race - good enough to make it to second team overall !

Starting in front of Loseley House

Flying through Compton on the way back down to the finish

So that's it remember all the Hogs Back race photos are free to download - so that's equal to the usual £19.99 "all my images at screen resolution" collection - make sure you get yours before they are archived - because they won't be free after that ! Here's the race gallery: bit.ly/1aRaCTG

Facebook links
Finally at last ! - you will see that we have managed to integrate the facebook share button on the gallery pages - which means if you see a photo you want to share on the gallery with your friends on facebook - you can just click the button and exactly the right link will get posted to your facebook page.

Thumbnails - Unfortunately, due to open-graph meta links being in the head, and canonical url links, we have not yet managed to put a thumbnail into the facebook share post - but we are working on it ! There must be a way... all suggestions welcomed...

Anyway, we use add-this.com as the sharing tool, and it seems to do most of the job. Next plan is to try to sort out the facebook like button too...
Anyway, please use the facebook buttons to let people see your race photos, or indeed share your friends photos with them ! I might even see if I can put the comment box right there on the gallery pages...

in other news... we are also trying to refresh the static website which still goes back to antbliss.com (a brand we stopped using over 7 years ago!) so hopefully that will get tidied up sometime soon !

Finally - you will also see an advert for One-Life ID bracelets, tags and other things on the gallery. These are made by one of our photographers (his other job), and speaking as someone who has broken a foot whilst out on a training run - I can strongly recommend these as a great Christmas present for your best training friends/wives/family/kids.
They are a great way of saying you care about them and want them to be ok whilst having their brand of fun ! (and no - you don't have to have a major health issue to need to carry ID with you conveniently) - the gift cards are at the bottom of the products page...

Until next time, I hope you all manage to find some time to do some training over the December weeks - last race before Christmas is the RPAC Reigate Holly Run - with races for all ages - so I hope to see you all there !

Anthony

Jigsaw 10k 2013 Gallery and Thetford MTB round 2 now live

It's still perfect weather for running, and although the nights are a bit darker earlier since the clocks went back the weather itself hasn't been impossible to cope with. Pre-fat-season exercise should be being done by all with the ambition of minimising the impact of the next four weeks...

The only running race we covered this weekend was the Jigsaw 10k held at Dunsfold airfield (aka the Top Gear test track place), which is arguably the flattest race in the UK. Depending on the wind it can also be the fastest - which was fortunately not blowing on Sunday - so it was absolutely perfect conditions for running.

We also covered the Thetford MTB round 2 of their endurance races - dark, fast, muddy and mean - and if the Round 1 photos are anything to go by, these ones are also going to be something special

More comments and photos below, but here's the gallery links:

Race logo	Race Gallery
	Jigsaw10k - http://bit.ly/Jigsaw-Run-Official-Gallery-2013
	Thetford MTB Round 2 http://bit.ly/Thetford-MTB-Race-2-Official-Gallery

Now we are past the 1st of December it's not against my principals to mention the soon looming holiday period known colloquially as "Christmas".
If you're thinking of something to get someone - then race photos are always a good value choice - with anything priced from £5.99 upwards depending on what you want. Mugs today seem to have been the product of choice today - and you can personalise the text if you want to - and I'm pleased to say they are being ordered in plenty of time.
We've also had a canvas or two ordered - up there at the significant end of the market purchases - but possibly something Dads might want to order for Mums (or Mums to order for Dads - speaking as a Dad myself!) if you have found a picture of your Family doing something you are particularly proud of over the past four or so months.

Last minute orders for things that need the post are probably best ordered before December the 20th, although anything more than a print (mugs, Cards etc) - it's December the 12th.
We will do our best to process digital orders right up to late Christmas Eve (until we have to go and eat mince pies ourselves), after that you can still get digital downloads instantly, and then someone might check in at the office depending on what films are on tv and how well the family is behaving...

No duplicate Gift Guarantee - has it been bought already ? If you want to order someone an print or image for Christmas - but want to check it has not been bought already by them themselves - just get in contact with the image reference number you are thinking about before you order and we will let you know yes or no and good to go !

I could go on, (and for those of you who know me well enough who know I do...) but I'll cut that short now - the only race that is not sold out for next Sunday is the Hogs Back at Guildford - and that has free downloads - so get yourself sorted out with those asap !

Future events forecast where we are going to be:

Call for entries:	Race Entry links for selected races:
December 2013
1st - Jigsaw 10k	done - http://bit.ly/Jigsaw-Run-Official-Gallery-2013
8th - Seaford Mince Pie 10 (sold out)	http://bit.ly/Seaford-mince-pie-entry
8th - Hogs Back 11.7km (free race photos)	http://bit.ly/Hogs-back-entry
15th - RPAC Holly Run	http://bit.ly/RPAC-Holly-Run-entries
28th - Brutal Longmoor	http://bit.ly/Brutal-10-homepage
more 2014 events to follow soon
March 2014
2nd - The Steyning Stinger	http://bit.ly/The-Steyning-Stinger
9th - Surrey Half Marathon	http://bit.ly/Surrey-Half-Marathon-entry
23rd - Richmond 13.1 and 10k	http://bit.ly/Richmond131-half-marathon

With the increasing propensity for these blog pictures to end up on facebook so they don't get bought Kevin, I'm trying not to give the baby away with the bathwater. Having found one well known website with over 36 stolen watermarked images on it last week and bearing in mind the $1.2million copyright decision that went through against Getty and AFP when they started showing images they didn't own, it might therefore be a good idea to let these images get taken and used without copyright license and then see what I can get for them once they end up being used... but I digress - here's a few you didn't see earlier...

The Jigsaw 10k 2013

All ready and waiting at the Start

Martin gets clearance to ....

Go go go....

An off up the runway, all 2km  of it

The largest vehicle on the course negotiated Gambon corner ok

Good to see Sam putting in a good time

Runways are - MASSIVE

Good teamwork

Blowing kisses at the photographer won't get you in the blog. ok. er.

For the win !

The three musketeers

Full speed into the finish

Marks Knee is holding up well - he even sneaked a cheeky PB

Dawn had a serious race face and pace on

YES !!

Always nice to have your friends shout you in at the finish !

Concentratey face at the finish timing

Every finish is a Win !

Double trouble on the Fun Run !

Runways are MASSIVE. no matter how you look at them.

I can't wait to see that Clarkson chap off Top Gear try this on their test track...

The finish team relaxing between those critical moments

So a big well done to Martin and the team from Jigsaw10k - it's got to be the fastest end of season 10k that you can possibly enter (as long as the wind stays away) - so put it in your diary for next year already...

Right, I'll lay off the heavy December stuff - you all know the drill, get yourself over to the Hogs Back race next Sunday and it's free race photos anyway !

Until next time
Anthony