Wednesday 25 February 2015

The National XC Championships and Hampton Court Half 2015 - now live

The 2015 National Cross Country Championships from Parliament Hill are now online.

Very tough conditions under foot, although the rain narrowly missed the course during the day it was windy and the low sun for the mens race did make it challenging to see where the course went at some points. Some amazing performances all round across all the age groups with some of the tightest running in the u13 packs that barely separated all the way around the 3k races.

For some this is the only time they can make it to this historic event at the home of English XC racing, but hopefully we will see you back here again at some point soon ! Make sure you get your shots - you never know if you will be lucky enough to be back next time...good performances can take their injury toll...

Over 100,000 images were taken on the day and it's taken the best part of three days to catalogue and get the images ready for you - but that should save everyone a lot of time searching now !! Enjoy them on the link below:

http://bit.ly/National-XC-Champs-Gallery-2015

Please remember they will only be online here for 3 months - so please get them before they go.

The Senior Men's Race in full flow at 2k
The Hampton Court Half marathon and 10k race gallery is also now live and online here:
http://bit.ly/Hampton-Court-Half-Gallery-2015
It was a fantastic flat race around Hampton Court and up to Kingston - a very flat and fast course in perfect conditions for running. Slightly different route to last year and we also have the 10k race photos online too.

Faster online pic2go
For indexing the majority of these images we pay for a barcode system called pic2go to speed things up - but it does rely on being able to see the barcode clearly in the image - so if you ever see them on your race number - please make sure they are as visible and flat (not creased) as possible on your front ! And don't put a pin through it either !

Make sure the pic2go barcodes on the front can be seen for faster pic2go tagging and gallery online


Race Gallery link
National Cross Country Championships 2015
http://bit.ly/National-XC-Champs-Gallery-2015
Hampton Court Half Marathon 2015
http://bit.ly/Hampton-Court-Half-Gallery-2015

Image cataloguing - search time and prices
People sometimes wonder why photos cost so much - the simple answer is 80% is to pay for the cataloguing and the photographers. It's been a massive effort this weekend yet ultimately when everyone uses the search facility to find their pictures - near instantly - that's the time saving that we deliver for you ! (it would take you days to find your pictures otherwise) (and your time is money, the minimum wage says so). So in essence the more you value your time, the cheaper the photos become.

Call for entries
Last call for entries for the Surrey Half Marathon on the 8th of March for the closed road race starting in Woking this year.
The River Thames Half at Walton on the 15th of March
It's also Hastings, Richmond, Fleet and Brentwood Half Marathons on the 22nd of March - it's going to be a busy one on that monday afterwards for us !!

Did you know?
Google analytics tells us exactly which images are being viewed, searched, and bought, as well as who is highlighting (div focus) and illegally trying to take watermarked copies. Some people seem to forget that these are photos of them and we can tell who you are !! We had 85 people on the gallery at the same time last night... very very busy. Let's see what happens once this blog hits the emails...

Here's some shots of the action from the weekend - enjoy !
Look people over there behind me !!!

Warpaint with Tonbridge

All the races were a bit busy

It's easy from the front

Socks and shoes

Just powering up a little hill

Ever have that feeling of being chased (and this is at the finish after the field broke up)

Spot the strongest performance here

Moody london light and skyline

Yes. XC is really Easy. not.

Good to see a few Race Directors out working at it too

Correct Finishing technique i.e. Happy about it !!

Living legend that is Mrs Tabor. Look her up on Power of 10...
http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=7754

A Calm win in the evening winter sun for the Senior Mens title

Don't get in the way

More foot tape needed next time

Forgot the left glove

Flying high at the last corner

Don't leave litter on the course

spikes don't make you finish faster

meanwhile on the Sunday at Hampton Court Half Marathon and 10k
Raising money for a good cause (but put pin through barcode - error)

Looking good at the start

Excellent fund raising

Sheen Shufflers - no idea what the race number is though...

A common lament of the runner

Clipping along at a good pace

Still a long way from the finish

dangly heaphone problems

where's the palace ?

You can tell he's in the race. Chip on foot. OBVIOUSLY.

A great race past some great landmarks

Going well at the 2:30 pace at 3km

Good fund raising Graham

Priorities... actually we had no way of knowing if she was in the race at all...

Next Weekend..

Is the legendary Steyning Stinger - long, hilly, muddy, cold, snow, rain, even sun - it stings - and for everyone who's pic2go barcodes we can read clearly - you will get your photos delivered to your facebook accounts as a priority (just register once you know your race number - from registration - on the gallery here http://bit.ly/Steyning-Stinger-Gallery-2015 ).
There's also the Berkhamstead Half Marathon http://bit.ly/Berkhamstead-Half-Marathon-entry which has entries still open - for all you late decision makers...

until next time, put in some good training !

Anthony




Monday 16 February 2015

Brutal Bagshot 2015 - the Valentine Experience

Overnight rain to top-up the puddles and soften the ground underfoot was all that was needed in preparation for a quick 2 laps around the Bagshot course on Saturday. Weather or not love was in the air, at a frosty 5degC, for the Valentine 10k of the year remained to be seen... but everything had been done to make prospective couples bond over the knee deep mud and the plentiful hills and puddles to see what each other were made of. Did they have the sort of stamina they were looking for in a partner ?... A bit of Rough Brutalisation is one way to find out...

Thanks to Dave, Colin and Allan (and Tom the Diner) for yet another great event - even the rain kept off until we had all packed up !

Race  Gallery link
Brutal Bagshot
http://bit.ly/Brutal-Bagshot-Gallery-2015

Next weekend is the National XC championships at Parliament hill, and then the Hampton Court Half Marathon on the Sunday. Sometimes I'd rather be running these races than taking the photos with all the work it takes next day to get them onto the gallery !

loved up with tounges

not sure who is enjoying this more ?

Ollie gets a bit red faced

teamwork through the water

Happy Birthday Lou

If you don't pin your number on correctly, you can be disqualified or carry a tree branch around with you.

All ready for action at the start

Run away !!

Top final puddle splashing

ooh the indignity....

H's finished

Driving home for the 4th place

eye poppingly wet

Ollie takes the wet route 

the babestation backdrop seemed to work

pick one side or the other

wobblechops

Chris gets through the puddles with ease

oh, woops.

Firemans lift anyone

running with friends

Happy Valentine's Day !
That's it for the weekend, make sure you check your friends photos and yours out - and make sure you get yours to keep before they are gone ! http://bit.ly/Brutal-Bagshot-Gallery-2015 

Until Next time
Anthony