Southampton Half, 10k, Brutal Bordon, REP Bluebell 2015 and Wolds Sportive now live

Congratulations to all of you who took part in the inaugural ABP Southampton Half Marathon and 10k on Sunday. Perfect conditions on both days of the weekend, with a bit of Friday night rain as needed for the very muddy Brutal Bordon on Saturday, and the good running conditions were shared on Sunday over at Angmering for the Raw Energy Pursuits Bluebell Trail runs.

The Itchen Bridge at full capacity on Sunday at the Southampton Half Marathon

High Demand to view - The gallery for Southampton went live last night, and as you might expect - demand to see the images and use the search facility was high - this does have the same effect as loads of people all trying to get served at a restaurant at the same time - everything is going really fast yet everyone thinks things are going slowly - except the waiters/servers. Well - our server has been beefed up to the max for the week and is still being rushed of it's feet - so please be patient. Images are the heavy lifting of the internet, as is the gallery search function - it really hammers the processors on computers.
If you avoid peak times (7pm to 9pm) you might find things are a bit faster when everyone else is doing something else...


So this is where the galleries are:

Race Logo	Gallery Link
ABP Southampton Half Marathon & 10k 2015	The ABP Southampton 10k, and Half Marathon Gallery is here: http://bit.ly/Southampton-Half-Marathon-Gallery-2015
Brutal Bordon 2015	The Brutal Bordon (the muddy one!) full gallery is live here: http://bit.ly/Brutal-Bordon-Gallery-2015
REP Bluebell Trail Runs 2015	Images were available live and were available direct to facebook via the Pic2Go application immediately after the race - register on the gallery here: http://bit.ly/REP-Bluebell-2015-Gallery If your event is interested in using pic2go technology for the best Race Day Engagement - get in touch with info@pic2go.co.uk
Heart of the Wolds Sportive	The Heart of the Wolds Sportive 2015: http://bit.ly/Wolds-Sportive-Photos

There was also the small matter of providing the images for Pic2Go UK at the Running Awards last Friday, an incredible evening of awards and meeting a lot of event organisers, sponsors and product suppliers that we see often during the year - I'm not complaining that I didn't win the best blog (that went to "The Fat Girls Guide to Running" http://toofattorun.co.uk ), and that there is no Best Race Photography catagory, but I digress - Check out the results here to see what won what:http://therunningawards.com/blog/post/2015-results
There were some big names on the evening, including Mike Bushell (BBC Sport) comparing the evening, and several international athletes, and other celebrities (remember Gladiators anyone?) in the evenings goings on. Too many people we know to mention, but I'm pretty sure we got everyone - and the pic2go barcodes on the Admission Passes meant that lots of people were getting their photos instantly during the evening, something Pic2Go can achieve during a race for race photos too.

The awards, just before their release into the wild

Races you should Enter !!!
Things seem to get a bit quiet in the middle of May, so here's some races for you to think about from the races we're covering, and remember all the races we cover are fabulous !
3rd May Three Forts Half Marathon and Marathon
10th May Farnham Kellys Bike Ride - with free photos via Pic2Go
17th May Godalming 10k, 5k and Fun Run
Raw Energy Pursuits - yes any of their races in May - and they all have free photos !

Some photos from the weekend for you...from just two of the races..

At the inaugural Southampton Half and 10k...

A bit of a warm up in the park

"Yes Please" ?! always check you write answers in the right place on the entry form. I think the question was - "do you want to win?" and she did, so the answer was correct...

All ready with the clock car at the start

Matt LeTissier gets the horn, Pat the Race referee looks on uncertainly.

Through the Bargate 

First Woman in the Half leaves the bridge before it gets too crowded whilst Arena80 plays catch up

It got a bit busy on the Itchen bridge !

Careful when you practice your mini-me impressions

This gets confusing if they swap sides, like Ant and Dec

The Hills are alive !!

Top Pacing team for a flinstone 2:10

It's not a bad view with the guildhall in the background

The Elephant unmasked - Clare did a fantastic job !

MLT at the finish, sterling effort - looking a bit pale...

Pat checks on Matt. We think he was ok in the end !

All nicely framed at the end - well done Matthew Bennett - 1:14. for a win in over a minute and a half ahead of second place.

Well done Chris - not bad for an inaugural race !!

Meanwhile the day before on the Brutal Bordon course, it was, well, a bit muddy...

All off a the start, chasing the Canicrossers

See, it is possible to stay clean on the way round (no I have no idea why she did this, but held no objection)

The peace and serene scenes of the Brutal Bogs

Up and over

Yes, up, over and back in. You can read my thoughts can't you.

Dogs, always ready to help you out in any way, just don't dunk them.

Slightly more helpful doggy help

Sy, what is going on here ?

Finally Sy takes some relief

The Brutal Beauty Pack

Helpful hands everywhere, if you dare...

All going to plan

winning technique

pirates of the bog

Jenni keeps it purple

Simple, just walk on the water

Happy with the facial

Freestyling

Three men in a boat. Well, more like up a creek without a paddle.

Pirates before...

Julie keeps on striding along...

Last words were "Let me show you how..."

Here, let me wipe that clean for you

Full of the joys of spring

Entrance to hades, just to the left

the after shot, slightly muddier...

So that's about it, for the weekend that was - it's been incredibly hard work with very little sleep ! The team have all worked hard with 2:30am finishes on Friday to 7am starts on Saturday (yes 4hrs sleep) and 6am on Sunday, and then 2am finishes on Monday... so it's been a long hard few days, but judging by the comments on social media about the photos it's been worth it...now lets hope the website goes fast enough for it to accept orders !!

What's Next ? (apart from some sleep)
We have Four races on Sunday the 3rd of May - 3Forts, Ranelagh Half Marathon, REP Steyning Tri and the YMCA Redhill fun runs - so it's going to be yet another busy one - what's a bankholiday then ? when we are sorting out the cataloguing again to get them ready and online as fast as possible...

So until next time, let's hope the grass enjoys the rain ?
Anthony