Abingdon and Chelmsford Marathons and Kellys Challenge Run 2015 - Galleries now live
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The Start of this years Chelmsford Marathon 2015
(without press photographer in the way - he's panicking just out of shot on the right, after he was told to move before the start but didn't because it was "his job to be there". Clearly didn't do his Risk assessment, which is also his job to do!) |
Three popular races last Sunday in what looks like the last of the perfect running conditions (if the weather forecast for next weekend is anything to go by) - the flat marathons of Abingdon and Chelmsford and the very hilly Kellys Challenge Run (5k,10k and Half) at Guildford.
All the races went of smoothly, and very well organised ones they were too !
At the Kellys Challenge Run competitors had their race photos for free via Pic2Go system direct to their facebook galleries. Pictures were going out live during the race itself (and a few after they had crossed the finish line too!). over 10,000 images uploaded and sent out - if you ran it you can still register to claim them now (
click here). With over 180,000 image views so far, 1963 likes and 343 comments - Kellys are raising even more money for their charitable causes using pic2go to get everyone involved !
We also had a World Record (awaiting verification) at Abingdon from Jessica Bruce and her son going for the fastest marathon with a buggy and baby. 3:17:51 isn't a bad time is it ? search on #715 in the gallery to see how she got on !
Next weekend is the beast that is Beachy Head Marathon, and also the Cambridge Town and Gown 10k and the Water of Life Half Marathon (which is near Marlow). I think there are still places available for the latter two so go through the gallery links below to get to the event website and get entered ! The weather forecast has turned a bit, so get yourself into these races before the last chance and winter really starts to bear down on things...
Gallery links for you to see, comment, view, download and of course - buy and remember your achievements with:
Most of the races we cover are half marathons, so when we get into October and we have a couple of marathons, it does take a lot more for us to prepare and also get organised, rested and prepared for. Just like for the runners, on the day it is much much longer to be working on site, it's not 4 hours and then back to the office - it is the whole day on site, from being there earlier than all the runners, to leaving only after the last one has finished. Accordingly - what we see more of at marathons than at other races is the sheer joy and relief of finishing the race and achieving their goals. Trust me when I say that after a long marathon of a day, we also share in that joy and relief !
Usually at races we are just in front of the finish - because people are running at their best as they run in before the stop dead on the line, and it makes for the best action shot, but sometimes - like at Abingdon - if we have the space we will go just behind the line to get *that* moment the line is crossed and we can capture it for the runner.
A lot of the time the will have their hand or arms blocking their race number as they reach to stop their GPS watch, but with the results and a big clock in the picture - we can usually work out from the results what their race number is to sort out the cataloguing.
Check out some of these "look of relief" in the selection below from Abingdon and Chelmsford, you'll see what I mean !
Abingdon
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| All go and looking forwards to another marathon at Abingdon |
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| All going at the start of the countryside loop |
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| Good work from the Paras XC team |
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| Good pacing through the market square |
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| Nothing like a good high five |
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| Good running back along the river route for the first lap |
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| I think Kate is stalking us after her win at Basingstoke 2 weeks ago |
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| For the win |
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| Sarah nailed it for the sub 3 |
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| yes yes yes ! |
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| At last the relief ! |
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| Groin strain ? don't do the stretches in front of the remote camera ! |
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| Ruling the world feels like this ! |
Chelmsford Marathon
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| perfect weather for a run in the countryside |
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| Jumping for the joy of running |
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| Good work Andy for a great charity |
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| Guy was hitting the wall |
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| There were some "looking forwards to it" and "not so sure" faces at the start |
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| Crispian zoomed up the course for a win this year - no doubt we will see him at Brentwood again in March ! |
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| Tony, nailed this one |
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| The pain and joy of a marathon |
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| Good running to the finish. Shin pads optional ? |
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| The skis had slowed him down so he ditched them and smashed the course instead ! |
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| Great work from CJ and CLaire |
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| #missed - if you're going to reach out to give a high-five, try to look up from your phone and reach the runner ! #fail |
Kellys Challenge Run
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| All getting warmed up before the kids race |
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| pro tog tip - never ever get in the way of a determined 6yr old |
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| plenty of K9 support on the walks |
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| Running through the woods on the course |
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| tricky track running |
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| Up the hills into the woods |
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| Top running around the fields down the slopes |
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| Quite busy at the start ! |
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| Good warming up for the Half Marathon and 10k |
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| You can see the Hogs Back and the route descent along the hedge line in the distance |
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| Emily was double checking her decision to enter her first 10k as she climbed the sandy path back up the hill |
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| Top marshalling in the woods |
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| A fantastic setting for running at Loseley House returning to the finish |
Small mini rant - today I've had three salaried journalists phone up ask for free photos for their news item or race report from events we were not paid to cover. All their productions charge for advertising, some even charge for people to buy their venerable missives - and they all told me that they "don't have a budget for photos, but they could offer a credit".
Why for the love of photography, my team, staff and photographers, and my family would I let any of our photographers hard work go out for free?
Here's the real news salaried journalists - if you value the image enough to want to print it, then you value it enough to pay for it. Weigh up the costs of your time searching off to find someone else with a different photo for free, and you could have saved your company time, money and improved your output rate by just paying us. Easy, simple, professional and no hassle. I'll accept that your previously employed staff photographers might not have got the shot, but now they are redundant they certainly don't have it. Your company used to pay someone for this service, so why have they stopped ? Because images are of no value any more ? no, because you're spending time phoning up our office and asking.
That quick pro-tip goes out to everyone out there who takes photos for your club, match, children, tournament, race, charity event - anything really. Make sure you are paid for your images ! If someone can be bothered to phone you up and ask for your image, it is worth something.
When you're at work - do you ask your suppliers to give you things for free ? Things that will make your company profit better ? Like photocopy paper, or CNC machining, or stationary, analysis, marketing text, websites, product design, or do you just tell the staff "it's ok we're not going to pay you but we will give you a credit in the monthly report?" ? Yes !! they'd go for it !! surely ?
It's ridiculous, and you should all know this one simple thing - if the paper or journalist really does like your photo - then they will pay for it. We're not talking huge amounts here, but £50 isn't an unreasonable amount to ask a professional publication as a starting point when it's taken over 6hrs to go, get, process and prepare an image. If you're in doubt about the market rate - check rights managed images on
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/creative-images/rightsmanaged
Don't be fooled by gullible flattery, having your name credited and printed in the paper really isn't worth the paper it is printed on, and the journalists at these papers know it. More fool me if I ever give a photo away for free (exactly how would I get a professional photographer to ever work for me again if I did that ?), and the same applies to every photo taken by anyone.
If in doubt - ask the journalist if they write for free, and take your lead from that.
You're worth it, your photo is worth it, and your time and effort, skill and luck (usually in equal amounts), is worth it. (and if luck is not worth paying for, what's this lottery winnings thing all about eh?)
mini rant over...
Next weekend
Right, I'll see some of you at the flat bit on Beachy Head on Saturday, possibly in the rain, so make sure you're wrapped up well, and stay safe and enjoy it, but don't hide your race number (or I will cry), the wind will be on your back at that point anyway. Please look out and after the rest of the team - as it's a wild and difficult race to cover, and would someone - you probably - please make sure that Sally working on the finish (for about 9 hours) has enough to eat and is ok too. Thank you !
Otherwise have a good run at the Water for Life Half marathon or the Cambridge Town and Gown 10k - both fantastic charity races. I'll probably be in the Fort St.George at Cambridge afterwards reminding myself of working in the kitchen there 30 years ago... doesn't time fly !
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| Photographer at work, and getting ready for winter by the looks of things. Give him a wave and put your best runners face on if you do see him. |
Until next time !
Anthony
