Tuesday 31 January 2017

SEAA XC 2017 and Brutal Women and Men Races now live


All galleries were live on Monday - A weekend of Saturday only races - usually everything is mostly on a Sunday, but this had the annual special Brutal Women only and Men only races, and then the Southern Cross Country (XC) championships at Parliament Hill in North London.
The view south from the lower fields to the finish as the sun set and the Rainbows played under the rain clouds over the City at the South of England XC Championships at Parliament Hill

The Brutal races were also at a new location of Greenham common near Newbury which proved itself to be a worthy location for the annual gender specific races, and as always - the women outshone the men in the number turning up for the prizes. Who said Men were the more competitive gender ?

Everyone enjoys a good Brutal


The weather held off everywhere for all the events, despite being a bit drizzly en-route, at the end of the day in London it was clear we had missed the worst of the late afternoon passing clouds as we looked across the city.

SEAA Facebook Live video Stream
Also during the events from the SEAA championships we managed to run a facebook live video stream from out on the course. By clamping the phone to the camera monopod you get a first person experience of race photography and the race - you even get to hear my amazingly witty commentary and support when I have the brain capacity to do it - as well as the shouts of the supporters if they are right next to me shouting in my ear... I've put a playlist together here of all of them in race order to make it easy for you to find the right one for you - feel free to tag your friends if you see them: https://www.facebook.com/pg/UKSportPhoto/videos/


The live video stream is something I'm trying to do more often at events - of our intrepid team it's usually only me doing it (because I sign off on the costs for the data use!), but if you're not up and about on a Sunday during race times (or sometimes Saturday) it might be something to watch to see if you can spot your friends out ?! and give them a virtual shout-out. Apologies I can't type replies to your posts on the app - but I can say something and will always try to give a mention to anyone asking any questions or checking in whilst it's all going on (yes I can multi-task - sometimes). Just bear in mind I'm supposed to be looking through the camera and working...



Date Race Gallery or Event website
Latest Races
Sat-28/01/2017
SEAA XC Championships
at Parliament Hill
http://sspimg.com/SEAA-XC-2017-Gallery
Sat-28/01/2017
Brutal Women Only
Sat-28/01/2017
Brutal Men only
http://sspimg.com/BRutal-men-only-2017-gallery
Last Weekend
Sun-22/01/2017 ETL Denbies10
http://sspimg.com/ETLDenbies10-gallery2017
Future Races
Sun-05/02/2017 Gloucester Marathon beyondthelimitations.org.uk
Sun-05/02/2017 Watford Half http://bit.ly/watford-half-entry
Sun-05/02/2017 ETL Bookham 10k http://www.eventstolive.co.uk/
Sun-12/02/2017 Worthing Half Marathon http://bit.ly/worthing-half-2016
Sun-19/02/2017 Hampton Court Half Marathon http://bit.ly/Hampton-Court-Half-Entry
Sat-25/02/2017 Brutal Bagshot http://www.brutalrun.co.uk/dates/bagshot/
Sat-25/02/2017 English National XC Champs http://www.englishcrosscountry.co.uk/
Sun-05/03/2017 Leicester 10k - don't forget your Discount code "Sussex10" http://www.townandgown10k.com/leicester/
Sun-05/03/2017 The Steyning Stinger http://www.steyningac.co.uk/
Sat-11/03/2017 Hero Races https://heroraces.co.uk
Sun-12/03/2017 Colchester Half http://bit.ly/Colchester-Half
Sun-19/03/2017 Richmond 13.1 Half http://bit.ly/Richmond-Half
Sun-19/03/2017 Hastings Half Marathon http://bit.ly/Hastings-Half
Sun-19/03/2017 ETL Spring Badger Half http://eventstolive.co.uk/collections/events-new
Sun-19/03/2017 Brentwood Half http://bit.ly/Brentwood-Half
Sun-19/03/2017 Fleet Half Marathon http://bit.ly/Fleet-Half-Marathon

Here's a few shots from the weekends action
looking composed on the way down the hill

good concentration

Watford taking it out on the senior womens race

The Northern field at the start of the U20 Men race

Mornington chaser chasing

What joy it was to be alive that day
 
Pushing hard for 4th place after last weekends Farnborough Half win

Royston enjoying the hills - hope from home

Leonardo Di Caprio's younger brother from Hastings runs in a slight disguise

As the sun sets, the dancing starts

In the detail there's a lot more cranes in the city than usual

Push hard to the end

Take the race on and commit. Top work.

Enjoyable run for Fulham

Healthy competition at all the age groups

That hill - with that background. Still hard work.

Excellent work all the way to the finish

Brutal Races

What else are friends for ?

Holding hands and supporting through the water

Looking for the end ?

Not so sure before the start

All setting off enthusiastically

more enthusiastic than most

not quite as enthusiastic about the cold water

good teamwork

The step into the unknown

zooming

all together now

delicately put

hi Dad

Always check the bottom of your shoe for dog poo

Later on the Mens Brutal course
at least he was wise to putting his number on with pins

Siamese race numbers

The joys of marshalling

A clear hurdle into the mud

only knee deep !

clearly enjoying it

Drones legally need to be 50m above or away from small crowds - that's only about 14m high - estimated off the arch height, so illegal. lucky it's a small crowd - otherwise it would be 150m away - http://dronesafe.uk/drone-code/

where's the toilet roll ? we don't know.

Great run off at the start

wave your hands in the air like you just don't care !

Enjoy your trip

Like trump winning an inauguration, or a wrestling match

across up and around - proper brutal

All Thumbs are ok, despite wearing Vibram 5 fingers

Best walking on water impression of the day

aaaand another thing...

La La Land
So that's about it for this weeks news - we're getting ourselves ready for The Watford Half, Gloucester Marathon and Bookham 10k - so look forwards to seeing you there soon

p.s. don't forget to tell your team mates and juniors from the SEAA XC about the race photos - don't let them miss out, it's a big deal for them and a good photo they like can inspire them to greatness and application in future years.

Anthony