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| Sunrise over Eastbourne - the new early start time had a minor drawback for action photography |
So that's the end of the season for us, the Beachy Head Marathon and 10k, and Royal Borough of Kingston Half Marathon all done and dusted.
This weeks free race galleries and upgrades available here:
We're now going to work our way through the winter just like we did last year, and hope to see everyone on the other side. It will be a bit different without furlough though - but we are well used to the seasonal nature of our work. It is off a smaller base this year - and it's a longer break - these are testing times (and I don't just mean Brexit and Covid).
Free downloads are the future
Every singe event we have covered this year has been a free download - paid for by the sponsors or the event themselves. This has been a five year strategy, stretched into six, based on helping events make increase the overall package that runners get from their event. Some race directors "get it" immediately, as do some of the iconic brands and charities that we work with. Some haven't and we didn't see them this year. I will keep asking on your behalf - because we know it makes you happy, but sometimes I can't move mountains !
Still doing a great job !
We aim to continue to frankly surprise people with the quality, quantity and speed with which we deliver images to people after an event, based on decades of doing better each time we can work out how. You will have seen my rant last time about AI - and I know it can and will get better - and with good programmers it will - so we will always keep an eye open for the next improvement available !
A Tough Year - tougher for some more than others - some breaking industry news
In other news - we heard that
The Race Organiser - has gone into administration -
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08496051 There's the small point that the other company they bought
F3 Events has also gone into administration. It would appear that the websites have not been changed since October the 8th when it was announced - so at the moment it's not possible to know if they are being managed as a going concern or being wound up -
but everything they are organising tomorrow on the 31st of October is cancelled.
I note with interest and sadness that the
AAT Guildford10k scheduled for tomorrow Sunday the 31st October has been cancelled - we don't know why as no reason has been given on the website - was it council license, lack of entries, or administration ? All of these things have been affecting races recently - hence my shout out last blog to please turn up if you've paid your entry or deferred to the new date !
I'll be honest - if I was going to enter into any events over the continuing covid crisis - for now I would only be entering by credit card and reading the small print on refunds.
Protect yourself - but get your entries in
I was once involved in not letting a major credit card company not pay a major airline for flights that had been booked into the future - because we didn't think the flights would take place - because the airline was struggling - and then we wouldn't get the money back to refund the customers. The airline went bust, our customers hadn't flown - they got their money back - I don't think we were solely responsible for them going bust. I think what I'm saying here is - book your race entries with a credit card ! The purchase protection insurance that goes with them is very much worth it sometimes (It's technically the law that protects you under the
Consumer Credit Act 1974). Oh and READ THE REFUND SMALL PRINT - especially on entry-gateway websites that are not the actual race website (even though they might look like they are - check the URL if in doubt!) - who might take your details and pass them onto the actual race entry page - leaving you think you have entered directly, but actually you've entered through a third party. Try getting a refund when *that* happens.
Anyway - here's the free download gallery list for the latter part of the year - one job for the next few months is going to be getting some endorsements from race organisers and events...
The Beachy Head Marathon 2021
A race with a bit of a difference this year - because of flooding the day before it meant that the half marathon course was going to be run twice - which any runner will tell you makes it mentally much much harder. It did however give those who had bitten off a bit more than they wanted to chew - a really safe place to stop after the first lap and of course - it gave us two chances of getting their photo up beachy head itself.
The earlier 8am start was a lot darker than usual, and I was grateful for the clearest conditions (I could clearly see Dungeness Power station from the top near the golf course), and also the stillest conditions - there was literally no wind whatsoever - which is the biggest battle when I'm up on top of the cliff tops. Staring into a gusting wind, sometimes in rain, often in cloud, and having left a few times early due to hypothermia setting in with uncontrollable shivers - this was the most perfect conditions for running Beachy I've ever known it since 2004.
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| 2021 - The red line shows the cliff edge from a photo in 2008 |
In the spirit of COP26 and climate change - it's always worth a quick mention of erosion along the edge of the cliffs. A big chunk fell away last year - cutting across the road that gets to
the Belle Tout lighthouse - itself moved back from the edge in 1999 - may be needed again...
I can only make a small shout out - but thank you to all of you who got the memo about leg numbers down the front of your thigh. It really does make a difference when we're cataloguing the race numbers for the search function to work properly.
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| Shout out to the vertical shorts race numbers on the front ! Some didn't get the memo. |
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| Great team effort for the finish |
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| Nobody here got the number memo |
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| Not too far to run back to Burgess Hill, and re-pin that number so we can read it from all angles... |
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| We still don't know who they were ! |
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| got the leg memo, and it worked ! It almost got back to the two behind as well. |
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| They definitely didn't get the safety common sense memo. And won't find it that close to the edge. |
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| This years winner. Good number for Halloween preparation. |
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| This years winner - strong pace all the way round for 3hr5min !! |
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| It felt as if he was mocking me about the leg number memo. |
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| Finish BIG !!! |
Then the next day we had the Royal Borough of Kingston Half marathon.
This was a full pic2go technology event and we had all the race images online and passed over to everyone who had registered by 2pm on the day. Something we always find rather pleasing ! The backup gallery (as linked at the top of the page) was ready and online on Tuesday. Watching twitter is always a pleasure after these events because the images make their way out onto social media very very quickly...
This one made it's way out onto the world as a happy tweet that got over 1300 likes and a load of comments. It has since developed into a meme because of her surprised face at his sprint finish ! Interestingly she had this for the train ride home after the run, on the same day. Glad she got the race number memo !
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| all good going past Hampton Court |
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| love a double thumbs up ! |
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| Floating on his feet |
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| got to give Jim a wave |
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| The subtle double thumbs up |
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| Proper sprint in at the end |
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| All good for the win ! |
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| Didn't get the race number memo, but he did get a loaf of bread (no I don't think he was in the race!) |
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| That first bit through the bustling streets of Kingston ! |
So that's it for the weekend just been, There was also the Beachy Head 10k on Sunday morning which also had a good start, and being a bit later - had some daylight too !
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| That start - up that hill |
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| Done 10k for the feel of it ! |
So lets see what next year holds for us - we have some bookings in march and provisionally through the summer. If you know a race organiser or a potential race sponsor - then tell them to get in touch - we can do great things - 7 Million brand views on a good sized half marathon - and we're cheap by comparison to other advertising methods !
So, until next time, I wish you all a very safe rest of 2021, fingers crossed you've ordered your tinned food and toilet roll for Christmas already, and we await the ongoing management of the NHS, which if anything should be enough motivation for us all to keep fit and well with our running through winter.
See you on the other side, Happy New Year !
Anthony
