Hampshire Hoppit, Mid Sussex Tri, and Lake District Mighty Hike 2024 all done

What a busy weekend that was - three events - one of which has two days to it... no pressure but the CEO of Macmillan was doing her hike too, so we had to do a good job of that one as well... (we did !)

A weekend of rain on the saturday - which the Mighty Hikers mightily enjoyed - on the downside so did the midges at the lake side - so top tip for our team next year - make sure you take some insect repellant with you. And an unbrealla.

Unfortunately for next year we will also have to advise taking a metal detector or putting an apple location disk widget on your car key fob -  because one of our team lost their car keys in the long grass between his car and his photography spot - which I've also done once but I found them (luckily). My heart sunk when I got the news (whilst sat on the top of watership down waiting for the marathon runners...) and then had to co-ordinate a plan via whatsapp with the team on how to solve it... the onlooking rabbits were similarly unimpressed (there's an 80's film reference for you).

So - you can get to all these galleries from our main homepage - https://sussexsportphotography.com/ 

or if you prefer the full macmillan register and find your photos expereience - https://pic2go.co.uk/macmillan

So we have the Lake District Mighty Hikes, the Mid Sussex Triathlon, and the Hampshire Hoppit - all online. Since January we have been running with new tagging software for the barcode processing - we can now process and tag images considerably faster at around 1000 per minute on a good computer, and that together with our new shiny super fast fibre internet connection to the office has meant we're now pulling our average delivery timescales for events forwards by about half a day.

In fact our biggest challenge now is dealing with images where no barcode is visible in the image - so if you know people who say "oh it's ok I'l lsearch through later" - you can blame them for us taking a bit longer and having to manually check those images to see if we can manually read a race number and correct it - or not because there's nothing to see properly.

I would also like to know exactly what the race director said at the Hampshire Hoppit - because even for a marathon and with a zillion people wearing hydration packs - it was significant just how many had put their race numbers somewhere visible - much better than a lot of events we have been at in the past. Really must ask Tim what he said to them ! Thank you all !

Off they go for the start of the new 10k race at the Hoppit - finishers beer tent on the right !

what is better than running through the undergrowth and a double thumbs up

I've a feeling this hand symbol doesn't really mean "fetch batman" but I like to think it does

Strong knee lift and drive

special reflective tape on her legs for the last bit in the dark later

proper downhill flying in

This is focus

scenes

such effective high-fiving that people were veering across the finish area to get some hot hand action

One of those undergrowth bits on the trail

If you look carefully - you can see Usain Bolt just the other side of that bush

Kate bush ran up that hill, these guys were flying

All along the gallops at the start

around the fences not over them

Batman still hadn't caught up with him 15 miles later

exploding tree firework hat

There was a lot of lake filling rainfall on the saturday

optimism abounds at the start

an impromptu Ceilidh was begun at the finish...

taking the ceilidh concept on the entire hike was a challenge but it worked out ok

good numberwang showing when requried

the warmups are getting more fun as things go on

it's all go at the start

he was going to take in a detour, a mighty Hitch Hike

Correct Cbeebies hiking technique

big double thumbs for the large water

yes, we are always at the top of hills - because look - *the views*

Got to love a tutu.

Then we had the Mid Sussex Tri

Incredible presence of mind for a double thumbs up at the swim exit

will soon be available for modelling contracts

Putting the power down on the bike route

leaning into the ride

almost made it to the pub but had to turn around

awesome wave to the camera whilst swimming

medals so heavy the marshal has to help you hold it

good focus into the finish

Julie Briggs smashing through the course in amazing pace

Always excited to see you on the course !

So that's it for this weeks roundup - the weather seems to be getting better, we have ateam off to Northern Ireland for the Giants Causeway Mighty Hike on Saturday, and the small matter of a Raw Energy Pursuits swim down the river Arun - only the 2+ miles ! https://rawenergypursuits.co.uk/river-arun-3-8km-swim/

and no, Paul never found his keys at the lake district. His wife gainly drove over 100 miles with the spare keys for him, and something for which we're very grateful.

until next time - enjoy the warmer weather, stay hydrated and have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing !

Anthony