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| Sunset before the fun - REP - Run the Seasons 2025 at Cowdray Park |
Happy New year ! (we can still say that right ?)
**Upbeat comment**
Hello and welcome to the 2025 that you never even thought would be like *this* already (stands with hand out generally wafting hands low across a table of stuff and mess).
But yes the winter running seasons are all going along and I'm very pleased to say that the Cowdray Park Run the Seasons 10k went off well on Saturday night in the dark.
The free download gallery is live and available here: just use your race number:
https://gallerylink.info/REP-Cowdray-Winter-Run-2025
Custom Tiny URLs
You'll see we now have our nice shiny new Tiny URL "gallerylink" which is rather "does what it says on the tin" which means we can automagically create a personalised gallery URL and give you one - have a test on our main homepage www.sussexsportphotography.com
The best bit about these is when you share them to your friends (because you do don't you, and post them on socials etc or email them) - they say what they are - so your friends and family can see from the simple text what it is... we like this and we hope you and everyone else who uses them too does.
Anyway without futher ado - here's some funky photos of people running in the dark...
FWIW, taking a lot of photos in the dark is difficult. If you use flash - it doesn't recharge fast enough and isn't powerful enough (which is why Mike was trying to use four all together), and if you use floodlights - you need *A LOT* which is why I was at the equivalent of 2000W floodlighting with four LED security lights running off a camping battery... which works, but you still have headtorch problems.
Add in how cold it got and optical failure as they mist up with condensation in the cold slightly misty conditions being near a river - and it all gets a bit more fun and games than you thought could happen.
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| Dogs are go go go at the start of the canicross wave |
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| Nice busy start through the main ruin buildings |
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| Yes, if you where a matt black there is no way we're going to see anything except your socks |
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| one of the hardest shots we ever take - nightime, side on, and get the background thingy in shot too. |
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| handtorch for the best headshot |
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| Dog avoids lights, headtorch as bright as a Tesla, means the very slight mistyness causes glare |
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| Dog does not avoid big bright light thing... was ok |
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| These things can be quite fun |
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| Ghosting about at the end |
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| hello waves from our Graham |
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| good VO2 max thresholding |
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| and another thing... |
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| correct lighting will give you the right Halo effect |
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| it is rather scenic as some points ! |
Well done to everyone who got the race done in that cold weather - fortunately it wasn't raining as badly as it had been the night before and the night afterwards - because frankly I don't fancy setting up a load of lighting and electrical stuff in the rain, call me shy if you like.... nor sitting in zero temperatures in cold winds for hours at a time without literally moving an inch - it's a type of torture.
**general apology for tardiness**
So I must confess to having had a bit of a lack of blog mojo since august 2024 with regards to the blogging. The Mighty hikes and the Arundel 10k, as well as the Mince Pie 10 went off really well - although the conditions for that were quite the worst ever as the storm was basically passing - sheltering behind a hedge to stay alive whilst working does make you question your life choices.
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| One of those days that you enjoy ! |
But comms wise - all these events email participants after the event to ensure everyone knows that the gallery is live - and we see the downloads taking place - so sometimes the blog feels a bit redundant for the participants of that particular race - but of course - we all like a general look through the photos and see people being happy, even if it is a fast scroll and checking my captioning for NSFW comments...
Workwise we're planning hard for the Cambridge Half Marathon on March the 9th - always on the weekend nearest my birthday. I don't know if it's some kind of joke from the universe to make me go back to my hometown (how many triggers do you need in a day?), and then instead of being able to relax with friends - make me work as hard as possible...
Anyway, sorry, it's been a slow few months as they say and I promise to get back up to speed. My main distraction has been the kids and them needing taxi driving to athletics events through the winter weekends - so coming up soon in no particular order is Lee Valley, Sheffield Indoors, Loughborough for some training and competitions, and the good old Birmingham NEC for indoor competition or other at the end of february all beckon as well as some sharpeners at the Sutcliffe Park indoor track competitions. At least this year the indoor county champs don't clash with the Cambridge half - because getting down to Sutton in south london for a 4pm race from cambridge has been a bit of a stressfull drive on occaision !
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| Happy New Year |
and if anyone is asking, yes we're going to shift away from Twitter, because, well, it's insane isn't it and we *want nothing to do with that sort of thing*.
Facebook remains a key comms plattform and as long as you don't stray onto anything the makes you go "ooh look shiny strange" they don't seem to fill it with trash, but it is relentless these days with adverts (sorry sponsored content), and I have difficulty seeing my friends feeds now, so no doubt eventually it will just collapse in on itself like the black holes they become.
And unlike four years ago, I just can't bring myself to comment on America - because. Just remind yourself that we got through it last time, and hopefully the good people in the world with influence are going to make sure we get through it again. Hopefully it won't be Elongated...
anyway, see you soon, and I hope you all had a lovely time at the National Running Show in Birmingham at the weekend - obviously we were not there because races...
until next time, train well, stay safe
Anthony
