We're moving to Substack...

 Hi Everyone, 

SSP Chief Cameraman and cleaner here...

I hope you're enjoying the sunshine and ready for a weekend of action, fun and mostly running and eating Kayke with your friends ?

Coffee and Kayke with friends - that's what sport is all about 

If not, then your life choices are also excellent and you must be doing something right !

Anyway, this is just a friendly note to say we're moving over to Substack, but we've set up the post redirection thingy all correctly and completely GDPR compliantly, and you don't need to do anything.

Always follow the GDPR rules or the Race Referee will get you DQ'd

The important difference is instead of things being delivered by follow.it (and this is the last post we will be sending out using their services), they'll come from Substack.  https://sussexsportphotography.substack.com/ 

Why ? well the old service decided to change to a "click here to read the update" email, whilst Substack just sends you the email. It's that simple.

So instead of 

Blogger-->Follow.it-->email-->click to read it on Follow.it

it's just going to be

Substack-->read it in your email

And if you're a substack user, then hopefully we're now landing into your subscribed-to list as usual too.

So because you're already subscribed to us - you don't have to do anything.

If you've come here to Blogger and wondered why we gave up after 798 blogs - the answer is because it's simpler :

https://sussexsportphotography.substack.com/

A rare picture of me running away from something very quickly. Goodbye Follow.it and Blogger, it's been what 20 years ? Hello Substack.com

See you on the other side 

Good luck everyone at the REP Arundel Triathlon, and the Sevenoaks Tri this Sunday

until next time

Anthony

The 3 Forts Challenge 2025 - gallery live

 The 3 Forts Challenge is a Half Marathon, Full (with a bit extra, so technically an ultra) Marathon and then also a 5 miler thrown in for good measure for those waiting for the others to get back in time for lunch. There's also a canicross option for your four legged friend / loon and a field to sit about in whilst everyone else exercises across the south downs.

Free Pictures are available here: https://gallerylink.info/Three-Forts-Challenge-2025 

all start for the ultra marathon

This year it moved to Lancing Sports Centre, instead of over near Hill Barn at Worthing, so a different access route up to the main course loops on the top of the downs, but then all familiar territory from there on in - literally up and around the three iron age forts that are about here: Chanctonbury Ring, Cissbury Ring and errr, the other one... Was Devils Dyke one ?

Anyway - have a look at the routes - they're great - https://www.threefortschallenge.org.uk/contents/427-race-route 

The only challenge is - where the hell do you take your photos from ?  somewhere you can drive to without having to walk miles carrying kit, and get a good view with the sun in the right direction, find some context, and make it memorable ? Oh and get good coverage so that you do get a nice point that only the marathoners go to, but that means you have a photographer missing the half marathon runners - it turns into a proper puzzle...

Because it was May the 4th after all...

After covering this race for many many years I think we know the best points for a team of three, as well as being locals, and also other races that go over these hills (The Steyning Stinger anyone?), and  and personally been going around on these hills quite a bit over the years, so that makes things a little easier to figure things out, however the new start location did put the sun in different place at a different part of the course for the start - which brought along it's own challenges. It did mean that people were more strung out for the later view with Cissbury Ring in the background - so that helped a bit too.

Here taking landscapes with runners in the way - Cissbury Ring is the horizon

The races were sold out and with the weather - well attended with hardly any drop outs - 171 Full 270 Half and 136 five milers - and that's even with 3000 runners at the rival road race taking place over in Worthing. So time to put the thinking hats on how to make the event even more well attended next year - although it does clash with Southampton Half+Marathon as well in 2026...

 

Road runners will never be as happy as this fido

Up and over Steep Down

smiling - because the sun is on his back !!

the Half runners left Steep Down in the distance

They were both doing cartwheels all the way along

Back from Devils Dyke and a quick pub stop

Full baywatch life vest when near the river

it was an invisible egg and spoon race

cool leggings

Portslade runner survives lancing finish

what was all the fuss about ?

pleasant finishing surprise !!

So that was the Three Forts Challenge - free downloads from the gallery as ever - with memorable event branding and simple single click download - what more do you want ? Big congratulations to the new team at Lancing Manor Leisure Centre on taking it on and making such a success of things.

In other news it was the county athletics championships last weekend at K2 Crawley, and it's nice to get a member of the family mentioned in dispatches... records and everything...

https://www.sussexathletics.net/news/nine-cbps-and-a-world-record-by-jumping-julia/

Last weekend also saw the start of the Macmillan Mighty Hike series in Norfolk as well as the Alzheimers Trek series (Salisbury based towards Stonehenge). 

we surrendered too

Alas we lost the Macmillan contract after 7 years - based on cost apparently. But we were quoting for a live on-the-day (saturday) images, catalogued and searchable, with easy single click download, and event branding overlay, as well as easy gallery sharing link and excellent customer experience, plus coverage from about 7 to 8 locations. The stress of doing all that and the software development to cover that was extensive. 

The service they now have replaced us with is: Images on the monday after the saturday event, a two-factor registration barrier to get to their free photos (it's really an email data farming grab - there is no legal need to sign in), no direct search page with bib number, no single click download, order basket cross-sell, and no event branding on the images, and also the companies logo slapped across the bottom corner and about 4 locations. Really ?

I don't mind losing a quote on price if the service is the same, but I'm miffed in a most terribly British way to be replaced with such a low-quality alternative service. I feel mislead.

I am of course monitoring the total fundraising for all the charity events on a day by day basis, (as I did last year to prove our business case) so I will be able to see the impact of the weekends hike on increased fundraising, and any extra lift given to donations based on "proof" ie photography being provided - https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/norfolk-coast-mh25 
It's too early to see any valid data, so watch that space... but interestingly for the Alzheimers treks - there isn't any lift in fundraising over the weekend - which I find strange - but then - they don't have any free event photos at all...

Anyway, if we had got the Macmillan contract I wouldn't have seen my kids win at Athletics, and that my friends, is priceless...

#proudDad1

#ProudDad2

So on that note, we have the first of the Triathlon weekends next - with the legendary Sevenoaks Tri, and the incredible REP Arundel Lido tri in the shadow of the castle - and that has a Long and a Sprint tri distances to deal with. Cold early starts at sunrise with 4:30 alarm clocks, cold mornings and watching three different sports before lunch, and contending with parking machines that don't start until 6am, but you're already taking photos of swimmers by then... all so they can cycle on empty roads. Probably a good idea.

Until next time - please train safely

Anthony

The REP Angmering Bluebell 10k 2025

 

The 2025 Bluebell Run was raising money for KSS Air Ambulance

The full gallery from last sunday is of course live and online - have a check of the table below, and have a look at any you might have missed recently too

So here's a little table of past and future gallerys for you to use, and I'm sure if you wanted to you can find the event website you're looking for

Date	Event	Gallery
Sun-23/03/2025	Brentwood Half	https://gallerylink.info/Brentwood-Half-2025
Sat-05/04/2025	Cowdray Estate Spring Run	https://gallerylink.info/REP-Cowdray-Spring-Run-2025
Sun-06/04/2025	Southampton Marathon	https://gallerylink.info/Southampton-Races-2025
Sun-13/04/2025	Findon Grand National 10k	https://gallerylink.info/REP-Findon-Grand-National-2025
Sun-27/04/2025	REP Bluebell	https://gallerylink.info/REP-Bluebell-2025
Future Events
Sun-04/05/2025	3Forts	https://gallerylink.info/Three-Forts-Challenge-2025
Sun-18/05/2025	REP Arundel Tri	https://gallerylink.info/REP-Arundel-Tri-2025
Sun-18/05/2025	7Oaks Tri	https://gallerylink.info/7Oaks-Tri-2025
Sun-15/06/2025	Mid Sussex Tri	https://gallerylink.info/Mid-Sussex-Tri-2025
Sun-15/06/2025	Hampshire Hoppit	https://gallerylink.info/Hampshire-Hoppit-2025
Sat-21/06/2025	REP Arun Swim	https://gallerylink.info/REP-Arun-Swim-2025
Fri-27/06/2025	Cowdray Estate Summer Run	https://gallerylink.info/REP-Cowdray-Summer-Run-2025

It was the first of the hotter days on Sunday, so we were expecting a slightly slower times across all the runners - although we were pleasantly surprised by the outstanding time from the 10Mile winner - Liam Brisco in an outstanding time of 56:31

Full results here:

https://www.resultsbase.net/event/7145/results?round=19266

frankly anyone running 10 miles under the hour needs a big medal, so 56 minutes is amazing pace especially with those hills.

A total of 656 human participants and 21 Canine warriors took to the course this year - and it's always a popular race.

busy start on the first turn for the 10miler and some club rivalry

It was pretty busy - just as well we stopped the cars !

At about 4k you get through the bluebell woods - they are there ! 

got to avoid the stinging nettles somehow

double double thumbs means happy running

perfect conditions for a run out

Take the dog for a walk they said

off o the 10 mile north loop

back up the long hill with the views

survived it !

That last hill !!

hanging tough almost to the top

no surrender !!!

Relief into the finish

hello everyone !

catching up with mum and baby

The surprise and joy of finishing

YES !

if it's on the side of your leg and even the timekeeper can't read it - then you might want to think about putting your number somewhere else. like the bottom of your tshirt ?

Ah, the calm at the end of it all

All respect to the KSS Air Ambulance and the medical teams on Sunday 

Well done to everyone who took part and completed the course - all the entries help raise funds for the https://aakss.org.uk/ Air Ambulance - who were called to the event on the day to help, The air doctor took over once he arrived, but they left by normal ambulance.

If you're wondering, the last I heard on sunday was the participant made it to Worthing Hospital for further care. Even with 21 years of covering events, and as you might expect after several hundred thousands of runners have passed my camera lens we have seen or been near many many serious medical situations - but this was the first time I've personally had to be the first responder. It was a bit of a surprise, but I hope I did enough to the point when the medics were gathered enough and I then returned to taking photos. 5 minutes overall for me, but an important 5 minutes none the less. 

[Edit update - last heard that he was sat up and responsive on wednesday - still rooting for him!]

Which brings me onto the importance of learning the basics of first aid - which I first learned at Scouts back in 1981 and had some further courses as I got older through school and work. It's the first time I've had to use that much of it - but I do urge you - especially as I do have heart problems - Know your CPR and also know where the nearest defibrillator is - both at home (in your village? / town) and when at events or down the training track (we have one at the end of the 100m straight at Withdean in brighton).

here's a website https://www.defibfinder.uk/

I had a neighbour who ran a company specifically about First Aid Training etc - so here you go https://tigerlilytraining.co.uk/  no excuses. If your company hasn't tried to train you, then ask them why not ?

So on that slightly more serious note than usual - I hope to see many of you at the newly located 3 Forts Challenge - which says it is sold out ! which is excellent news - for the Half, Full and 5Mile routes, it will be chilly but bright and windy - so be prepared !

Until next time

Anthony

Southampton Marathon Festival 2025, Cowdray Spring Run the seasons, and the REP Findon 10k all live

 

All go at the start of the Southampton Half and Full Marathon 2025 (this angle doesn't do it justice to be honest)

Apologies, I ought to have posted about the galleries being ready sooner, but I know you all got emails and the traffic was phenomenal so I hoped you would all have a good idea where to go. If you're in any doubt - have a look through this page on our gallery and have a catchup on all the April action !

https://gallerylink.info/April-2025-events

Yes they do a canicross too at REP events

This weekend coming we have the REP Angmering bluebell 10k, which goes along private estate and woods that you don't usually get access to - which makes it all the more special, plus it finishes at a pub... what more do you want ?   https://rawenergypursuits.co.uk/bluebell-trail-run-angmering-2025/ (Sorry it's sold out)

Also this weekend is the official run one of those "proper marathons" that the well initiated call them - and we get into the battle of Manchester versus London. Or more accurately the clash of the event organisers - The London Marathon Events https://www.londonmarathonevents.co.uk/- versus ASO (aka The company that owns the Tour De France, who bought Human Race Events, and then funded buying out a load of big events) https://www.aso.fr/en/ . I had someone from ASO nosing around on my linkedin the other day - always interesting.

I still challenge the Manchester marathons claim to being the flattest - because the Abingdon Marathon is by far a much flatter course...apart from the pedestrian underpass. Apparently having a partial two lap loop even if it is on closed roads makes the whole claim invalid apparently according to some, to which I say I think the Elevation measurements are what count. Although these days the Manc course is slightly different - and wikipedia says different. 

Either way - neither of  "the" marathon events have free photos - so they will have the joys of paying for sportograph's logo on their photos in Manchester or who knows what at London - because I can't find anything on the London Marathon website about race photos... They used AWOL for their Brighton Marathon efforts recently, but sportograph have tried to do the job themselves too. Frankly - yes it's a lot of money however it's done - but the sheer volume of data management isn't funny, let alone the scale of the job. It took one of my friends 3 hours before they managed to copy his data cards after the end of the event one year - that's not good photographer management...

Somewhat amusingly I listened to an industry podcast with the UK head of ASO as the guest, and all they went on about putting on events was the importance of imagery and look and creating memories from these moments, and having a great backdrop to put the events on against. It was like asking someone to describe what a photograph is without using the word photograph. And yet this is all I hear event organisers aspiring to achieve but for some reason they haven't figured out what they're describing is a photograph. Le Sigh.

Anyway best avoid all the "THE" marathon hype and I hope you enjoy yourselves if you're doing it.

Proper trail running marathon with hills and friends

And if you've missed that or fancy something the week after that on the 4th May - then get your socks on and enter the 3 Forts Challenge - a 5mile, half marathon or marathon+ are on offer here - because sunday is the very last chance to enter : https://gallerylink.info/3Forts-challenge

It is a beautiful course, and really gives you some of the best views around the south downs between Hove and Worthing and the Adur valley if you're doing the Full route, and the half route ain't half bad either ! Don't forget this year it's all changed to Lancing Leisure centre too https://w3w.co/look.brick.adverbs - so it's going to be a different hill profile sequence and is going to make a bit of a difference to the times people bring in.

Anyway, enough of the event sales pitches - have a look at these silly selection of images and have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy the sunny weather next week, and don't get dehydrated in the warmer weather either. 

And here's a top tip - grab those chemical ice packs (small plastic bags) that you have to snap and shake and then they go cold - when you get hot and bothered - carry one in each hand and use them to cool your palms - which will lead to major core body temperature cooling - which is what you want !! cheatcode - unlocked ! (this is the sort of thing I mean: https://amzn.to/3Yh9I5f )

Anyway here's some Southampton marathon festival photos for you - it's tenth time - and what a time it was !

Spiderman got up early in his PJ's

Running Scared ? The unicorn was causing all sorts of problems..

postbox delivered safely to the finish

you will be assimilated

YES ! 

"I'm running how slowly !?!?"

The inflatable cow. He's not running to Burger King for a milkshake...

Yeah, sure thing, Step right up. By all means. Be our guest. Hope you got your nice shot of the back of their head too. Awesome. Good job. Now, if you don't mind....bit busy.

Freedom ! from the oppression of hydration vests !!

Gothic fur running, carrying a bunny. Not seen that before.

Carrot not stick approach for motivating Nick

James almost finished it

Swift Fade and UTurn to the family. PB out of the window then...

This does explain the faster runners earlier

He knew the crisps were waiting for him later, that's why he's so happy

Fetchie Friends always get a shout out ! Go Yas !!

Liz approved

Just the one shot from the Cowdray Run the Seasons Spring run. Because.

Must be the hayfever season then?

So see you all at Bluebell 10k in Angmering, and after that at the 3Forts challenge, so keep yourself safe and enjoy the weather, keep cool and hydrated...

Until next time

Anthony