Yesterday (2nd March) was an early 3 AM wake-up call for Oli and I as we headed off to the first GB Ultras event of the season, Chester 50. As the events official photographer and videographer for the past two seasons, we were raring to go and get the season underway again with one of our favourite routes in the GB Ultras Series; this year with the inclusion of another team member Ryan.
The day started off at Chester Sports Village in the bitter cold, not the kind of day to forget your gloves (like I did)! It is our job to capture moments. Moments of pre race nerves, excitement, warm-ups and preparation for what would be the challenge ahead. This year we changed the way we worked a little bit. Ryan was now tasked with photographing the pre race action on the start line and Oli would now be on our Canon R5C, 24-105mm Gimble rig capturing video of all of the vital moments previously mentioned whilst i was tasked with capturing the same but in photographs. My rig hasn't changed much from previous years, still rocking the Canon R6 with the Sigma 70-200mm.
As the race edged closed to starting time, I set up our Canon C70 armed with a Sigma 18-35mm, got it on a tripod and set it rolling to capture the race start whilst I took photos and Oli had the Drone up in the air capturing the ariel perspective. Some of you even might have seen me chasing after you with a camera haha!
Once the runners were on their way we set out to meet them at the first points of interest to capture shots of them running alongside the canal with their head torches on. whilst the Sun had started to rise, the mist didn't look as if it was budging. We knew we were in for a chilly day! When we arrived to Checkpoint 2 the sun had finally come up and the weather had so far held out; a perfect opportunity to get some more drone footage, despite the interest it gained from the local bird community.
Once we had made our way to Grestys Waste and the Sandstone Trail, the weather took a turn for the worst and it suddenly became VERY wet and later even decided to snow! This didn't seem to dampen the runners spirits though! This spot is a personal favourite for capturing as shooting through the trees, the colours and the steps all make for a great shot! Not sure runners would agree on the steps being a good thing however.
I'm sure all the runners will agree with me when I say that this years course was VERY muddy in this next section and through til the end! Even I ended up sliding down a bit of hill on my bum after a slip to the amusement of some passers by! We had most of the seasons play their part in the weather on race day except from sun. we were hoping that the battle with the relentless Hailstone at the top of Helsby Hill was worth it as we could see a break in the very dark clouds! 50 minutes of being battered, the wait paid off and the break in the clouds meant that we could take the window and get the drone up to capture the stunning scenery up there!
Once we had met back up with Ryan at the start line who had been there snapping away all of the finishers, we were able to capture what its all about! the raw emotion of conquering the event and the medal handovers!
This year we have started to offer Bespoke framing of runners Medals, Bib Number and a photo of them during the race or at the finish. This is all available through our website using the link: https://www.matchboxproductionsuk.com/gb-ultras-framing
We see how much effort and prep work goes into these races so why not celebrate the way you should by getting your achievement framed to proudly display!
We would like to congratulate all participants of this years Chester 50 and we look forward to seeing you on the rest of this years events!
Comentarios