NZRun TV at Schools XC

Every year I try and get to the national secondary schools XC races because they have the largest fields of any XC event in New Zealand. This year the chosen venue for the races was Waikanae Park which for many years has been the location of the Wellington XC champs. In a few weeks time it will also be the venue for the New Zealand XC champs.

The schools event is a torrid affair simply because there are a large number of competitors running relatively short distances. The first 2 races are 3k, the second 2 races are 4k and the last race is 6k. For any event I cover, it is may aim to get photos of as many competitors as possible. Unfortunately with the schools races that is rarely achieved mainly because my camera is not capable of generating 60 images a second. In addition many athletes get blocked from my view by other athletes. Still there tends to be plenty of people around with cameras both video and still so at least a record of some action is being captured for posterity.

NZ Run were there with a couple of video cameras and managed to get a series of interview with winners and place getters as well as the racing action. For those interested races in viewing the material recorded the place to go is http://nzrun.com/

The photo shows Stefan Smith taking time away from training to take on his secondary role as NZRun reporter/cameraman

Aaron Meets Emmilyn

Here is another picture taken at the Dorne and even I confess is a little different. The photo needs to be viewed as a large image but shows a reclining Aaron Twiss and a flexible Emmilyn Stevens. I took the photo because I saw Emmilyn parroting what the top athletes do as part of their stretching routine. It was only later when I looked at the photo that I saw Aaron’s expression which is what makes this image work, for me at least. On the Scottish website http://www.scottishathletics.org.nz/ Paul Rodway described Aaron as looking “sceptical”. Hamish’s mum described it as a “whatever” look, but my first impression was of a lingering glance of "disdain" toward what in another setting could have been a child ballerina. One day I might ask Aaron what he thinks of the photo.

Cooling Down

This photo was taken at the Dorne Cup and shows James Coubrough cooling down what appears to be a sore knee after he won the Dorne Cup Senior Men’s race. The finish line is about 110 metres or so from the creek so he had the time to cross the finish line, get his breath back, have a natter to the other place getters and then make his way back to the creek for the cold treatment. In the meantime, as the background shows the tail end runners were still in the last stages of the race. I like the photo because it wasn’t posed – I doubt that James knew that it was he who was being captured rather than the late finishers.