The
Brutal 10 race 2 gallery is now live and online here:
http://gallery.sussexsportphotography.com/a.tlx?k=26pzgi1
The race event website is here:
http://www.allabouttriathlons.co.uk/races_brutal-run.html
With two of us covering the course it was a choice of getting as much coverage as possible as well as "find the mud shot". The only problem is twofold. It was very dark and cloudy. Muddy places are very dark. Most of the course is under tree shade.
After a bit of course surveying, the obvious stream "dunk" was ruled out on account of it getting too crowded/tight on the exit and once it has had half the field run through it - the boggyness of it might just get worse.
So it was back to the earlier point, about 150m earlier, the mud looked a little boggy, and it smelt worse, but I could keep out of the way better and the trees wern't in the way.
Sitting for 40minutes waiting for runners next to a stinking bog, in the rain and dark mirk, with no phone or data connectivity can be a bit boring, but on the bright side I did get to spend some time listening to some music. Nicklebacks, "Next Competitor" came on and woke me up a bit, and I only realised later that I clearly wasn't listening to it at the time when I replayed it in the office - the lyrics have absolutely nothing to do with running.
The first runners came through so fast that I checked the bog again with my testing stick. It was still soft and very boggy. The leader had done a very good impression of walking on water, and I was starting to regret my choice of location - I can get nice clean shots on better parts of the course.
However my depression was only short lived as gradually people begun to sink deeper and deeper into the mud - so much so the samaritan in me got me shouting out warnings to the advancing competitors. Things like "don't travel to Libya" were foregone for "mind out the mud does get very deep just, yes - just there where you found it"
I now present a small selection of mud surveying shots, including proof that 4 legs were no better than two at spreading the weight, as well as 403 who had his left shoe eaten by it, and despite a lot of hunting about to find it, didn't.
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| I left it in here somewhere... |
There was a happy ending - Very fortunately the poor chap with the twisted ankle after the bogs had the same sized shoes - and kindly lent his left one to the chap who lost his so he could finish the race.
The Brutal Brotherhood lives on...
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| iron man turns mud man |
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| pushing on through |
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| up to your waist in it. Full Mud jacket. |
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| eeeuuuuwwww |
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| yummy muddy |
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| crazy - both of them, all the way round |
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| run to the left |
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| along a dry bit |
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| and run to the right |
Tomorrow it is the
Roding Valley Half marathon , and I've got to get up in 5 hours time and mission imposible 3 is looking quite possible at the moment on the telly, so night night, apologies for the brief bloggage and until next time.
Anthony
