2016 D2 NCAA XC Championships
Race Day Photo Story- Sports Culture
“Should I get Chipotle or something local?”
I waited for my wife’s response as I sat in my car in Tampa, Florida after far too many hours had gone by without food. Minutes later I was halfway through a heaping forkful of rice and steak. There I sat going through 2,000+ images with my right hand while the left pumped 2,000 calories into my exhuasted body. Running the course with 15 lbs or camera gear in 84 degree weather had taken it’s toll; but it was so worth it.
With an early 8:30 AM start for the men’s 10k, I was up at 5:30 headed to the course for hte first time to scope out teams getting ready. My assignment was to capture race photos for 4 schools to accompany their team’s SID web article. The rising sun was absurd, accompanied by this misty fog I pulled over halfway to the course to get this shot.
Once I arrived at the course, I was wiping the drool from how pretty the light was on the course. Having scraped ice off my windshield the previous morning I was elated at the 60 degree start to the day. I took the first shot of the race day.
This event is the culmination of 6 months of training for the athletes and I wanted to not only capture it for those teams but really find memorable moments that the natives to this sport have seen over and over but don’t think twice about it. I like to think of them as rituals, little things runners totally do without thinking about it and seeing them from a different perspective; mine.
Thanks for checking this out. Please share your thoughts or even moment’s you’d like to see captured next time.
You can find me on Instagram where you can see this series.
