Simon Keitch Photography Blog

Issue 51 of Shred magazine is now available featuring my photos of British cross-country mountain bike legend and Giant Global Team rider Oli Beckingsale on the cover and illustrating the feature interview; I shot these images way back in the summer in Oli’s hometown of Bristol and it’s great to finally see them in print. Read on-line or order a good old fashioned hard-copy HERE or pick one up from any good UK bike shop.

Last Sunday saw the revival of the Alltrax Newnham Stinger; an off-road duathlon with a run-bike-run format. Competitors set-off at mid-day with a 5KM run followed by a 20KM mountain bike course, and then a final 3KM run. The final run was the real interest of the event for me; it was hard enough hiking up the trail with the camera gear which sent the athletes through rivers and bogs (I personally witnessed one runner lose a shoe, and heard tales of a couple of face-plants later…), over gates and under fallen trees. I loved the format and it would be great to see a longer off-road running only event in this style which has more in common with mountain biking than XC running. Husband and wife Certini team-mates Maddie and Jay Horton (Maddie featured above) won the solo mens’ and womens’ categories, with Amy Tapping and Paul Sole taking the Mixed Pairs win, Carla Haines and Heather Booth for the Female Pairs, and Duncan Baldie and Paul McClymont for the Male Pairs category.

Last week I shot a commercial fashion assignment for the Silverfish (UK bike/P&A importer) 2009 brochure featuring the 2009 Spring/Summer clothing range from RaceFace. It was a full day on location at Dartmoor capturing everything from the posed model image above to more candid lifestyle and riding images; a lot to squeeze into a single day but we came out a huge variety of images for the client to choose from for next year’s brochure, as well as the 2009 advertising campaign.

The Soggy Bottom Winter Race Series 2008/2009 began yesterday at Newnham Park, Plymouth, under wet and overcast conditions; I was there photographing the race for an editorial client as well as shooting some team portraits and action images for a 2009 team launch (more on that to come). Featured above is Certini team rider Jay Horton leading the Masters category, below is Kona/Torq team rider Matt Loake.

Issue 2 of Shred West magazine is now on sale and features one of my images from this year’s Bontrager 24/12 endurance mountain bike race on the cover; the shot is of local rider Richie Rowland ten hours into his ride in the 12 hour solo category. More of my work can be seen in the magazine illustrating articles about the recent South West Mountain Bike Championships, as well as the portrait that I shot for an interview with Inov8 adventure race team athlete Alli Northcott; more on that to come.

Not only did it not rain at this year’s Bontrager 24/12,  the event actually saw the kind of intense heat and dust that I’d normally associate with somewhere like the sponsor’s home of California, and probably had more than a few riders praying for just a little rain to cool them off and damp down the course a little. Kudos to Martyn Salt and his team for organising another hugely successful event at Newnham Park; the challenging eight mile course was praised by every rider I met and the race site had a friendly, positive atmosphere even in the middle of the night, when there was a DJ set-up in the woods and a jazz band providing the entertainment elsewhere. Image above: unknown rider on course at the 2008 Bontrager 24/12 almost 23 hours after the start of the race. 

As part of my coverage of this weekend’s Bontrager 24/12 2008 mountain bike event I arranged a portrait this evening with Keith Bontrager himself who will be competing in the solo 12 hour category (my own personal favourite from my take above). The late evening sun was shining on the race site and with the forecast looking good for the weekend we could see the first dry 24/12 in its three year history in the UK. I’ll be on-site for the entire event from first thing tomorrow morning and will post an update here when it’s all over…

This is one of the selects from a portrait sitting I did with ten-time world downhill mountain bike champion Nicolas Vouilloz when he was briefly in the area earlier this year with bike sponsor Lapierre. Vouilloz still competes in the occasional mountain bike race but now concentrates on his new career as a professional rally car driver and is currently leading the overall standings in the 2008 Intercontinental Rally Challenge. If you require images of Nicolas Vouilloz for editorial or commercial use please contact me to discuss licensing options and to view further images from the shoot.