Simon Keitch Photography Blog

Issue two of Privateer magazine arrived in today’s post and includes a feature I shot for them last year at the 2010 TransWales mountain bike endurance race; a seven day stage race in the heart of Wales. I actually shot this assignment just over six months ago so it’s great to finally see the photos go to print. In addition to producing all of the photography I also wrote the introduction for this piece which probably took me longer to finish than the time I spent on location in Wales… In the (paraphrased) words of David Sedaris: me write pretty one day.

The magazine is quite a thing to behold; more coffee table book than magazine, beautifully printed on nice thick paper stock and with each feature getting plenty of space (this one running a full 15 pages in total). Privateer is the sister publication of the now firmly established Rouleur road cycling magazine so if you’re at all familiar with Rouleur you’ll know what to expect in terms of style and quality.

Out-takes:

You can order a copy or subscribe to Privateer at: http://www.rouleur.cc/privateer

Portraits of competitors at the finish-line of the 2010 Bontrager 24/12 mountain bike endurance race held this past weekend at the Newnham Park Estate in Devon. The 24 Hour Solo Male category winner completed 26 laps of the technical 14KM course (or 364KM in total…) in 24:00:17 with the second placed rider equal on laps but 26 minutes 10 seconds behind.

The full gallery of this series is now available to view at:

http://www.simonkeitch.com/#/Portfolios/24%20Hour%20Racers/1

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.

While at Newnham Park in Plymouth photographing round one of the Soggy Bottom Winter Mountain Bike Series last week I was also there to shoot portraits of the Shred cycling race team for their 2009 launch in the New Year. Trying to get these guys together in one place for a formal portrait shoot was always going to be akin to herding cats so it was decided to set something up on the race site and grab each rider before the event start. The weather was kind of miserable but the Newnham estate has these big open sided shelters for the clay pigeon shooting that the grounds are mainly used for, so we set up a field studio under one to keep both the gear and subjects out of the rain. I also shot some photo-documentary style images of the team which I’ll be doing some more of over the course of the coming season; below is team captain Steve Toze post race, removing a very sticky energy gel wrapper from his jersey pocket…                                                                                                                                                            

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.

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. 

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.