Simon Keitch Photography Blog

Long distance runner Jo Pavey photographed for the cover of Asthma UK Magazine.

A tearsheet from the current issue of Runner’s World featuring a photo I shot for the magazine’s double page ‘Rave Run’ section. The location is on the north Cornwall coastal path near Bude (the GCHQ satellite base can be seen on the horizon on the right hand of the frame). We shot at a few different locations across the section of coastline until finding this spot which was about a half-hour hike from the nearest car park. I’m not normally a big fan of tripods but I had decided to experiment with shooting some panoramas to try and give a sense of the space and terrain. The final full pano featured below is a total of 14 vertical frames (shot with a 24mm lens); obviously the image had to be cropped to fit the full bleed double page spread format but it still provides a unique super-wide angle perspective plus lee-way for positioning within the page.

With the images now delivered and my legs starting to get back to normal it’s time I blogged about my assignment last weekend for Men’s Fitness Magazine and EnduranceLife.com.  I arrived on location at Port Isaac in Cornwall at 9:30PM last Friday to meet the Endurance Life crew at the starting point of the Classic Cliffs 57 mile (91KM) Ultra-Marathon; the milage alone doesn’t do the epic nature of the course along the coastal path of north Cornwall and Devon justice however so click HERE to view the profile/elevation drop and gain. I’d been assigned to cover the race for the event organiser Endurance Life, and Men’s Fitness Magazine who had entered a two man team into the race; twin brothers Nick and Steve Tidball of Vollebak who will be writing about their experiences in the next issue. The race got underway at midnight and the overcast skies made for zero visibility although it was relatively warm at least and the storms seemed to have blown over by that point. Boscastle was my first stop on the route at the second checkpoint at 13 miles into the race; one of the race marshals guided me up the steep path to the top of the cliffs above Boscastle and as I struggled to stay on his heels with 30lbs of camera equipment at 1 o’ clock in the morning I knew I’d be worse for wear come tomorrow. From this vantage point I could see the headlamps of the runners appear from far on the horizon and then slowly make their way towards me; a large group came through at one point and the cluster of bobbing lights gradually moving nearer was strangely beautiful.

The inky black darkness of the night doesn’t make for great photos however so I was glad when the sun finally started to come up and give me a little light to work with. The cliffs above Widemouth Sand provided some amazing views of the cliffs and surrounding hills although by this point in the race the competitors were already starting to get very strung out which meant a lot of waiting, and unknown to myself at that point one of the two-man Men’s Fitness Team had dropped out at sunrise with a foot injury. Fortunately one of the marshals eventually caught up with me and relayed the information, and so I packed up and moved on. I later caught up with Nick, the remaining Men’s Fitness team member at the Devon and Cornwall border and shadowed him through the next two valleys.

Hartland Point; the 50 mile checkpoint was my last stop along the course; the coastal path starting to flatten out a little by this point (relatively at least) although many of the competitors had dropped out by this stage due to either injury or fatigue. I hiked up to the top of the cliffs and sat in the long dry grass looking back towards the bay and waited for the runners to come through on their way to the checkpoint below. It was 14 hours into the race at this point and being a sunny Saturday in July there were plenty of tourists around, looking over at me curiously and a few stopped to chat; amazed that yes, they’re running 57 miles, no not cycling, on the coastal path rather than the road, and all in one day.

Final stop was Clovelly; a beautiful but odd Devon fishing village built into the (very) steep hillside; access to which can only be gained via a large gift shop and laying down nearly six pounds per person; essentially the Disneyfication of the archetypal fishing village. No motor vehicles are permitted within the village and any haulage required is done by donkeys that pull sleds up the steep cobbled alleyways; although for tourists who feel unable to walk the half-mile from the car park down to the sea there is a Land Rover bus service available which presumably circumnavigates the village itself. While shooting runners as they arrived at the finish I set up some lights and photographed Nick from the Men’s Fitness team as soon as he arrived; he looked (disappointingly) good for having just run 57 miles and been up for 40 hours and counting by his brother’s estimation. I shot a few more frames of Nick and Steve and some of the other competitors before deciding I had everything I needed, packed up and hiked back up to the car for the coast-to-coast drive back home; I arrived back almost exactly 24 sleepless hours after I left, exhausted but happy with my take.

Above: Nick Tidball – Men’s Fitness Team – 57 Mile Portrait

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.