Put This One On Your Bucket List!

There are lots of things that can be said about an Ironman Triathlon and the people that race them. From the outside, friends of the triathletes, whether Professional or Age Group think they are Compulsive Obsessives and addicted to their training. Others sit back in awe of what they have or are working to accomplish.

Although my deteriorating knees saved me from ever attempting an Ironman, I have done some pretty absurd things in my long and undistinguished athletic career. But, as the tag line for Ironman says – Anything is Possible, which I believe is what really drives most of the participants. For some it is a statement of what they can do, for many others it becomes a lifestyle.

There are of course the genetic anomalies like Craig Alexander, Jan Frodeno, Mirinda Carfrae and Jesse Thomas that do this professionally and win, but let’s face it; they are not like the rest of us.

Traveling to compete at one of the 40+ Ironman races or other Iron-distance races around the world is becoming increasingly common. Destination races have become part of the adventure of racing, as well as a great way to see the world and involve your family whom has had to be incredibly supportive during your long training.

Each year it seems I am spending increasing amounts of time in Europe covering events. The atmosphere, the charm, the attitude of the hosts keeps drawing me back. Personally I also love the opportunity to explore new places and cultures.

For years, my friends at the ITU kept insisting that I come to the race in Hamburg just to see the crowds. When I finally did, it was amazing. Now I typically spend July in Germany shooting IM Frankfurt, Challenge Roth and Hamburg.

Last fall Club La Santa invited me to cover the 25^th Annual Club La Santa Ironman Lanzarote on May 21, 2016, which after working out the scheduling seemed to be an opportunity not to be missed.

Ironman Lanzarote – Club La Santa

Ironman Lanzarote – Club La Santa

In fact, IM Lanzarote turned out to be the combination of attributes of all of the best events I have been to over the last 15 years. Lanzarote has the volcanic Island and black sand beaches of Kona, the mountainous bike course of Zell am See in the Alps, the welcoming celebratory atmosphere of Roth and crowds of Hamburg! Really it has it all.

Over 300 Volcanoes on Lanzarote

Ironman Lanzarote – Timo Bracht riding  though the Fire Mountains

Ironman Lanzarote – over 2,500 meters of climbing 

Ironman Lanzarote – Spectacular views – if you have time to look

Ironman Lanzarote

 

Unlike many of the North American events, Lanzarote has a rich 25-year history and certainly reflects the personality of founder Kenneth Gasque. To say the least, Kenneth treats every triathlete and family member as his personal guest.

Kenneth began his Ironman career in 1985 and immediately commenced his efforts to bring a race to Lanzarote. 1992 marked the beginning of Ironman Lanzarote and was the 4^th event in the world. The race has a rich history, with some athletes returning for 15 years or more. When you arrive you are neither treated like guests or friends, you are treated like family. With the Club and Event staff doing all they can to enhance your experience.

At first Lanzarote may seem difficult to get to, but since I typically have to make a connection in Amsterdam, Paris or London to get to the race venue, this time I connected in Dublin and then headed south for an additional 3 hours to Lanzarote.

Club La Santa is a training center, in the fall and winter professional cycling teams, triathletes, swim clubs and many others flock here to escape the European winter and enjoy some solid training. On site there are 3 50-meter 8-lane pools, a 400-meter track, soccer field, weight training, gym and almost anything else you can imagine, including Stand Up Paddle boards. While May is not peak training season families from all over Europe arrive to play together. My apartment was simple but quite comfortable and for my 8 day stay, I felt very much at home.

I hope you enjoyed a few my favorite photos from my stay in Lanzarote, judge for yourself, but put this one on your bucket list!

 

 

 

Spirit of Triathlon Photo Contest – Week 3 Review

Three weeks in and three weeks to go in our Spirit of Triathlon Photo Contest and we have had some great entries.

Here are the full contest details.

Enter your images here.

Visually one of my favorite parts of any Triathlon is the swim. While it is always a challenge to get a cool shot, but this is the only time of the race when as a group.  Check out my  January 2012 post about swim shots.

This is the only time when there are a large number of athletes together. There is always great energy from the start group, whether it is a beach or in water start.

Debbie Faulkner in the UK submitted this shot she titled swimming into the sunrise. In addition to the wonderful color of the sunrise, you can see the lead kayak and the stroke of the lead swimmer. Charlie Abrahams also submitted a swim start photo from Ironman Lake Placid 2012. Charlie’s shot is a bit further back in the pack and seems more like a washing machine than a race!Generally people will tell you not to shoot directly into the sun. I do all of the time, you just have to be careful about your exposure. This sounds like another great blog topic for me to add to the list.

Lee Gruenfeld has submitted a swim exit shot from the Hawaii 70.3 – as if a 70.3 wasn’t a sufficient challenge for most of us. Here is a Challenged athlete coming out of the water and up the beach!

I look forward to more great images.  Three weeks to go in the contest and I will write another blog next week.
Cheers!

Spirit of Triathlon Photo Contest – Week 2 Review

As I had hoped, but without any certainty a batch of new images were submitted for our Week 2 Review.   The best part is that the images keep getting better and better and my initial fear of not having a set of 20 great images for our Triathlete.com gallery is now gone. The challenge, which is a great thing, is how to select the 20 most meaningful images for inclusion in the gallery AND we still have four weeks to go in the contest.

Here are the full contest details

Enter your images here!

At the 2012 Triathlon Business International Conference, Rob Urbach, USA Triathlon CEO, upon completion the multi-media presentation that opened his keynote speech turned to the audience and said ‘I never get tired of looking at Triathlon Photos!

I completely agree with Rob. I love looking at great Triathlon Photos and lucky for me Rob had included a bunch of mine in his presentation.

I love shooting and just seeing great photos, whether they are mine or not.

We are so lucky that we participate in a sport where race directors work to have the best venue and manufacturers are always moving forward to have the most aerodynamic and ascetically pleasing designs, to say nothing about the thousands of triathletes who are pushing themselves through their daily training, just to put on a great show for the rest of us.

Again, the images I selected for review this week are solely based on what I wanted to comment on and have no bearing on the final outcome of the contest or what will be included in the final gallery.

We all know that competing is a family event.  Very few of us could ever be involved without the incredible support and understanding of our family and friends and most would never make to the starting line.

In this first image, we have a Dave Schutz and his son both wearing number 2613 at about the 18 mile mark of the Ironman Cozumel, with dad sitting on the ground and the next generation triathlete offering encouragement, support and love at a very difficult part of Dave’s Ironman.

Mile 18+ at Ironman Cozumel

Photographically, I have always loved the repeating geometric patterns and one of this week’s submissions did not disappoint. Molly Mullane of Wisconsin submitted this really cool run shot from the Ironman Louisville.

Ironman Louisville

Even though this is a very cool shot, it could have been even better! As I have mentioned in prior blogs, I always shoot a series of shots to really try to show the athlete at their best point from a biomechanics standpoint. In this image, the athlete is at the bottom of their stride and although he looks incredibly fit, he looks much heavier than he could have if the photographer has caught them at the top of the stride.

Finally for this week, we have the light at the end of the tunnel, both literally and metaphorically. This image is from the Ironman Hawaii 70.3 and was shot by Lee Gruenfeld.

Ironman Hawaii 70.3

Lee is a well-known author who occasionally shoots to supplement his stories. If I could write like that, I wouldn’t have to carry so much equipment.

I look forward to more great images, I will post another blog next week.

Cheers!

Spirit of Triathlon Photo Contest – Week 1 Review

When I first brought up the idea of the Spirit of Triathlon Photo Contest, I received more than a few warnings and cautions from friends and others who are involved. Among other things, these included:

• You are going to be overwhelmed with entries;
• No one is going to enter;
• You are going to a thousand iPhone shots;
• No one will send in their entries until the final days; and
• This is going to take a lot of your time.

The Spirit of Triathlon Photo Contest is now into its second week and we have had a couple dozen really great entries. So far, I haven’t been overwhelmed with entries, sometimes an iPhone is all you need, it will be great if we get more entries at the end, and the time I am spending is really worth it!  I hope this contest will in part further engage all of the incredible supporters of our triathletes.

Here are the full contest details

Enter your images here!

My hopes in naming the contest, the Spirit of Triathlon was that the images would have a strong emotional component, which as indeed seem to resonate with those submitting entries.

Here are three of the images that have been submitted. Please keep in mind that selecting images to review in my blog will not have a bearing on the final selection. These are just images that contained elements that I thought it would be useful to discuss.

The first image was submitted by Paul Brandt is a young triathlete that shows every bit as much of pre-race anxiety as any pro at the starting line. I think it is an added interesting element that our young triathlete is wearing a cap from the USAT Nationals, while others in the background are wearing different caps. To me it speaks of what is likely a family of triathletes and great role models.

This next image is from Kona and shot by Nick Morales. With the main group of athletes out of the water and making their way up Pualani and ultimately heading toward Hawi, there is almost an electric energy in the air that is captured by the rider’s smile and his outreached hand to accept the greetings from a friend.

Every triathlete knows that no event would be possible without the support of friends and family. This photo was submitted by Debbie Faulkner in the UK and is an athlete with her family, in sight of the finish line of the UK’s Outlaw Triathlon.  Clearly a celebratory moment to share!

I look forward to more great images, I will post another blog next week.

Cheers!

Spirit of Triathlon Photo Contest

Everyone who spends time around triathlons and triathletes understand there is a special spirit that surrounds the sport. Thousands of triathletes are racing every weekend and tens of thousands of photos are brilliantly shot showing off their amazing efforts.

To honor the Spirit of Triathlon and those who help capture it, we have created the First Annual Spirit of Triathlon Photo Contest.

ENTER HERE and after you enter, tweet your photo with the tag #SpiritOfTri.

Athletes, supporters and bloggers, here is your chance to show off your favorite triathlon photos, have it published and win a great prize! Images may include Professional, Age Group, Youth and Challenged Triathletes, Action Photos, Venues, Human Interest and other images that exemplify the Spirit of Triathlon.

The top 20 selected images will be published approximately March 1, 2013 in a special online gallery on Triathlete.com. In addition, the top three photos will receive prizes courtesy of ThinkTank Photo.

The contest will begin today, January 7, 2013 and conclude on February 19, 2013.

In addition, each week I will review three photos in a blog offering comments that I hope will benefit all triathlon photographers.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter @CompImagePhoto and check out the updated Competitive Image Website.

ENTER HERE and after you enter, tweet your photo with the tag #SpiritOfTri.

In the spirit of triathlon, a portion of the proceeds from each entry will be contributed to the Blazeman Foundation for ALS and to World Bicycle Relief.

Every event that I shoot I rely on my ThinkTank gear to have my critical equipment close at hand.  In addition to having your image published in an online Triathlete.com gallery, the top photographer will receive an Urban Disguise 35 v2.0 camera bag – great stuff, trust me, you will love it.

Second prize will be a Sling-O-Matic 20 camera bag and 3^rd prize will be a Digital Holster 10, all from ThinkTank Photo.

Here is the fine print so to speak! The Contest Rules!

SPONSOR

The sole contest sponsor is Competitive Image, Inc.  PO Box 19174, Minneapolis, MN 55419 (“Sponsor” or “CI”).

Duration of Contest

The 2013 Competitive Image Spirit of Triathlon Photo Contest begins January 7, 2013 at 9:00:00 a.m. US Central Time and ends February 15, 2013, 11:59:00 p.m. US Central Time (the “Contest”). Information on how to enter and prizes form part of these official rules (“Official Rules”). By submitting an entry, each entrant agrees to the Official Rules and warrants that his or her entry complies with all requirements set out in the Official Rules. This is a skill-based contest and chance plays no part in the determination of winners.

WHO MAY ENTER

Contest is open only to all amateur sports photographers who are 18 or older at the time of entry and is void where prohibited.

HOW TO ENTER

Each Entry consists of an entry form, a single image, and an entry fee. The entry fee is US $12 for the first image entered and US $7 for each image thereafter. To enter, complete an ENTRY FORM with the required information, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, and photo caption; and submit along with your photograph and fee in accordance with the instructions that follow.

Submitted images may include Professional, Age Group, Youth and Challenged Triathletes, Action Photos, Venues, Human Interest and other images that exemplify the Spirit of Triathlon.

Photographs must be in digital format. Only online entries will be eligible. No print or film submissions will be accepted for entry into this Contest. The photograph need not be taken with a digital camera; scans of negatives, transparencies, or photographic prints are acceptable. All digital files must be 2 megabytes or smaller, must be in JPG, TIF, PNG or BMP format, and must be sized to 1,280 pixels on the longest side.

Photographs must have been taken within three (3) years before the date of entry and may not previously published.

Only minor burning, dodging and/or color correction is acceptable, as is cropping. High dynamic range images (HDR) and stitched panoramas are NOT acceptable.

The photograph, in its entirety, must be a single work of original material taken by the Contest entrant. By entering the Contest, entrant represents, acknowledges, and warrants that the submitted photograph is an original work created solely by the entrant, that the photograph does not infringe on the copyrights, trademarks, moral rights, rights of privacy/publicity or intellectual property rights of any person or entity, and that no other party has any right, title, claim, or interest in the photograph.

The photograph must not, in the sole and unfettered discretion of the Sponsor, contain obscene, provocative, defamatory, sexually explicit, or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate content.

The caption must be complete and accurate, sufficient to convey the circumstances in which the photograph was taken. Disguising or misrepresenting the origin of your content is cause for disqualification.

Watermarks are not acceptable. If Sponsor does not receive a non-watermarked version of the entry within ten (10) days following its request, the entry will be disqualified.

RELEASES

If the photograph contains any material or elements that are not owned by the entrant and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the photograph, the entrant is responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the photograph in the manner set forth in these Official Rules without additional compensation.

The top 20 images will be published in an online gallery on Triathlete.com.  The entrant provides Competitive Image, Inc and Triathlete Magazine / Competitor Group the royalty-free right to publish the images on line and in print.

CONTEST PRIZES

The First Place winner will receive a ThinkTank Photo Urban Disguise 35 V2.0 Camera Bag. Second Place winner will receive a ThinkTank Photo Sling-O-Matic 20 Camera Bag. The Third Place winner will receive a ThinkTank Photo will receive a Think Tank Photo Digital Holster 10. All prized are provided courtesy of ThinkTank Photo.