The last time I took photographs at a Lads Leap race, lockdown was almost upon us. The world changed forever and my mental state took a downward turn. Although I enjoy taking images of a wide range of subjects, my main diet is that of the runner.
Depression set in. I tried my best to continue with the creative side of my life, achieving success in my photography is paramount to stabilising my mental health.
self-portrait
By September 2020, I'd hit rock bottom. Buying old manual lenses on line, to test my technical and composition skills, had kept me occupied for a while. I enjoyed the challenge of coming to terms with manual focus and a much slower approach to taking images.
What was the point of all the gear I'd purchased over the last few years?
I might as well sell it.
A Nikon D500, an amazing camera for sports photography.
A Nikon D7200, another excellent body, plus Sal's redundant D7100.
The D500 had cost me just over £1,000.
Sal tried to convince me not to sell anything.
"You'll regret it somewhere down the line."
My reasoning was, sell the D500 and if things change then I'll be able to buy another one because the price will come down. Cameras always fall in price when newer models appear. Instead of keeping the D7200, I decided to stick with the D7100.
What an idiot.
The D500 hasn't lost any value at all. In fact, it has become more expensive. The only positive on the horizon is that the D7100 seems to be able to cope with the demands of the sport that I shoot.
Image taken with an old Yashinon lens - bought for £20 off fleabay
Parkruns were off the menu, while virtual runs began to appear in 2021.
I'm not sure, but I think that the Windmill 6, with staggered starts, was the first event that I covered after a break of around a year. A series of events around the Holmfirth area provided me with a chance practise my snapping skills.
The return of the Trunce, staggered starts again, was a dream come true. A number of runners enabled me to capture some of the best images I'd taken for quite a while. My mojo was returning.
Leader at the Trunce attempts to avoid onlooker, Kelvin Bowskill
In years gone by, too many to mention, my two favourite races were held on consecutive weeks. Tigger Tor, the old route that visited Stanage Edge, followed by the toughie that is The Mickleden Straddle. Absolute magic! Love it.
Unfortunately for many, the MS has been cancelled. Yorkshire Water decided that parking would be a problem for visitors on that day. I could rant about their decision but it wouldn't achieve anything.
It looked as though the Wombwell 5 would be the only race I'd be covering in February. That is, until Lads Leap came to the rescue. Is it Lads Leap or Lad's Leap or Lads' Leap? Who cares ...
Pre-race thoughts. Rambles in my head:
With the race starting at 11:00, parking is the biggest problem. I have no idea how they coped when the race was in the Fell Championship.
I'll park down the road in a little space below the woods and quarries. If that's not available, then it's down to the lay-by about half a mile down the road. The things I do to snap runners, I must be mad!
Peter Bailey on his way home - 2020
Now then, where to stand in the quarry. I was caught out by the leader last time, Rob James of Royton Road Runners. My expectation was, that the runners would be climbing the hill after being out on the moors and running down the far side of the woods. That's the route I've taken when running the race in the past. Not so, they were running down the hill, a little loop outside the woodland and then back up. I knew that he wouldn't take that long to navigate his way round and I'd be like a headless chicken, looking up then down as the runners passed each other in different directions.
I've tried snapping at the stream crossing but it didn't do much for me in the creative sense. Great if people actually leapt. Gingerly moving across the water doesn't equal great images.
The image above (Peter B) works quite well, IF the runner is making an effort to climb quickly. With no sky to make a mess of the composition and affect the exposure reading, I was happy with the resulting photograph. The background is reasonably blurred and the vegetation runs from the top right to the bottom left of the frame, only the path and runner breaking that line of gorse and grass. It's the landscape photographer in me that is at work in this type of situation.
Do I repeat the snaps of 2020 or do I try something else? I'll need to be aware of the cross-over of runners and a lot will depend on any sun making an appearance as well as the direction of the predicted rain.
Maybe shoot from the quarry and use the hills in the distance as a backdrop. The path is too close to the edge of a steep drop otherwise I'd shoot from there. Let's see what happens on Sunday and whether I'll be a happy bunny afterwards or not.
Friday Night Update: A discussion on Facebook has seen a change to the course. The runners will now follow, what I call, the original route. This means that the runners will access the quarry climb by the stile at the bottom of the descent, after running off the moor near Tintwistle Knarr.
Change of plan?
Or just stick to one shot in the quarry?
Fudge.
Sunday morning: 6:45am and the weather looks foul. Not so much the rain being the problem, but the strength of the wind. It's supposed to calm down in an hour or so and I need to be sensible on whether(sic) or not I turn up. Deep within my brain, there's a little voice saying, "Just think of the amazing images you might get. Do you really want to miss out?"
Heading towards 9 o'clock and the weather appears to improve. Go for it, you be an idiot not to give it a chance. Pork pie and cuppa packed, gear checked ... still forgot the map I'd printed off.
The road down to Langsett revealed views of the A628 to Manchester. Grey cloud in the distance didn't bode well for a morning's photography. I've been here before. Crap weather on the way to the Trigger race in January, would have deterred even the hardiest of togs. (photographers). Still, I did manage to get through and come away with some decent snaps.
The wind had died down a tad thankfully. Quite a few large puddles, with surface water just about everywhere on the road. Are you sure this is a good idea Mozzie? Yes!
Originally, I had decided on parking in a small lay-by below the quarries. A little voice in my head persuaded me to park up at Crowden campsite. Am I glad I did. The small park up now has large boulders blocking it off. According to Des, body...suitcase...burnt out...Chinese. Murder .. Had to do a google search to find out more.
That was in 2016 and I'd parked in that spot in 2020. Ah well.
No rain and the wind had calmed down a little. Changed into Storm B*st*rd clothing, just in case the weather deteriorated on the way up to Lads Leap and beyond. Probably too warm on the ascent but it would definitely be needed on the tops. Had a natter to Caroline Burrell for five, fed a not so timid robin with some of the pastry from my pork pie rations.
Des Gibbons handed me a fluorescent vest and I made my way towards my chosen snapping point. Zips unzipped to allow air to circulate, I didn't want to overheat on the climb.
Assessed a few possible sections of the course, just in case I was unable to reach my destination. The rain wasn't a problem at all, the odd very brief shower ... but nothing to worry about.
I should have kept quiet. Here comes a heavy dollop and time to shelter within the rocks.
It was only 10:30, so it made sense to rest for a while and devour a few wine gums.
A gap in the rain, time to move on. Maybe not. At the point where the terrain levelled off, see photo above, hail rained down. Sharp, painful, stinging and bloody cold. Lads Leap and beyond was out of the question. If I'm up there and this is the order of the day, I might be calling on the services of Woodhead Mountain Rescue. Be sensible.
Sheltered in the lee of the rocks, hoping that the rain would stay away for the first batch of images. I chose this spot for a couple of reasons. Although it meant that many of the runners might have their heads down, it did show the steepness of the climb and the surrounding landscape. Positioning myself to the left of the track, I was able to capture the line of bodies disappearing into the distance.
That's quite a gap between Luke Cook (Pennine) with Mark Burtin (Calder Valley) and the runner at the rear.
Adjusting position from time to time, I wasn't sure that the images would be up to much. With the camera set at 1/500th sec and an aperture of f5.6, I was hoping for a grainier photo. The 35mm lens and the expansive vista still enabled me to remove the sky from the frame. The exposure was accurate, although I would have preferred not to have the reservoirs at the top of the frame. Seventy-two runners had ascended and it was time to snack on those wine gums. Energy needed.
A quick check of previous results; the expected leader's finish time was around 58 minutes or so. More showers, but nothing too drastic. Time to decide where I'm going to stand and whether to change the 35mm for an 85mm. Squalls of rain, the direction of which seems to be changing by the minute. It's a no brainer, the 85mm has a much deeper hood and will give better lens protection.
Composition: wavy grass, rocks littered around, a curving descent. If I stand well back, I can snap them in a "Where's Wally?" frame. This will show the expanse of the descent and the curve of the track may produce a few good images if there is more than one runner.
Being well back, I can also capture them on the level ground as they run towards me.
Luke Cook, Mark Burtin and Jason Brunnock descending
Luke appeared to be pulling away from the other two, but it was mighty close at the end. Just thirteen seconds separated them at the finish. Well done to the three of them. Mark was 1st MV45 as well as being runner-up.
It's a difficult balancing act when producing image memories for runners. On a personal level, I prefer to include as much of the landscape within the frame as I can. As in the photograph above, I could have been much closer to the action and cropped the background out. Am I a landscape photographer at heart who tolerates the inclusion of runners in his compositions?
This image works on a number of levels:
It portrays the difficulty of the descent, treacherous underfoot.
The ability of the runner to reach the bottom of the slope unscathed.
Love the wispy grass interspersed with boulders.
The diagonal created by the path, from near top left to near bottom right.
Facebook Instagram Twitter: I suspect that most people view my images on their mobile. This means that many of my photographs will lack impact on these small screens. The monitor in my set up isn't too large, but will reveal any slightly out of focus images. These are binned, even though the imperfection might not be noticeable on a phone.
I'm rambling. Time to move on.
And that's what I did after a while, moved on. Repeating the same composition may be a tad boring in the editing process, finding another spot during a lull was a priority.
Paul Fryers (PFR) leads a group of five runners down the twisting path. I think I heard a comment re "being lost". The course was flagged, but in harsh keep your head down conditions, anything is possible. Unable to snap every individual in this photo, thankfully I'd captured them on the way up. That's another good reason for being at two points on the course.
Concentration was needed all the way down. The rain was infrequent and didn't impede my ability to snap the runners. Thankfully, I didn't need to pull out a cloth and wipe the lens. Someone up there was looking after me. Cheers Willow.
Ayako Yokoyama-Nichols coping well with a difficult part of the course
Slowly descending, walking pole steadying my ageing body, I was able to keep an eye on the runners and snap their final minutes on this tough course. Not the time to lose concentration on this difficult section.
Elaine Stewart of Holmfirth Harriers, just a few hundred metres to go.
I had a feeling that there might be one or two runners who were still out on the course. Hardly the weather to be hanging about in. After three and a half hours of showers and the odd bright spell, I needed something to eat and drink. I shivered an apology to anyone who was still out there and headed for the car.
Looking at the results, Robert Taylor and Dan Simmons were the omissions from my portfolio. Antonio Cardinale recorded a time of 2:05:57. I think that he runs for Otley, not sure but ... While I was waiting for the runners to ascend the hill, a guy came by me, no number visible, and we talked about the dreadful conditions. Wonder if that was him. Had he been asked to set off before the rest of the field?
Back home and coffee, a very well deserved infusion of caffeine. Usual download of images, around four hours of waiting time. I won't bore you to death with my wish for a decent computer system.
On reflection, I'm glad I made the effort to go. Staying at home would have been a negative, something that I don't need at the moment. If only I could have been at the stream crossing, in the quarry to repeat the images from 2020, at the finish to record the sprint to the line.
Ah well.
With just 73 runners, I'm not expecting too many donations. At the time of typing, we've managed to raise £45. This includes my own donation to top things up a bit.
See you out there some time in the future. Next stop on the hills is the Ian Roberts Fell Race. I'd love to cover another Des race, Doctors Gate, but it's on the same day as the IRFR. Never mind, can't be everywhere.
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