Mudrunner at Eastnor Castle

For all those people who think my life is all glamour, travel and beautiful models I wanted to blog about a recent job which I did with a good friend and colleague Colin Baldwin.  Colin and I worked together years ago at a marketing company and set a precedent for crazy trips and adventures back then when we drove together in a 7.5tonne truck to Paris to put on an event for Umbro to launch their photographic book celebrating football; One Love by photographer Levon Biss.  Since we've both become photographers I've been to Monacco and Camp Bestival with him and most recently was for his event photography company 'Peachy Snaps' to cover the Mudrunner event at Eastnor Castle.  We attempted this job a few months ago but it was cancelled at the last minute due to very extreme weather.  Quite a relief since we'd experienced the extreme weather all night in our teepees up on the hillside and had virtually no sleep between us. But the repeat event which was held over two days earlier this month was perfect conditions.  3,000 competitors turned up for the adult (10k cross country) and children (5k) races, many repeating the course on both the Saturday and Sunday.

My position was to capture as much of the action as possible at the start and finish point which were perched up on the hillside with a fabulous view over the estate.  Spirits were high and everyone had a smile on their faces.  From nervous excitement at the start to exhausted exhilaration as they staggered over the finishing line.  Kids as young as 5 (one little girl had been waiting for 2 years to be old enough to compete!) completing the race alone or with a parent or friend.  I was itching to be running myself and it's definitely on my 'to do' list.

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