Wentwood 50K, Goshawk Challenge, 2013

The challenging Wentwood 50K Enduro took place today (10th March), it was the 3rd year that I've attended - with the camera - the bike staying tucked up at home! For a change, I actually got to the car park with 25 minutes to spare before the start. This gave me an opportunity to chat with a rider about his Canyon purchasing experience, and also to catch up with Robert Storey, the event organiser. A thank you must go out to Robert, for taking a few minutes to give me some guidance of where to head on the route.

The weather was worlds apart from last years event, 2012 was pretty warm for an early March day. 2013 was cold - a bitter wind certainly made sure you were wide awake. After a quick look round for any familiar faces, I headed for the start line - whilst there was still space between the riders to get there - the hedged lane soon fills up. I took some pictures of the riders on the line, but like a fool, I'd not noticed I'd knocked the focus switch on the lens to MF (manual). Not wanting to get in the way of the start, I headed about a 100ft down the lane to a gateway. From here I could get some shots of the riders streaming past from the mass start. After the last of the riders had gone past I headed for the main feed station, the speed of the front runners caught me out - they'd already gone through before I made it to the route. After the majority of the riders had passed, I headed back to the car and back down the road to a forestry commission site - unfortunately - against the flow of the race. A slow drive!

A short walk into the forest took me down to a steep(ish) hill, leading to a small stream. The hill caught quite a few out, ironically, tending to be those pushing down the hill. Some riders took it at pace and flew down the hill. I spent the rest of my time at the event here - I'd filled my memory cards - so I've got to invest in a larger capacity one.

I'll upload my pictures to my Flickr site over the coming days, as the event is for charity, I only upload low res shots, if you'd like a hi-res version, then please contact me and I'll email you a copy in return for a donation to my Tribute fund towards Motor Neurone Disease. (I'll send you a link to where you can donate. Your donations have raised £34 towards MND, It's not much - it's probably cost me more in petrol! but it all helps.

I'd appreciate any feedback on my pictures, good or bad, it's a way for me to improve - I'm thinking about setting up an online shop for other events, but I know what high quality images are been produced by other photographers.