This event was to be a long one. I got up at 4am as I had a 3 hour drive ahead to get there on time.
The event is a half marathon with the option of doing two laps to make a full marathon and is set in the Delamere Forest, Cheshire where the terrain is unforgiving, peppered with water features and is extremely rough underfoot.
My location was in the Hills of Hell, having had a good look around I decided on a section which had the runners coming through a shallow stream, over a log and back out up the bank. This proved to be a great spot as I did a test dip with a stick and found the ground went down just enough to cause a problem for them as they stepped over the log, and it didn’t disappoint.
The problem for me was that I had to be on a boggy island which had me almost knee deep in mud for the whole day, but it was absolutely worth it. Reminded me of the old Major Series that I used to really enjoy photographing.
As the runners came towards me many of them saw the opportunity to get a nice posed shot with the woods, logs and water which was great for me as I knew what would happen next. Yep, almost all of them stepped/jumped over the log and down they went, water and bodies everywhere!
This was such a fun event and I am thrilled to be covering the other Hell Runners later this year so if you see me on course just remember I am in that spot for a reason and tread carefully…
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