Vermont 100 Endurance Races

After a not-so-great photoshoot across the river in NH this past Saturday (see previous blog post), I headed west to see if I could catch some shots of racers in the famous Vermont 100 ultramarathon (one of the original Big Four races of the Grand Slam circuit of ultras). Well. To be perfectly honest, I'm proud to say I came away with what I think is some of my best photo work ever.

I set up at mile 48 along a very scenic stretch of dirt road and ended up shooting for about 5 hours as runners and riders came through just before the halfway point of their very long journey. During this window of time I

• met and joked around with a crew who were filming a documentary about one of the runners and his ultramarathon journey (this guy); can't wait to see it! special thanks to Doug Scott for helping me out with a couple of shots. 
• was given a cold glass of icewater by the family who lived just down the road at the farmhouse where they spent the better part of the afternoon offering to hose down hot runners.
• encountered the most awesomely positive group of racers I've ever seen at any race ever; it was just endless smiles and laughs and positive energy. 
• witnessed a woman come by on a prosthetic leg, having already run 48 miles and looking effortless; the inspiration I take from having seen her is tremendous and will last for a very long time. 

The photos below are just a small sampling of some of my favorite pictures. The full gallery can be seen here at Northeast Race Photo: Vermont 100 photo gallery

L: Women's race winner, Larisa Dannis

R: Does anything more need to be said?

Look at how happy that horse is to get misted down with some spray from the hose!

 

L: First time I've ever seen runners and riders so effortlessly share a race course.

R: On the back of the prosthesis it said "LIVE LIFE WITHOUT LIMITATIONS"

After I took some regular shots of him approaching, he turned his back to me and grinned and said: "Elmo."

wahooooooo!