My friend’s handsome grandson was the reason for Sunday’s trip to the speed skating competition. He hasn’t been competing for the last couple of years, but so far his record for one of the races still stands, and the announcer welcomed him back to the races.
It’s always fun to go out and take pictures, but in this instance it was an exercise in trying to get decent images of subjects in motion. And when we got there and the kids were just warming up I took a few shots and thought okay, not so hard. Then they started racing for real and I just set my focus on the track and started shooting when I thought they were about to zoom through. I had no idea what I got. The leader of our photography group calls that ‘spray and pray’, just keep shooting and hope you got something. That’s exactly what I did.
The races were called in order by age groups, starting at 6 and under, and some of the races included both girls and boys. The longer races required multiple trips around the track, as many as 15 in one case, but inevitably the slowest racers would be overtaken by the faster contestants in the race and they would have to finish their last lap after the race had actually been won. In this picture the fastest racers are bearing down on our last two.
My heart went out to them, especially the little kids who had to finish their races alone, but finish they did. I saw no tears, and no grandstanding over the wins. Well, except for this guy.
The longer distances had the racers all in a pack, and so close together I don’t see how they didn’t trip each other, but they didn’t. It was amazing how in step with each other they were.
Betty said that her training in sports photography taught her to try to catch their facial expressions when possible. So I liked these guys.
Some kids killed time by sitting on the podium where the trophies would soon be handed out.
This race ended in a photo finish…
And still more more racers…
The checkered flag means it’s the end…
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens 