The Equinox Marathon

Each fall Fairbanks hosts the Equinox Marathon. It’s primarily a trail race that carries runners on a long loop through the forested hills on the west side of town. It includes a brutal 2000+ foot climb up Ester Dome, the race’s high point. I’ve run the whole race twice, and taken part in relays on a few other occasions. It’s a great event, and adds a holiday-like feel to the end of September. This year however, I wasn’t running, and instead took a couple of hours of my morning to photograph the runners as they hurtled down the back side of Ester Dome. I chose a forested stretch of trail about halfway down the long descent. Mostly, I just experimented. With nearly 1000 racers, there was no shortage of subjects so I played with on and off-camera flash, blurs, different angles, and long exposures. As a result a higher than normal proportion of images found their way straight into the trash. But a few are decent and one or two I quite I like. This one is my favorite.

About the Image: I positioned myself on a small embankment above the trail and shot this runner in profile as he passed a few feet below. This guy was moving fast, top few in the men’s division and his easy strides nearly 20 miles into the race were envy-inducing. I panned with him, no flash, using a relatively long 1/20th sec shutter speed. I like the blur in the forested background and the way the runner’s stride is evident, but the details lacking. For me, it accurately portrays the joy and sense of flow that running can induce. Thoughts?

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