Hartwell Half Marathon
Written by Mike Cheliak on April 26, 2009 – 4:14 pm -Click here to visit the Hartwell Challenge Photo Galleries. All photos will be posted by later Sunday Evening.
RAIN…SCHMAIN! No amount of cold temperatures or down-pouring rain could interfere with another very well run race by Sara from www.raceworks.ca and all the staff, volunteers and 
sponsors. Great finishing times, a HUGE showing in the 5K by the Newmarket Huskies Track Club (they DOMINATED) as well a very safe, well organized course made this the best Hartwell Challenge yet. The spectators should be commended as well for their die hard dedication to cheering on each and every finisher!
You Gotta love the kiddies running! The Merry Mini Mile is a “Complete not Compete” format where EVERY kid is a winner just for taking part. The little guys and girls toughed out the rain and made really short work of the one mile course! Just seeing these little munchkins out and active is a great sign for our future generation of fit kids!
The 5K race was dominated by the Newmarket Huskies. They had a tonne of entrants and ALL of them were amazing! The two first place overall finishers were both from the club and came across in a dead heat. Alex Denault and Robert Denault are both Under 20 Junior Males and finished in 15:56! Quite a feat considering that the rain was heaviest from the start to the finish of the 5K. Natalia Hawthorn from Bracebridge was the first overall female in a time of 17:44 and is in the 14-Under age group!
Christopher Graham repeated for the second year as the men’s Half Marathon winner in a great time of 01:20:00. In the Women’s overall category, Paolina Allan repeated as well for the second straight year in a time of 01:24:09. The top eleven finishers all came in under 1 hour 30 minutes which was great considering the heavy rain that was there for most of the race.
As to the photos, I was challenged as usual when shooting in pouring rain. Keeping the gear dry was the key and making sure to really be quick
The Hartwell Race Crew
to pull in the auto focus was also important as the rain was at times heavy enough to distract the auto-focus. I did have to bail out near the end of the 5K finishers for about 10 minutes to refit my rain gear on my camera as it got so drenched the Velcro started to release!
Lighting in a race like this is never an issue as the overcast gives you a very even lighting matrix. The one challenge is how high to set your ISO. I had mine ranging from 160-400 for the entire event and shot everything a f/2.8 and 1/500th of a second shutter speed. Some neat shots were taken in the heaviest rain with a lot of splashing and water droplets.
I love shooting live action and don’t really care about the weather. Does it make it more difficult..yes, but you just have to be prepared for any possible weather with the proper clothing and protective gear for your equipment.
In happiness and health as always!
Mike C.
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