RUFA 24 HOUR TRAIL RACE

RUFA = Running up for Air

I had the opportunity last weekend to photograph a 24 hour trail running race that is put on for a non-profit that works towards achieving cleaner air.

A few weeks prior I had gone hiking on the trail and was taking photos and scouting locations for a video and photo shoot I was planning with some other trail runners, when I had the thought of reaching out to the event organizer to see if I could photograph the event. She actually reached out to me later that day before I could sit down to send her a message.

The race started at 6PM on Friday and went until 6PM on Saturday. At first I was just planning on maybe photographing some of the race the Friday night until I got tired, then head home and get some sleep and go back on Saturday and photograph some more. But when I found out that it would be a full moon, I thought that was too good to pass up the chance to photograph runners with the rising and setting moon. The moon rise was a little too late so the foreground was completely dark by time the moon rose above the mountains, however the moonset the next morning was the perfect timing with morning blue hour and golden hour.

I made the plan to take my hammock and sleeping bag and setup camp at a spot that I had scouted a few weeks ago. With all my photo gear and winter gear, my pack weighed probably around 40-45 pounds, which is about 1/3 my body weight.

I photographed and filmed runners from around 6:30PM until about midnight, then climbed into my hammock to get as much sleep as I could. My hammock was only a few feet from the trail so I had runners headlamps passing by every so often throughout the night, which made it a little tough to sleep. My feet got a little cold as well so I only got about 2 solid hours of sleep. I hiked up and down the trail throughout the day on Saturday, photographing at different locations.

Enough talk, now for some photos from the race.

This is Malan's Peak, where runners would run up to, then turn around and head back down to the start, completing as many laps as they could within their time. There was a 24 hour, 12 hour, and 6 hour options.