The Competitor
On Tuesday I took the day off of work to photograph the 2012 Florida Firefighter Games - Mountain Biking competition, which was held at the Santos Trails in Belleview, Florida.
This event is held annually and rotates it's location within the state of Florida and features a wide variety of sports, of which mountain biking is just one of many. Firefighters, active and retired, come from all over the state to participate in this friendly, yet high level effort, competition to vie for gold, silver, and bronze medals in numerous categories (Open, 30+, 40+, 50+, 60+, Clydesdale, Women, and 1st Timers) for the individual event. The racers had to complete 2 laps of the varied terrain 6+ mile course. There was also a Team Relay race, where groups of firefighters rode individual laps (8 total laps, which were a bit shorter in miles) for their own set of medals.
I have attended these firefighter races for many years - on the state, national, and international level - with Tom. Sometimes I simply cheered him on and handed out nutrition and fluid in the feed zone; sometimes I photographed the event; sometimes I served as referee/timer. Regardless of the role that I played, I always did it with pride, as these guys and gals are heroes in my book!
In this image, of course, I chose to feature my "sherpa", my best friend, and of course, my personal hero. Tom raced in the "Open" category, which is there for anyone who doesn't want to be dictated to any specific age or gender in the race. Tom was victorious as the Gold Medal Winner in that race and took the Bronze Medal in overall time.
Guess the old guy still has it! :-). Not bad for a 2001 World Police & Fire Games Master "A" Gold Medalist in the Cross Country Mountain Biking event. Yep, he's AWESOME!
Thanks for stopping by to view and especially for all of your comments, which are both very much appreciated.
The Competitor
On Tuesday I took the day off of work to photograph the 2012 Florida Firefighter Games - Mountain Biking competition, which was held at the Santos Trails in Belleview, Florida.
This event is held annually and rotates it's location within the state of Florida and features a wide variety of sports, of which mountain biking is just one of many. Firefighters, active and retired, come from all over the state to participate in this friendly, yet high level effort, competition to vie for gold, silver, and bronze medals in numerous categories (Open, 30+, 40+, 50+, 60+, Clydesdale, Women, and 1st Timers) for the individual event. The racers had to complete 2 laps of the varied terrain 6+ mile course. There was also a Team Relay race, where groups of firefighters rode individual laps (8 total laps, which were a bit shorter in miles) for their own set of medals.
I have attended these firefighter races for many years - on the state, national, and international level - with Tom. Sometimes I simply cheered him on and handed out nutrition and fluid in the feed zone; sometimes I photographed the event; sometimes I served as referee/timer. Regardless of the role that I played, I always did it with pride, as these guys and gals are heroes in my book!
In this image, of course, I chose to feature my "sherpa", my best friend, and of course, my personal hero. Tom raced in the "Open" category, which is there for anyone who doesn't want to be dictated to any specific age or gender in the race. Tom was victorious as the Gold Medal Winner in that race and took the Bronze Medal in overall time.
Guess the old guy still has it! :-). Not bad for a 2001 World Police & Fire Games Master "A" Gold Medalist in the Cross Country Mountain Biking event. Yep, he's AWESOME!
Thanks for stopping by to view and especially for all of your comments, which are both very much appreciated.