2025 MacAvalanche
2025 MacAvalanche - Fort William
711 images of the event available here
1/250th of a second, F11, ISO 2000, autofocus, 50mm
The Premise
Nevis Range, Fort William, Scotland - The mountain bike capital of The UK. 360 mtb riders all setting off at the same time from high up in the Nevis Range. Descending through snow onto the trails getting down as quickly as possible whilst overtaking as many riders as you can. To decide which order you would be on the start grid, you would do a run of a shorter track and the be grided by your qualifying time.
1/1000th of a second, F6.3, ISO 640, prefocus, 135mm
The Reality
I arrived on Friday afternoon ready to get signed on and accredited. My plan was to walk both the short course that riders would qualify on, and also the full length race track to find the best angle on each as i would only have 1 chance on each.
It soon became apparent that there would in fact be no qualifying due to the projected weather forecast. instead there was an A and a B plan.
- Plan A - Get up early, load as many riders as they can onto the gondolas (3 bikes at a time). If the weather that is expected comes in, drop it down to 1 bike at a time but inside the gondola, not hanging on the back. Then once all riders are at the top, a quick rider brief then the push up to the mass start, then begin the race.
- Plan B - 3 short courses were taped out, and it would be a format of, do as many laps as you want of each course, your quickest time on each will count.
Upon getting this news, I was a little torn. Part of me wanted Plan B, as it meant I'd have ample opportunity to get different photos of the riders. The other wanted plan A as the whole point of shooting the event was to show an incredible landscape which you get when being at The Nevis Range.
Fast forward to first thing Saturday morning and CEO of Nevis Range, Chris, delivers the news that everyone was wanting, they're going with plan A, the mass start race will go ahead from the top.
Over the next few hours, riders made their way to the top. I was on one of the first gondolas to see where I'd be shooting from. For some two hours, I walked up and down the track. I knew the location and angle I'd be shooting from; I was just trying to stay warm. It was absolutely freezing, with huge winds and heavy rain when it wasn't hail stones. To say it was unpleasant conditions to shoot in, would be underselling it.
I had 2 shots set up, both of which were tragic but had potential if I got a break in the weather. The main camera was the above image of Liam Moynihan leading out Donny Kennedy. Shot fairly wide because if the cloud had lifted at any point, seeing the snow-capped Ben Nevis in the background would have been epic!
1/1000th of a second, F5.6, ISO 1000, prefocus, 16mm
Shot 2 was the remote camera. Again, if the cloud had blown through or lifted slightly, the views down the valley showing where the rider would be heading were magnificent.
As it was, truly horrific conditions for a race. Fortunately for me, all the riders had passed me within a 30-minute window. Just a 1-hour hike down the hill, soaked to the core, questioning the choices I'd made in my life which led to the present moment in time.
Thoughts, would love to go back and do it again in decent conditions, unreal trails, spectacular views, great venue. My Christ was it grim though!
That was a short journal entry...
711 images of the event available here