Long Beach Middle School Cross Country Championships

 This is late as all my posts are becoming, a habit I really need to stop.

During the early part of June each year Long Beach holds the middle school cross country championships at Heartwell Park and for the last few years I've covered this event for them.

This event consists of 7 actual races.  Its started with an elementary fun run followed by the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade girls and boys races.

When I cover these events I like to shoot and get shots from three different locations.  The first being at the start of the race.  As the race starts, the lead runners go through a group of trees that then open up.  I wait for the lead runners to emerge from these trees and get shots of them approaching me and then as they pass.

Once the runners pass through this first area I then quickly move to my second location.  In this area the runners come across a bridge as they approach the end of mile one from this two mile run.  I pick this second location because the runners are back lit and I enjoy the shots I get as the sun glows through the runners hair.

My final spot is at the finish line.  Normally and in the past I've choose a spot right at the finish, but during the last couple of races, mostly the 8th grade girls and boys I had issues with low light with a bright background that always gave me problems, so this year I decided to move away from the finish line to a spot about 10-15' in front of it.  I still had issues with back lighting, but have since moved to auto ISO, which has helped me a lot.

With all this said, please enjoy the following shots.