North East Event & Press Photographer: Stockton on Tees River Rat Race

This is the third year (collection of images above) I’ve been asked to photograph the River Rat Race in Stockton on Tees, which this year saw a record entry of 1,000 people signing up to take part.Organised by Rat Race Urban Adventure events in partnership with Stockton Borough Council, the event is best described as a kind of wet assault course, and includes some running, splashing, walking the plank and kayaking around a stretch of the River Tees.

Based at Stockton’s Riverside Park and this year’s course included a white water course at the Tees Barrage International White Water Centre, where I was asked to photograph the official launch by HM The Queen earlier this year – you can read all about it in my blog here.

Stockton Borough Council asked me to photograph the River Rat Race, which is now a firm fixture in the calendar. Despite its name and the fact that entrants wear electronic timing tags, people can go as fast or as slow as they like on this crazy fun day. No special skills are needed, all that’s required is some sturdy footwear, a spirit of enthusiasm and no problem with getting wet and muddy.

The 10km course takes in several bridges over the river Tees, including the Infinity Bridge, the Victoria Bridge, the Newport Bridge and the Barrage Bridge. Entrants can get to grips with walking the plank at the replica of Captain Cook’s ship HM Bark Endeavour, do some kayaking, climb up and down the Newport Bridge, go rafting across the canal, get through two assault courses and take part in a lock gate swim.

An 11am start saw the first of four waves of runners setting off, with me alongside them – it’s a good job I’m training for this year’s Great North Run to raise money for The Autism Society and I’m reasonably fit. At least when I do the run I won’t be carrying a stone and a half of very expensive photography equipment!

Having photographed this and other River Tees events in previous years I knew where the best vantage points were, and had planned out a route in advance to make sure I could get up and down the course fast enough, and get a good range of shots of people at every activity point, plus the stretches in between.

Sports event photography is just part of what I do as a North East-based press, commercial and wedding photographer covering Teesside, Tyne & Wear, County Durham and Northumberland, and the key to success is always to get some movement into the shot.  The weather was on my side this year, with the sun beating down from a blue sky and bouncing the clear light off the water to give me some great close up and telephoto or wide angle photos that can be used on the web or in newspapers,magazines or brochures to publicise strong photography next year’s Stockton on Tees event. 

As I worked my way round taking natural action shots of people enjoying themselves getting wet and muddy, I really felt part of the atmosphere, running alongside people as I photographed them and seeing how people at all levels of fitness spurred each other on. Colourful kayaks and other water equipment, plus lots of runners in River Rat Race branded t-shirts added some colour into the photos – at least they did before they got wet and muddy.

Some of the entrants slowed down to a walk on various stretches to give themselves a breather, and we had some laughs together as they spotted me with my camera and immediately broke into a trot so they wouldn’t be photographed slacking!

Having worked at a fast pace for several hours I came away with hundreds of photographs of people enjoying the day on and off the water, and of course lots of tired but happy faces as they held up their medals at the finish point.

This was a superbly well-run event, and I take my hat off to the organisers, and to the people who turned up to test their fitness, have a laugh and raise some money for good causes.

Here’s to next year!

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Direct Website Link to Dave Charnley Photography