The HARP24 24hr race took place over the weekend of the 22nd/23rd June 2019 and as in previous years I was there in a voluntary capacity to capture the event in photos. The event is a great festival of running with teams or solo runners seeing how many of the 4.2 mile laps they can complete within 24hrs from noon on the Saturday until noon on the Sunday. It is a highlight of the running calendar in these parts and is organised as a fundraising event for HARP Southend – Southend’s leading homeless charity. Take a second to visit their website and find out what they do and how you can help.
I took thousands of photos over the weekend. I started taking a few around the campsite and then some as the first runners set off. 150+ solo runners this year out of a record 470 taking part swelled the mass start. After that I took a walk around the course in the reverse direction photographing everyone who passed by – quite a few runners more than once! Back at the village I took loads of the Junior Run – a 2.4 mile event for three age groups.
After that I donned my shorts and running shoes and did a couple of laps myself. I had actually considered entering this year as my fitness is as good as it has ever been – but as I had promised to photograph I stuck to that – but I was itching to get out there.
After completing my laps and managing to get photographed myself by Martin Parish I snuck home for a shower and some grub – and as it happens a hour’s kip. At around 9.30pm I headed back and spent a few hours taking night-time shots until I was thoroughly cold and damp at 12.30am. At least I got a few hours sleep at home unlike those runners sleeping in tents.
Sunday morning I headed back to where I’d done the night shots partly to grab some stuff I left there in the night but also to take a few morning shots. I then headed back to the event village to capture runners finishing and heading out for their final laps and finally of the presentations to the winning teams and solo runners.
All in all a pretty tiring day – especially as it was baking hot both days. But I enjoyed it and I know people enjoy re-living the event through my photos so it is all worthwhile. Next year I have ever intention of NOT taking photos and entering to see just how many laps I could do. Apologies in advance but I will try and organise someone to cover it.
Photo Gallery
Anyway, if you are here looking for photos then the best place to view them is on my galleries website and you can find them by clicking here or the image below. Note the gallery has a number of sets of images for the periods as described above.
All the images in the gallery are low resolution and have a copyright watermark. They can be downloaded and used free of charge for personal social media purposes only, on condition that the watermark is not totally or partially removed or defaced.
If you would like to have high resolution versions of any of the photos then these can be purchased for only £4 each via the store functionality in the gallery. If you purchase any then you will get a download link to download your images. Don’t be upset or disappointed when you see the downloaded images are just the lo-res watermarked ones. Rest assured I will follow up with edited hi-res versions as soon as I see which images you have ordered from my system.
All my photos are also on my Photography Facebook Page in a number of separate albums. There you can comment and like and tag your friends and all that social mediary stuff. I have included links on my Sport Photos List page and I have included them below also:
- Facebook1 – The Start
- Facebook2 – Saturday afternoon course walk
- Facebook3 – Junior 2.4mi races
- Facebook4 – Night Time album 1
- Facebook5 – Night Time album 2
- Facebook 6 – Sunday morning at Gusted Woods
- Facebook 7 – The Finish
I hope you enjoyed the event and enjoy looking at my photos. Be sure to leave comments on my FB page – and add a review or recommendation on the page if you can.
Andy Kenyon
andrew kenyon photography 