Cleave

Hi,

I spent all day Saturday at the UCI World Cup Track Classic at the ADT Event Center. I posted earlier about being involved with the video that got a rider relegated at the elite track natz. This time I was volunteering at the the UCI Commissar's video location and I had the pleasure of actually taking the video instead of working the replay machine. This was a fairly stressful job since you need to make sure that you get the shots that the officials (on the floor and in the video area) want to see.

I have a fairly extensive photography background and I've shot video on the side though I have no formal training with video as I do with photography. Anyway, the toughest races to shoot were the mass start events as you have to keep the shot relatively wide but you also have to decide where to shoot. A single rider or two off the front is a pretty easy decision --stay with the pack -- but when you get a small group off the front you've got to decide where a foul will most likely occur.

The women's points race final was very tough as riders were going off the front and the front of the pack would regularly split up. On the bell lap for the second or third sprint (of eight) there were a couple of riders kind of dangling just off the front. I was trying to keep them somewhat in the frame while watching the front of the pack. Coming out of turn two I saw in the display that a rider went low onto the apron to pass some other riders. I didn't say anything and the rest of the sprint was clean.

As I continue to shoot, I overhear the official's walkie-talkie and (in English instead of German) I hear something about a possible relegation for an improper pass. The camera has a video tape while another machine with a monitor takes the camera feed and records it simultaneously. The UCI Commissar asks the machine operator to rewind the tape. I'm not seeing any of this but I'm half listening as I have to concentrate on shooting the race. Anyway, the next thing I hear is relegate racer number...

Then I hear the PA announcer says that American, Becky Quinn has been relegated from third place in the sprint. Ouch!

I also managed to shoot the right thing at the right time when the was a large crash later in the race. The commissar looked at the video and decided that there was no foul -- just a racing accident.

At the end of shooting that 80 lap race I was tired.

curiouskid55

It only cost her the one point that she won on that sprint finishing third . Great night of racing and a spectacular venue.

EventServices

Shooting video at the track is intense. You can't look away for a second.
An 80-lap race is brutal.