Switchbacks May 2013
Covered an hour or so of the Switchbacks event this weekend and the photos are posted now. It was an abbreviated visit due to other family obligations, but Claire and I enjoyed what we were able to catch!
Constructed from 1909 to 1913 by Samuel Hill (1857–1931), Maryhill Loops Road is located off Washington Scenic Route 14 just east of U.S. 97.
This week warm weather and sun has me thinking about the summer to come! One of our favorite events is theMaryhill Festival of Speed and it’s scenic setting. I’m proud to present The Loops of Maryhill as this week’s Image of the Week.
There is an incredible amount of history about Maryhill Loops Road and the area surrounding it. It was built from 1910 – 1913 as the first paved road in Washington by Sam Hill with Samuel Lancaster. Hill was the champion of “Good Roads” in our region and funded the construction in an effort to convince the government of the viability of a paved road through the Columbia River Gorge. That would lead directly to what is now the Columbia River Gorge Historic Highway that was designed by Lancaster.
In 1998 the Maryhill Museum of Art repaved and refurbished 3.6 miles of the road. This steep and curvy section now serves as the course for the Maryhill Festival of Speed each summer. The Loops of Maryhill was shot from near the starting point for the downhill longboarders near the famous Maryhill Tree. Racers in full leathers and helmets navigate the multitude of hairpin turns and steep downhill grade reaching very high speeds during the world championship level event.
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Playing some catch up on photos from this past summer at the Maryhill Festival of Speed. Just posted about 850 shots from Saturday qualifying and practice for stand up and lugers. This supplements the roughly 1400 images previously posted and I’ll be adding images from Wednesday – Friday soon.
I’ve tagged the qualifiers so if you search for a name of interest those images should come up. I’ve tagged some but not all of the other images. If you are looking for a specific athlete the search is not all inclusive but is a good starting point. Their is a search box at the top of each gallery page that searches all galleries.
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Keep an eye out here and at skate.krollimages.com for more updates.
An All Star battle in the Quarter-Finals. (Maryhill FOS Sunday Quarter-Finals 20 _D3C4054)
The 2012 Maryhill Festival of Speed was great fun to attend and photograph. This week’s Image of the Week is one of my favorite shots from Championship Sunday. Maryhill All Star Battle (Maryhill FOS Sunday Quarter-Finals 20 _D3C4054) features a stacked field including the eventual event champion and the world speed record holder.
Every position was hotly contested as they passed my vantage point at the exit of never-ending left. Kevin Reimer, who would to on to reach the finals, was in the lead. Close behind were the duo of Kyle Wester, fresh off of his Laguna Seca victory, and eventual champion Patrick Switzer. Mischo Erban, who holds the world record for speed on a skateboard at 80.74 mph, is next and would be the third rider to advance from this heat. Louis Pilloni, who wowed us all at the 2011 Cathlamet Downhill Corral with his long jump, was fifth as they passed me. Zen Shikaze, one of the key figures in last year’s controversial finish, was a very close sixth. This Quarter-Final round had a world class field!
I am working backwards through images from the 2012 Maryhill Festival of Speed. All images from Championship Sunday are now posted. The day was highlighted by the championship finals in all classes, but some of the best racing and photos were in the preliminaries. I have titled and sub-divided images into groups by class and racing round to make it easier to find your favorite skaters. I’ve also tagged or captioned many riders so you can find them by searching, this is by no means all inclusive but should give you a head start to finding specific athletes. The first images from Saturday are live now, I will have images from all five days of the event when complete.
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Alicia Fillback leading Rebekka Gemperle through the never-ending left on her way to victory at the Maryhill Festival of Speed.
I spent five days last week shooting the Maryhill Festival of Speed. It was a terrific week with great people in a picturesque setting. I’m just beginning to sort through the 5,556 images I brought home with me and will be posting as I process them in the coming days. It was my intention to cherry pick my favorite shot for this week’s Image of the Week, but an unexpected thing happened that changed those plans. Local rider Alicia Fillback brought home the hardware in the women’s race so in celebration this photo of her leading Rebekka Gemperle is the newest Image of the Week.
Alicia faced a very tough challenge. Marisa Nunez from Peru came into the race having won both previous events on the 2012 World Cup Calendar. Gemperle scorched the track in qualifying and looked very tough to beat. In last year’s event Alicia made the finals only to find the ditch following a collision with one of the other top contenders; Ishtar Backlund.
This year’s finals were much different. Alicia took an early lead that she would never relinquish. Rebekka would do her best to challenge but could never get close enough to pose a serious threat. Marissa maintained her points lead with a solid podium finish in third.
This event is a very fun and challenging one to photograph. The athletes and organizers are very welcoming and accommodating. The shooting conditions can be difficult with hot sun, constantly changing sun position, harsh shadows, and of course the rattle snakes! I am a big proponent of using natural light, but with the harsh shadows the use of fill flash was often necessary. I tried to move around the course throughout the week and capture different angles and perspectives.
In covering the final day of the event I tried to do things a bit differently than the crowd. Most spectators and photographers gathered around the signature Seismic corner or Bustin corner and the finish in the festival area. I spent the day on the upper portion of the course primarily in never-ending left (corner station 1). I used two camera setups to capture the action. I outfitted the D7000 with my Nikon 70-300vr to shoot the start line and as the riders approached me through back breaker. As they entered never-ending left I swapped to the D300 with the very versatile Nikon 18-200vr and SB600 flash for the trackside perspective shots. Once the riders passed me I swapped back to the D7000 outfit for long shots as they passed through the ambulance corner complex and beyond. This shot was captured with the D300 outfit using fill flash and a +2/3 exposure compensation to attempt to soften the shadows.
Congratulations to Alicia; 2012 Maryhill Festival of Speed Women’s Champion.
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Maryhill Festival of Speed 2012
Patrick Switzer is the 2012 Maryhill Festival of Speed champion. He emerged the winner in a very tight final event that was not without controversy. Track record holder Zak Maytum finished second and local Alex Tongue completed the podium. The IGSA has been using some Kroll Images to document the weekend on their Facebook page.
The local community was very well represented. Perhaps the highlight of the day was Alicia Fillback beating a stacked field to win the Women’s Championship. Jon Huey won the classic luge with some incredible passing approaching the finish, and Billy Meiners reached the open class finals.
We have been home for an hour or so and I wanted to post a quick update. After five long and busy days and a great deal of fun my body is demanding sleep. There are some preview images up now, I look forward to sharing many more soon!
Once again, a huge congratulations to Alicia – 2012 Maryhill Festival of Speed Women’s Champion.
Maryhill Festival of Speed 2012
It has been a great week of downhill so far at the Maryhill Festival of Speed in Goldendale, WA. The track record has been set and reset, we’ve had wild action, hot sun, and a wet course for the King of the Hill race. The IGSA has been using some Kroll Images to document the weekend on their Facebook page.
Record breaking speed has been the highlight so far. On Friday Doug Dalua Silva broke the two year old track record, only to see Zak Maytum snatch the record and top qualifying spot in Saturday qualifying. Local racer Alex Tongue has been right at the top of the speed charts all week. After a hot and dry week the skies opened just prior to the finals of the last chance qualifying race today making for a wet and slippery finish. Both King of the Hill races were run on a wet course, James Kelly took the downhill skateboard version when he crossed the line last but all the others were disqualified for buttboarding across the finish!
There are some preview images up now, I look forward to sharing many more soon!
An image from last year’s Maryhill Festival of Speed. Kroll Images will be covering the event all five days this year!
The only World Cup stop for the International Gravity Sports Association in the USA is right in our back yard and starts today! Local phenom Alex Tongue will be among the favorites after winning the year’s first event; the Mt. Keira Challenge in Australia. Racers will come from all over the world for the Maryhill Festival of Speed.
I will be there for the full run this year. It is one of the events I’m most looking forward too after seeing just two days last year. It’s a great time of year if you enjoy downhill gravity sports with the Mt. Tabor Downhill Challenge last weekend leading in and the Boomtang Slide Jam among other events surrounding the FOS.
One side note: due to the tight turnaround between Tabor and Maryhill the Tabor gallery will not be posted until after my return from Goldendale.
See you on the loops!
Mt. Tabor Downhill Challenge Poster event poster featuring a photo by Kroll Images.
Looking forward to the start of a very busy week of covering longboarding events around the Pacific Northwest. The Second Annual Mt. Tabor Downhill Challenge is tomorrow; I’m proud to have a photo featured on the event poster designed by Eric Hovey.
I will be shooting the event along with volunteering as a roving marshall. Ethan will be a corner marshall and have a camera at the ready as well. I will follow that up with coverage of the full run of the Maryhill Festival of Speed. Ethan will be working with me for that event and we will be joined by Todd Frary of Alternative-Shots for the weekend. Depending on scheduling today I may drop in on the skate scavenger hunt later today too!
This will be my second year covering Maryhill and Tabor, you can see images from last year at skate.krollimages.com. One of my favorites, of event organizer and defending champion Billy “Bones” Meiners, was featured as an Image of the Week earlier in the year.
Squeezed into the middle will be the start of summer term at PSU making for a busy work week. It’s going to be a crazy and fun week!
Max vs. the Peanut Gallery
Earlier this month the third event in the 2012 Switchbacks Series was held at Washington Park here in Portland. The fact that Max vs. the Peanut Gallery was one of my favorite images of the day and has an interesting story behind it make it a natural to be the newest Image of the Week.
The Switchback Series is a collection of races presented by Rip City Skate held on the Madison Trail at the lower edge of Washington Park. Each event has a mystery aspect that adds a unique twist and element of surprise for the competitors. This time three cones strategically placed on the course added breaking zones and passing opportunities to the course. Head to head heats made for some intense competition especially on the top portion of the course, and some physical racing down below. They are some of my favorite events to cover because the course is compact, the competition is friendly, and the people are great.
As the day moved along one of the top competitors; Max Myers, had an increasingly entertaining interaction with the crowd of eliminated riders. On the lower portion of the course two cones created right-left-right chicane and a wide variety of lines and strategies from the competitors. Max was the only one foot breaking into the section without regard to the ridicule he was receiving from his peers. His fellow riders were relentless in their jeers and verbal assault as he shamelessly kept winning heats with his unique strategy. As he exited the chicane with a large lead in a late heat he was all smiles while being heckled by the peanut gallery.
Max relented to the pressure and did not foot break in the semi-finals. Naturally, that would be his only heat loss of the day and he finished the day with a third place podium finish.
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