Living 2,000km from the nearest inhabited island, the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island must be jacks of all trades. Using photography from my three week trip to the island for the BBC, this light-hearted article for Red Bull Adventure gives a break down of the different skills that “Polynesian Warriors” practise during their most important festival of Tapati.
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[:en]Outdoor Fitness magazine wanted a snappy training article about running groups.
RUNdezvous was the result – an odyssey across three continents as I dive into world of alternative running groups. I hydrate with the Santiago Hash House Harriers, raid a car boot with the Bath Bats and get high in the Rocky Mountains with the Boulder Trail Running Breakfast Club…And we run some!
On sale from June 3rd in the UK
Here’s an extract from the Bath Bats!
[:es]Oudoor Fitness wanted a snappy training article about running groups.
RUNdevous was the result.
You can read an extract below
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[:en]For as long as I’ve been writing about adventures, I have wanted to have my work published at Sidetracked. If you don’t know already, it’s a beautiful online selection box of far-flung journeys, unexpected encounters and daring deeds – sharply penned with startling photography.
The editor-in-chief John Summerton doesn’t just pick up any pitch, but on my 3rd attempt in September 2015, with a promised story about our attempt to run the Fastest Known Time around the 100km “O” trek at Torres del Paine – it looked like I might have a story. The hardest part was initially getting the photography up to standard (which took two separate trips to Chilean Patagonia,) and then the envisaged angle about macho endeavor in an inhospitable land just didn’t want to go down on the page like that. (The run itself was much easier.)
Eventually it did come together (thanks for your patience and giving me a shot in the first instance John) and you can now read “Fastest At The World’s End” online.
Click below to begin reading at Sidetracked.
[:es]For as long as I’ve been writing about adventures, I have wanted to have my work published at Sidetracked. If you don’t know already, it’s a beautiful online selection box of far-flung journeys, unexpected encounters and daring deeds – sharply penned with startling photography.
The editor-in-chief John Summerton doesn’t just pick up any pitch, but on my 3rd attempt in September 2015 – with a promised story about our attempt to run the fastest time around the 100km “O” trek at Torres del Paine – it looked like I might have a story.
The hardest part was initially getting the photography up to standard (which took two separate trips to Chilean Patagonia,) and then the envisaged angle about macho endeavour in an inhospitable land just didn’t want to go down on the page like that. (The run itself – although we never got near to that allusive fastest time – went much smoother than the article!)
Eventually it did come together, thanks to the incredible patience of my very talented running partner and friend James Donald, and also to John Summerton for giving me a shot in the first place. You can now read “Fastest At World’s End” online.
Click below to begin reading at Sidetracked.
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[:en]In the May issue of Men’s Running there’s a story of some of the planet’s remotest people.
…So remote in fact that for 500 years they thought they were the only people left on Earth.
Yet regardless of outside influence, the runners of Rapa Nui take their sport incredibly seriously. They compete in the traditional hami loincloth and in some events carry a 20kg load of bananas, as featured below in the Hanga Vare Vare relay race. Iconically, the finish line to this race was at the foot of one of the island’s distinctive moai statues – Ahu Riata.
The article and photos were written during a three week stay on the island during the Tapati festival: A cultural celebration of traditional sport, handicraft, dance, drama and music. Publications also at BBC Travel (slow to load) and Picture of The Day at The Guardian.
[:es]In the current issue (May, 2016) of Men’s Running there’s a story about one of the world’s remotest people.
…So remote in fact that for 500 years they thought they were the only people left on Earth.
Yet regardless of outside influence, the runners of Rapa Nui take their sport incredibly seriously. They compete in the traditional hami loincloth and in some events carry a 20kg load of bananas, as featured below in the Hanga Vare Vare relay race. Iconically, the finish line to this race was at the foot of one of the island’s distinctive moai statues – Ahu Riata.
The article and photos were written during a three week stay on the island for the Tapati festival: A cultural celebration of traditional sport, handicraft, dance, drama and music. Publications also at BBC Travel (slow to load) and Picture of The Day at The Guardian.
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Larking around with issue 2 of Ultra on day 4 of our recce. Kindly supplied by Ultra ed. Andy Nuttall
When you get your copy of the superlative independent UK running magazine, Ultra (issue 4) – you’ll read how we fastpacked a four day recce of the circuit before attempting the run. Torres del Paine was named the 8th Wonder of The World in 2013 and we wanted to experience it in all its mystery and majesty before attempting to push rudely round in just one day.
On the second day of the fastpack, we reached the top of the John Gardner pass – the highest point of the trek that usually takes 8 days to complete. Here we had our first view down to Glacier Grey – a leviathan of ice that runs hundreds of miles, swallowing mountains in its path. The temperature hovered around zero, and for about the fifth time that day I asked James:
“Mate, whip off your trousers and we’ll get a shot in our running shorts!”
“You can F*** right off if you think I’m stripping off for you here…”
There would be no time on the run to stop here, and I certainly wouldn’t be carrying any decent camera gear during the attempt. It was now or never.
Just at that moment, a porter emerged on the pass. I set the camera to continuous shooting mode, wacked up the F-Stop to pull the glacier in and got the poor chap squatting at an angle where the composition was right. We dropped our heavy rucksacks, grabbed the vests we would use for the 1 day push and started jogging with that comically high knee style that can help imply movement in running shots. The porter clearly thought we were lunatics – but fired away.
So, no man leaning out of a helicopter in a harness – just a couple of guys trying to share the adventure they were about to set out on – round one of the most spectacular trails on Earth.
And when we really did begin, it was 2am Patagonia time. Out there, on those moonlit trails, there was an even more shocking surprise than that great glacier – It was waiting for us, silently in the dark….
Here’s where you can read more.
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In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the Rapa Nui people believed for 500 years they were the only people left on Earth.
The BBC were interested in how the Rapa Nui’s February festival of Tapati expresses the character and story of these remote island people. I spent three weeks on Easter island. This article for BBC Travel explores what I found.
Read Article (UK Version – slow to load)