When I went along to Long Ashton to join some friends in watching and supporting other friends taking part in the Ironwood Challenge, I hadn't planned on taking many photos. I expected I'd take a few of the people I knew who were taking part. But once a race photographer, always a race photographer, it seems, and so I went home with almost 1,000 images of the event . . a selection of which is on these pages . .

Negotiating the extremely muddy footpaths was just as great a challenge for the spectators as it was for the competitors. This was a short cut which may have been shorter in distance but certainly wasn't in terms of the time taken to make our way along it . .

The short cut enabled us to get to the finish just before some of the later runners, and ahead of the prize giving where we were excited to see three of our club mates receive awards. Further down the page are some of the reminders that once again, Spring was about to spring . .