I had a chance to photograph the Chris Thater races again this last weekend with my friends Mary Lou and Dave. For thirty years the event has been held at Rec Park on the west side, but this year the organizers moved it to downtown. For those that don't know, Chris Thater was a young man who was hit and killed by a drunk driver. The race is named in his honor and is run by the Broome County Stop DWI program. And this is not just some local race. This is part of the national USA Cycling program and pro riders from all over the world compete here every year.
Saturday started out promising, but quickly went downhill. A light drizzle set in and it didn't let up until early evening. Which made for poor photo ops and even trickier racing on slick pavement as evidenced by several crashes on Saturday.
Thankfully, Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day. And the racers did not disappoint. The races were all very fast and competitive. If you ever think that you might like to try your hand at this type of shooting, by all means come down and give it a try. It's free and there are so many spots to shoot from that you are not going to bother anyone. You'll be surprised at how much fun it is! And how difficult it is.