This training acted as foundations to some running races including a 50km run in the Italian Dolomites, a failed 169km attempt in the English Lake District (retiring after 100km) and a very jubilant finish at the cross country (literally) CCC – a 100km run through Italy, Switzerland, and finishing over in Chamonix, France. All of these adventures i’ve documented over at my little project site, which i’ve dedicated solely to the running side.

Summertime running in the Italian Dolomites

Working in conjunction with Scott Sports i’ve been lucky enough to be running around in their brand as they develop themselves constantly trying to develop products in this ever evolving niche market.

So this weekend, marked on the calendar as a “rest weekend” (still covering 50km and 3000m+ ascent) i ventured over to the Jungfrau Marathon to watch some of the professionals at work. Scott are lucky enough to have one of the best mountain runners in the world on their team, Marco De Gasperi, and i was looking forward to watching him destroy the field on his way to victory. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be his day, with him pulling up after only ten minutes of running with knee pain from a previous race. Even without him we still saw some great performances, giving me the desire to get out there and run even more.

Feel free to check out some of the images over on the Scott Website, or follow my actions in the running world over at www.timlloydtrail.com.

And as for an acceptance speech opener, “we’re going to draw the raffle numbers now” – pure genius!

I was lucky enough to attend one of the earlier mountain stages the other week. It’s been a lifelong dream to see the tour, and to witness such a historical year makes it even better.

Allez Bradley!

Here’s a few snapshots of the way.

Luckily for us though, the group that had been formed consisting of organisers, shapers, skiers, filmers and us photographers was really great, making this week a success right off the start.

As one of four invited photographers for this event i found myself competing against Nate Abbott, Alessandro Belluscio and Louis Garnier for our interpretation of a set of categories for the week: lifestyle, action, unique angle and black and white.

Me and my Caricature presenting on the last night. Not too sure about the stray hand….

This was my first park shoot this season and the size of the castle certainly pushed us creatively. It was huge! Fitting it all in one frame was always on my mind as certain angles really hurt the images making it look incomplete. I liked that fact that you really had to think before shooting any frames making sure that what i was getting was right for the vibe of the week.

Getting it into perspective with French skier Ben Valentin

For now i’m going to keep quiet and not show you my images that were entered, but i’m really happy to say that one of my images were chosen to win the Black and White category, a prize that is even sweeter as it was peer judged by the other photographers. Of course extreme amounts of alcohol was consumed in celebration, and the day after making my way back to Geneva was painful but with a smile.

For an image gallery please check out the article i put together for ESPN and for a full video recap check out this below.

Anyway, i’ve been way out East this weekend and have taken a few snapshots along the way. Only an hour from Zurich, yet a different world away….

A 5am wake up call allowed me to make the hike up with the girls in the morning, with a sketchy helicopter ride and sketchier ski down from the mens start in the afternoon. Lots of work, little sleep and a fair bit of that Austrian party vibe made for a really great weekend. I can’t wait for the season ender in Verbier later this month.

More to come as the trip continues…..

Images were short to come by taken by myself in Munich, although i did take a few for my Trail Running Website which played a major role in talks regarding my sustainability during the summer months.

With 10 full days of work coming to a close i decided to jump aboard a plane back to the UK for a day or two of rest before heading back to Geneva on Saturday for some filming time with Level 1 productions. Already looking forward to getting back into the snow.

With the competition done and dusted the whole operation upped and moved to neighbouring Italian resort Courmayeur as night moved in. After securing some work for the Italian stop, i’ve made the move over with them and look forward to another couple of days of freeriding before i move in the Germany direction for ISPO this weekend. Busy week travelling for sure!

Here’s that dramatic sunrise, and equally a dramatic of line taken from yesterday.