A couple leap together over a burning fire obstacle during the Reebok Spartan Race at the Tuxedo Ridge Ski Center in Tuxedo , NY on Saturday, June 1, 2013. © CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record
Got the assignment to photograph the Reebok Spartan Race, taking place at a small ski resort near my home. Having covered BMX bike racers on a similar downhill ski slope venue in Northern NJ a few years ago (during the summer months of course), I thought I might have had an idea of what I was walking into. Earlier in the week I’d even passed by
the ski slope property a few times, and noticed work crews setting up tents in common areas, open trailers with a lot of heavy industrial gear, including those lighting systems run by a generator that your local highway authorities utilize when doing overnight road construction. So these past few days I’d actually thought it might’ve been a movie / TV production crew setting up for a few days of location shooting. Nothing could’ve been further from that initial guess…
That’s one of the many joys of working as a photojournalist: You never really know what you’re walking into, what to expect, and at times – how to even prepare for such an assignment. I guess I could’ve researched on the web a bit and had some background going into the event. But lacking that basic info on the race sort of made it all fun for me in the blazing sun, witnessing people of all ages, backgrounds, and physical abilities giving it their all in clearing some very serious and demanding obstacles. Uphill. Downhill. Rope climbing. Mud. Barbed wire low crawling through more mud. For a few moments there, I caught myself reminiscing about all the “PT” (Physical Training) I’d done like this back in my Marine Corps career… ~cg.
Judge Rory Brady crawls under barbed wire as he moves uphill during the Reebok Spartan Race at the Tuxedo Ridge Ski Center in Tuxedo , NY on Saturday, June 1, 2013. Brady is the Village Justice in Goshen, NY. © CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record
Chet Gordon resides in the lower Hudson Valley region of New York. A photojournalist for more than 25 years, he recently worked as Westchester Magazine's first photo editor, and previously was a staff photographer at four NYC metro area newspapers. He was also a photo editor at the NY Daily News for 5 years. His work has appeared in The New York Times, International Herald-Tribune, USA Today, MailOnline (UK), Army Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Popular Photography magazines, among others. He is a career member of the National Press Photographer’s Association (NPPA), and a former board member of the NY Press Photographer’s Association (NYPPA). He served honorably as a U.S. Marine in the mid-1980's, including 2+ years stationed on Okinawa, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia. A longtime volunteer and travel enthusiast, he accompanies several humanitarian aid clients on their international disaster relief and medical missions. Since 1997, he's worked in several African countries, the Middle East, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, as well as Afghanistan, Haiti, the Russian Federation, and Thailand. He routinely mentors young photographers looking to break into the industry and vacations in Bermuda and Kenya.
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