Komen Race for the Cure

Sunday I shot the second annual Susan G. Komen Mid-Missouri Race for the Cure. The 5k race is a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness, treatment, and research that actually started back in the ’80s but only made its way into Mid-Missouri last year.

I covered last year’s race as well and stretched myself a little thin trying to cover the entire course while carrying gear I didn’t need. So this year I packed light and hung around the starting and finishing areas for the most part. I was really pleased with the result. It would have been nice to effectively cover the course and do a slideshow like I did last year, but with runners ranging from very competitive to people just taking a stroll, I focused instead on a few key shots that I knew would summarize the event effectively.

I showed up early and got some pretty goofy shots of some women ‘break dancing’ during a warm up session. Hiked up the steps of Memorial Stadium to get a nice overall of the start of the race, followed the crowd for the first quarter mile trying to find some characters in the fray, and hung around the finish to get the overall male and female finishers.

I feel like I had a really good flow this year, and if I get the chance to cover the race again I’ll use what I learned over the last two years to finally get broad comprehensive look at the race without compromising the quality and visual storytelling of my photos.

Here’s a frame from this year with the first overall female finisher, Hannah Hassemer,

University of Missouri cheerleaders support Hannah Hassemer, the first overall female finisher, Sunday as she nears the finish line at the Race for the Cure.