When the winner of this week’s parkrun set a new course record, her victory was captured by a former runner with a passion for photography.
After a knee injury, Paul Stillman swapped his trainers for a camera to photograph Cardiff’s parkrun participants. “I have taken thousands of shots over the last years” says the former runner who is now the event’s main photographer.
His work is well-known online, but he sees his popular shot of Charlotte Arter, the athlete who recently completed the five kilometre trail in just over sixteen minutes, as average. “It was one of seventeen I took of her running towards me. It is important because it tells the story of Charlotte breaking the time record for a women at Cardiff parkrun”.
For Paul, photography is all about the stories. He enjoys recruiting amateur photographers to cover parkrun. According his most recent apprentice, Nadine Ritterskamp,“I was just a runner, but one day Paul asked me if I wanted to try out his camera. I said no because his equipment is expensive and I was afraid my shots would be really bad, but my curiosity won. (Now) I just enjoy it too much.”
Runners and photographers of all abilities are welcome to join Cardiff’s parkrun.
More of Paul and Nadine’s work:
A glimpse of Charlote Arter’s victory day – The weather did not stop the runners:
