Once again I had the privilege to go back and shoot the Tour of Friendship amateur road cycling race in Thailand. I have now ridden the race once and shot it three times and each year I return it just gets better and better. Khun Kai (Titaree Tanakorn) and her army of helpers are doing a great job and this would be one of the best value for money races I’ve been too, providing you can get yourself to Thailand.
It was a mixed bag in terms of teams this year and I didn’t really know who were the favourites. The Specialized Mavericks brought along a big team which was spread out over the different categories and they looked strong in Cat 1. Direct Asia had a solid lineup but I only knew of two riders who were potential podium finishers, however they had a experienced group of domestiques to help them. The other team of note were Champion Systems. In the womens category Eri Yonamine proved she was a force to be reckoned with when she produced a time in the individual time trial that many of the men would have been pleased to have. I think she used the tour as a training camp as she rode the remainder of the race in the Open Mens cat and from what I saw she held her own.
For me, this year was hard work as I flew more or less straight to Thailand from the UK. This put me on the back foot as I suffered from terrible jetlag during the first few days. Once I got over that I started to enjoy it a lot more. Being back on the back of the motorbike was also lots of fun and my driver (I called him ‘Valentino’) was just awesome. I swear we had both our knees down on stage 3. Here are a few favorites from Stage 1. If you would like to purchase any images you can view them all on my website at www.craigsheppard.co.nz
The starting straight.
A few shots of the Cat 1 boys starting their race.
Uncle Pete (Direct Asia) mixing it with the Cat 1 boys. Great effort Pete!
John Bateman (Anza) starts his run!
Richard Paine (Specialized Mavericks) brings the bling with his gold chain on his Specialized SL4.
Tina Haugbro finishes a fast and furious lap of the course. And some wheel trouble for one of the ladies.
Eri Yonamine (Forza) powers up the hill to the finish while Sarah Clark (Specialized Mavericks) crosses the line.
by shep
titaree tanakorn - Good job,very beautiful.