Dawlish Warren Triathlon: All photographs © Al Macphee/MiraclePR
I had been up until gone 11 following a wedding shoot. My breakfast consisted of a sandwich in the car. So spending three hours trying to get my head around the dreaded Dawlish Triathlon (aka the Dawlish Warren Triathlon) roundabout was not a thrilling prospect.
Let me try to explain…
When you get to the bottom of the hill on Dawlish Warren Road, you get to a mini roundabout. You can either go around the bend to the left or down into the Warren. Then you’ve got another roundabout. Here, you can go across and under the railway bridge or around into the car park. There’s also an exit from that car park on to that roundabout. This is all open to traffic during the Dawlish Warren Triathlon.
So you’ve got cars coming from all directions. You’ve then got the bikes. Some are coming under the railway bridge. There is a marshall there, supposedly to direct the bikes. He’s not there to deal with members of the public who need directions! So, the moment he stops and turns to speak to someone there’s a bike whizzing past him and going the wrong way. Or there’s a car coming on to the roundabout while the bikes are coming through.
Now, you also have bikes going left at the mini roundabout towards Starcross. They do three laps and then come down the hill and turn right towards the car park – usually cutting across the roundabout because they’re being timed! By this time, it’s about ten o’clock in the morning and you’ve still got bikes from later sections coming out from the car park.
For these shots, the best viewpoint is standing on the roundabouts (at camera positions A and C on the map) but you’ve then got a car coming up behind you, a car coming down from under the bridge, a bike coming down the hill that might be starting another lap or going into transition. The steward’s distracted; you’ve got cars going into and coming out of the car park. Predicting where everyone’s going to go is a bit of a challenge under these circumstances (especially when some of the cars aren’t even indicating!)
And if you think that sounds complicated, imagine being the photographer with a brief to shoot every bike!
A couple of years ago it was even worse because it was wet. The bikes coming down the steep hill were going at a hell of a rate and had to go around a wet mini roundabout. They’re tired and stressed and thinking, ‘I’m supposed to indicate but I don’t want to let go because it’s a bit scary here.’
So my thought processes now are going something like this: ‘That bike’s coming down the hill – but is he going straight on or left? Is that a car behind me? Where’s it going? The marshall’s distracted. Has he seen that car? There are some more bikes leaving the transition area…’
A woman parked parked her Land Rover on the roundabout and came out looking for help for her little boy who was having a fit. I shout, ‘Medic! Roundabout! Now!’
Drama at the Dawlish Warren Triathlon
There was once an incident where I had to shout for a medic. It wasn’t a bike that crashed. A woman was on the way to Dawlish hospital, saw the crowds and thought, ‘There’s got to be first aiders here.’ So she parked her Land Rover on the roundabout and came out looking for help for her little boy who was having a fit.
So, we’ve got cars and bikes coming from all sorts of ways and somebody comes and parks their four wheel drive right on the roundabout. I shout, ‘Medic! Roundabout! Now!’ They came sauntering up, obviously thinking it was a bike. I shout to him, ‘Child! Distress! Go!’ It was all I could do.
I have no idea how she got on but I wish her and her son all the best.
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Bride Revisited
By the way, the previous night’s wedding was for the mother of the bride whose wedding I also photographed (featured in the Green Screens and Purple Cravats post).
The daughter and her husband had brought their wedding album. It’s not often you get to see a bride and groom showing their wedding photographs that you took to the guests at a wedding you’re also working on!