Port Talbot Camera Club

PTCC MEMBERS TAKE ON
CELTIC CHALLENGE

Port Talbot Camera Club member Stewart Reid, who is also a member of the Aberafan Lifeguards, arranged for us, as a club to photograph the 2011 Celtic Challenge writes Gareth Martin. The competition involving Wales, France, Ireland, Scotland and Cornwall was organised by Martin John, an old school friend of your chairman. I arrived on Aberafan Beach at 9.45 am while PTCC members Susan Plant, Darren, Gary and Celebrity Dave, who had arrived earlier, were being briefed inside the lifeguard station. Steve Hart arrived, in time for the Kayak events. First off were the runners, which were excellent to photograph especially if you were standing behind the finish line or looking out to sea so as not to get the spectators in shot. Second were the relay races, followed by a long race for a mile or so along the beach and back again.

Next up was the flag race – a short but energetic knock-out event which
starts with12 competitors racing to grab just 11 rubber batons and ends with one baton and two finalists. The French won the male and female races in this event. The day was non-stop until around about 1 pm, when we had a break. After the break it started lashing down, so some of us headed for cover.

It's my pipe... Photograph by Darren Boxer.

Darren, dressed in his wet suit flirted with the lifeguards, who agreed to give him a ride on their lifeboat so as he could get some alternative shots. The lifeguards made sure he had a life jacket and off he went. The best images were captured as the Kayak race competitors rowed out and over the waves.

The scene of the accident. Photograph by Gary Collyer.

There was plenty of action to be had throughout the day, we all got thoroughly wet, celebrity Dave - who was after all one of the first life guards on Aberafan Beach - showed off his lean body and Darren bruised his foot crashing over a particularly vicious wave. The things you do for the love of photography!