HOW TO LOOK LIKE A CHAMPION IN YOUR RACE PHOTOS

You’ve spent months training like a slightly unhinged labrador. Tempo runs that made you question your life choices. Dawn starts so early the birds hadn’t even clocked in yet. Track sessions that left your legs feeling like overcooked spaghetti and now you’ve earned that medal. The last thing you need is a race photo that makes it look like you were chased through a car wash by a swarm of wasps while simultaneously being electrocuted.

Here’s how to give the SMacPix crew the kind of shot that makes people stop scrolling and whisper, “Damn… who is that absolute specimen?”

Spot us early. We’re the ones with the big cameras and branded gear, lurking like slightly more attractive course marshals who’ve had one too many coffees. The second you clock us, glance up, lock eyes for a microsecond like you’re acknowledging a fellow elite, then power past.

Whatever you do, do not stare at the tarmac like you’ve just dropped your car keys and also your dignity. That particular look is already oversubscribed. Face the camera (but only a little bit).

A gentle but casual turn toward the lens is pure cinematic gold. A full 90-degree body twist and you’ll look like someone mid-faceplant who just realised the tar is rising up to meet them. 

Form check time: stomach in, chest out, shoulders back, arms pumping like you’re trying to swim through concrete. Instant posture upgrade. You’ll go from “slightly broken office worker” to “person who could probably deadlift a small car.” Bring the flair, bring the funk!

Ditch the “death mask of pure existential suffering.” That face is already living rent-free in thousands of other runners’ albums. Instead: smile like you just remembered the post-race free pizza and beer exists, or go full main-character mode – quick heart with the hands, point at the lens like you’re accusing it of something sexy, or throw both arms skyward like you’ve just stolen Olympic gold and also the national anthem. One confident gesture and you transform from “an agonizing ordeal” into “hero of the group chat.” Keep moving, you beautiful disaster.

We’re capturing motion, not a particularly sweaty statue. Freeze mid-stride and you’ll achieve the legendary “awkward mid-wobble” masterpiece – the photographic equivalent of a hiccup. Run clean through the moment. The magic lives in the stride, the sweat flying, the pure, unhinged forward momentum.

Do all this and you’ll look fast, fierce, and like someone who definitely has their life together (even if you spent the last 5 km negotiating with your ancestors). 

We won’t judge the sweat stains… much, or the salt-crusted face, or the fact that one sock has gone missing.

Now go run pretty. The camera’s watching and it has opinions.