Field Notes | Superprestige Diegem
Diegem is the premier nighttime urban cyclocross road-race party. Located in northeast Belgium, about 10 minutes from the airport, Diegem attracts a much more carefree clientele than your average Belgian World Cup, where the racing and spectating are no laughing matter. At Diegem, the crowd is chanting, and singing, and slapping the boards in unison, it just hits differently.
Diegem is notoriously difficult to get around. With the track on the neighborhood streets and the barriers flush with the curbside, the room to navigate for thousands of spectators is no more expansive than the sidewalk.
Photographing Diegem is always a bit nerve-racking because you don’t get many opportunities. If your rider-client is tucked in behind another person or you miss them, you may not be able to deliver many images. It’s also really dark, even with the hundreds of lights the organizers rent for the event.
The elevation at Diegem is also deceptive. It’s a climby race. The sand is located at the top of the hill, and the whole race is on an incline, with terraced steps and a railway bridge separating the sand and woods from the rest of the track.
The planks are near a train station, and conductors will sound their horns as they pass by, as passengers get a free glimpse of the ongoing race.
For this year, I tried to keep things simple. One camera body and one lens to shoot the racers, and a black and white manual focus camera to try and capture some of the ambience.
As difficult as it may be to maneuver and shoot this race, the fast pace from multiple road sections and not many technical sections usually results in dynamic group racing. Getting a duel between the Dutch and Belgian national champions in the men’s race and a good battle between the Dutch and Luxembourg champs in the women’s race had the place rocking, even if on the men’s side, the result was not what the crowd wanted.
More dogs of cross picks please 😉
"Veel Beters, Lauren" I totally knew what that said before I read your caption. As such, I have of course decided that I will be applying for a job at the U.N. as a translator in the new year.