CONTRIBUTE

We love trail. You love trail. Let’s talk.

You do need to be able to compose more than a trail or race diary. We’re looking for journalism here. Story telling. Keep that in mind, so when you contact us to pitch, you have an angle in mind. You know you can get eye boggling imagery. You have ideas about some extra break out boxes. You know what they are. You may even have some video or an audio interview to throw in.

We’re looking for features, interviews, profiles, columns, opinion, list features (top tens etc), controversy, debate, humour, human interest, technical advice, the inside line…yes we want it all and we want it now.

Contributor guidelines coming soon – they may help some.

Meanwhile, some sections we always need content for and instructions on how to contribute:

TRAIL GUIDES
These are short guides to running trails located within an hour of a major city or town centre. We’re not looking for King Kong killers here, rather 5km-30km runs that offer up some great training, some points of interest, or even a little Zen time. We do have a set format for these guides. Below are links to a briefing on the guides and how they should be compiled, a pro forma for you to fill in the blanks and a completed example for reference. Thanks for contributing!

TRAIL RUN GUIDE INSTRUCTIONS
TRAIL RUN GUIDE PRO FORMA
TRAIL RUN GUIDE_EXAMPLE

THE SWEEP
This is a final page image that celebrates the true heroes of trail running events: the guys and gals that push through a million walls, a bunch of doubts, a waterfall of pain and a collective noun of swearing to finish the race…last. But look at it this way – they’ve been out on the course for longer than anyone else, gritting through the hours while you were already toweled up and sucking back a strong latte. This page is for the photographers out there, because we’re looking for something special. We want an image that really reaches into the eyes of the last over the line and conveys the suffering and the elation of pushing through. We want to see the sweat, the scratches, the glazed eyes, the tears, we want to see the swearwords in their expression. So, make it a portrait. Make sure it’s is just after they have crossed the line – you may see the finish arch, or they may be slumped next to a tree. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A LOW fSTOP – aperture at f4 or below. This is to ensure the background is completely out of focus, and the focus is on the eyes of the runner. Shot should be full length body, leaving at least a little room to one side for a caption.

Here is a briefing note and the few details we still need you to get from them:
THE SWEEP INSTRUCTIONS

And here is an example (although not a trail) of approaching what we’re looking for: