One of the competitors in this year's Strathpuffer 24 hour mountain bike race event, by Strathpeffer. This fella, and his team mates, paused where I was shooting to have some photos taken by their own photographer...who'd cycled around the track just to do that! And not someone with a little point and shoot camera. This was hulking pro photographer equipment in his cycle backpack.

The event is totally mad, as a 24 hour event about here at this time of year, has 17 hours of darkness! They were very fortunate with the weather this year, as it was mild. The previous three years (and no doubt more) have been mainly sub-zero temperatures throughout the event, with plenty snow and ice to contend with too. You can do it as an individual, or a team. If that wasn't enough, some folk do it on single speed bikes.

There are a mass of other photos, all taken this morning, here. Initial ones were at first light, so their quality's a bit questionable. As this was during the last few hours of the event, many of the competitors are looking "a wee bit tired," but most managed to raise a smile when given some encouragement. I suspect it was more from relief that they were almost finished!