Lessons From Filming A Fastest Known Time Attempt on the Welsh Coastal Path

filming a multi day running and endurance event

In April of 2021 I had been asked to film Red Trouser Runners run around Wales, a simple plan, run around Wales in about 22 days and filming the events as they unfolded. The film is embedded below if you would like to watch this in the background whilst you read through this autopsy of my filming learnings.

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In this article, I attempt to explain anything and everything we learned about filming on the road. This is purely about the logistical side of this venture and filming process that ensued and I will continue to update as and when new thoughts come up about what we went through.

This was my first foray in to a fastest known time attempt and filming anything more than 3+ days straight. I literally had the opportunity to film non-stop for as long as I could and this could potentially go on for over 3 weeks straight if the FKT was not hit but Craig would continue to run, to finish the distance.

This is both exciting and frightening to me, the endless opportunities and lucky shots I could manage, so much comes down to luck with longer events. And the thought of never sleeping either, a very interesting position to be in at least.

I couldn't have been more right about the lack of sleep, even with our home being central to the route over the first 8 days (just below Anglesey) and with a campervan, things got tiring, and quickly.

Spoiler alert, unfortunately after 7 days and over 280 miles around the Welsh Coastal Path, Craig (Red Trouser Runner) had an injury that was prevented him from continuing.

What did we and I learn in this mini-adventure around the North and West coast of Wales whilst filming this fastest known time attempt?

Luck helps
Running and filming helps
Knowing the location helps
Having your own crew is the biggest asset, besides cameras, you can have, thanks Rach, you are incredible
Having the right camera equipment for the job on hand
Something as simple as adding the correct time and date to all cameras to sync them to the project timeline can be a huge help, otherwise big trouble when editing!
Nutrition is of utmost importance, fuel well and you can film more
Resting after filming
Breathing when filming, i need to control that and continue to improve it
Sprinting ahead to get a shot, im running fast, but not fast enough to get ahead, turn around and get a shot of them approaching from their front.
Using different cameras throughout, based on the best for each job, but can get confusing with where specific shots are and when looking at footage from just one camera, you miss out huge sections of footage and time as they are on other cameras.
When running with the camera behind so that I am ahead of the runner, I need to position the camera better and test out the face recognition. I am getting my body in the shot, NORM0030 on the Great Orme you can see my arm and hip in shot as I run ahead to get a front POV.
Using a drone can be a lot of work for very little return, it needs to be used sparingly

These are just some of the points i'll bring up in more detail below.

Luck Will Help

Without luck, you're going to miss out on a lot of shots, and this luck can come in all forms, such as;

Having dramatic and good weather for filming
Being in the right place at the right time, you don't know when the runner your filming will fall, when they'll struggle and show this emotionally
Having support runners for those I am filming, as this will semi-dictate when I run with them

There were many points throughout the week long filming were we were both lucky and unlucky, you just got to prepare as well as you can and make your own luck when filming.

In regards to the weather, it could not have been better. It rained only through the night, a snow blizzard lasted less than an hour and I had my weather sealed Olympus camera and lens on me at that time.

The wind blew fiercly for a few days as Craig headed around Anglesey and this affected the sound considerably.

You can't compose each and every single shot unless you spent literally weeks and months going through the route before hand. This was an on-the-fly job and I had to use my experience on the Wales Coastal Path and luck to get the most breathtaking shots that would tell the story as best as they could.

Running and Filming

If I were to not run during each day of filming with Craig, I would have only half of the footage, or even less, than what I finished with. I have a mix of a pocket camera gimbal in the form of a Fimi Palm 2, a Panasonic LX100 (my advanced point and shoot camera) which I mount on a small 3-axis camera gimbal and an Olympus E-M5 Mark II.

Each camera has it's own place for running and filming, i'll probably write about these 3 cameras in a separate article as to why they are so good for running.

Camera and Filming Equipment

I had literally zero issues with the equipment, which I go in to more detail below.

I had three spare batteries for each camera, except for the Fimi Palm 2 which has an inbuilt battery, but that can last about 3-4 hours when fully charged and filming in 1080p.

My camera battery chargers can charge 2 batteries at a time and as soon as I returned to the campervan I would put the battery I just used on charge, whether I had used it for 1 or 20 minutes.

I would then have 2 batteries on me, one in the camera and one in a pocket as a backup. Similar to memory, 1 is none, 2 is 1 and 3 are 2.

Then each evening I would charge everything to start the next day full.

This approach worked really well and everything was slowly charged through 12v DC and USB battery chargers in the van.

Pocket Gimbal Camera for Running and Filming

The Fimi pocket gimbal is fantastic for faster paced running up and down hills, such as fell running, or super long segments where weight would start to become an issue.

I managed to get some great shots with this camera running around Holyhead mountain as Craig was running quite fast and this camera is more stable than the Panasonic and Feiyu gimbal combination which is prone to jolting if I don't handle it smoothly, which is almost impossible when trail running.

Panasonic LX100 and Feiyu Tech G6 Plus for Running and Filming

The Panasonic LX100 on a Feiyu Tech G6 Plus camera gimbal weighs a combined 800g and I am capable of running with that up to 20km on trails, but it becomes heavy and fast. It is much more versatile though and more for slow running up and down than the Fimi Palm 2. I can also get a myriad of shot types with this setup because the camera has optical zoom, is better in low light than the others with its micro four thirds sensor, small megapixal count and a fast and large aperture of F1.7. In comparison, the Fimi Palm 2 has a smaller sensor, no optical zoom and limited manual controls.

This held it's own on slower runs along the Welsh coastline and especially for the night shots. It works great in low light for a m43 system and you can run ahead, get shots as they approach, run in small segments whilst tryinig to keep the gimbal from jolting about and get beautiful wide shots of the environment with the runners approaching the camera.

Olympus E-M5 Mark II For Running and Filming

The Olympus E-M5 II is my run and gun camera that can almost do it all, if I had to choose just one camera to film runners, it would be this one. It's inbuilt image stabilisation is unparalleled and fitted with a do it all all in one lens like the Olympus 14-150 II there is almost nothing it can't do, as long as there is plenty of light (it has a slow aperture so not too good when you're fully zoomed in and the light is fading).

The IBIS (image stabilisation) is so good that even on the long end, you can hand hold this camera as the runner approaches or runs away and it's as though you've fitted the camera to a tripod.

You can go as far as you want with this camera, with some specific foot styles and movements which help with the smoothness and get great quality video. By placing it in a tight fitting bumbag which is made for running, it is comfortable to run with and quick to get out for a shoot.

The camera fits easily in to a small running bumbag (Lowepro Liteflite 5L) along with the Fimi Palm 2 pocket camera gimbal and combined make an unbeatable running camera setup.

Filming Whilst Running

To expand on the running and filming, I was hitting about 70km a week in the mountains in training and filming and doing photography on most runs out other than for interval training or hill sprints.

I was definitely prepared for 10-20km running days and found the runs easy, even with the gear in hand.

I think because i've always had a camera with me on the majority of my runs at home and only leave them behind for my own races that I participate in and harder training days I found it easy to "tag along" as it were with Craig as he navigated his way around the coast of Wales.

Breathing Whilst Running and Filming

I noticed that my breath was a part of quite a few of the recordings, especially when I was out running and filming with Craig.

There are a few things I can do to resolve this;

Hold my breath during the recording if I think it will be a short video of 10-20 seconds, this could also help my freedive training
Hyperventilate before I start filming for a few large breaths so that I help recover before I press the record button
Just get fitter, run and train more and include more breathing trianing in to my run training, apnea walks and interval training would help
Run ahead much earlier so that I'm in the location I want to be to compose a particular shot and I have time to slow my breathing and relax before I record the video

Learn To Better Position The Camera When Running Ahead

When running ahead, especially with a camera on a gimbal or the pocket gimbal action camera, I often found that I would record parts of my body or clothing and get these in frame.

It's very hard to see the screen when running and is one of the very few cons of the running cameras I have (other than the Olympus), so I naturally get parts of me in shot.

I have long limbs so just need to get the camera further away from myself so I can get better POV running shots from infront of the runner i'm filming.

The pocket gimbal also has face recognition, so I could practice more with this so that I can run ahead of the runner by about 6 metres and at the same pace as them and hope the face recognition does a good job of keeping them central in the video composition and shot.

Knowing the Location

One of the best things about filming in North Wales is that I started running here, I live on a section that Craig would later run through and train and race in the surrounding area.

This definitely helps and I felt comfortable because of this, I knew more often than not, when I should be running with Craig and when I shouldn't, so that I could take advantage of the beautiful sections and capture him in those landscapes and environments by being there with him.

This didn't go to plan all the time though, other support runners were with him so I tried to run with him when he had no other support and had to juggle this.

Luck also has a big part to play in this and dictates as and when I run with him or other runners that I film.

Having My Own Support Crew

I am so very lucky to have Rach by my side when filming events, she has been there for nearly all of the ultra running films I have made and in their entirety.

If you are filming an event that will last more than 24 hours, you will benefit exponentially with your own crew, they can drive for you, navigate, keep track of where the runner is, feed you, even support the runner (when allowed) who we are filming, sort and work on the camera equipment, the list goes on.

I am also very lucky that Rach is a hearing specialist and helps with producing far better audio than I can, which means I release far better films because of her.

Literally everything about the film for Craig has been made better by her presence.

Time Sync All Your Devices, Including Your Camera Equipment

I was unfortunate to forget to set the time and date correctly on two of my cameras, which means that when i'm going through all the footage, they can be sorted by their names, but not by the time they were recorded.

Which means when I came to editing, it was almost impossible to go through and keep track of the footage in the timeline of when they happened.

Eat Well and Look After Your Nutrition

As soon as you take part in an event that lasts 24 hours or more, your body is going to start to deteriorate and you need to do absolutely everything you can do help it get through it.

Eating well is one of those important parts of looking after yourself.

Resting After Filming

Just like the athlete and runner that you were filming, you yourself will be tired and fatigued. After filming Craig I was exhausted for a good couple of days post filming.

I thought a couple of nights of good sleep would help me recover, how wrong was I.

Due to the 3-5 hours of broken sleep per night through the week of filming, I was left fatigued, aching and sore. I generally do not do well on little sleep and am a 9 hour a night sleeper. If I get that, I can fly all day-every day.

After a few days, I got back in to my routine of weekly running and thought nothing of getting back in to my 70km a week agenda. Within 3 days of running I had pulled my hamstring and it has taken a long time to repair and get back to feeling good.

I am still not back to my big weekly mileage and elevation in the mountains, but i'll get there.

Camera Drones for Running Films

Throughout the film, you will only notice a handful of shots are from a camera drone, they are beautiful, i'm grateful for their perspective and story telling capabilities, especially when you want to show someone in a landscape and environment, which is my number one aim throughout making ultra running films.

But they take a lot of setup, multiple things need to be right for them to work;

Camera batteries are charged and warm, sometimes they wouldn't fly because the batteries were cold, even though they were fully charged
Smartphone needs to be charged
Remote control needs to be charged
It can't be too windy, even though my camera drone can fly in high winds, you don't want to spend time running after it
In such large environments, it's very hard to compose the shots with the runners in them in an area that you are unfamiliar with
They take 2-3 minutes to get everything setup if you are fast and another 2-3 minutes to pack away, again, if you're fast

I will continue to use a camera drone for making running films, especially ultra running, trail running and fell running, which are mostly set in beautiful environments that you just want to show off from the sky.

But I will continue to stick to my one flight a day, of which I had pre-planned and take advantage of a beautiful spot that is quiet and easier for setting up, flying, getting the footage and packing away.

For each and every shot I took with the camera drone for this film I had though about the route and sections Craig would be running on each day and work out where was best to get it up in the sky and hopefully there were support runners with him which would make it easier to film and spot from the sky and that I could concentrate on flying for that hour or so as he was running past.

Something I need to test is to fly the drone closer to the runners so that I know where they are in relation to the environment, it's hard seeing their location and where they are running to on a small phone screen from way up high.