shooting outdoor track and field for the first time tomorrow

this is my first time at a track meet and i have no clue what to expect much less an idea of what to shoot and from where. i plan to show up early to walk around and get a feel for all the events and find out what direction people will be moving. i am told i will have fully access to shoot from anywhere as long as i dont put myself in danger or the athletes of course and within any regulations as well. i am also looking at samples posted here from other track meets.

i will be taking my 7D with 30 1.4, 50 1.8, 70-200 mkII, 1.4X extender. and my minolta + 50 1.4 for fun. and 2 batteries for the 7D although i doubt ill go through 1 full battery. and sunglasses because its probably going to be bright lol.

just looking for any advice as this is my first track meet. i will be going to another one next weekend as well but want to try and make the most of both. thanks in advance guys

oh yea. my goal is to have players faces in the shots as I am shooting for my school and most of the shots will be used for publicity and recruitment as well as complementing news articles

shoot down the straights
and if you can get on the infield do it
not many races are run in lanes
lotta action in lane 1 and 2
be careful around the wt throw be real careful
also if your shooting down the straight in the sprints and hurdles be careful
easy to get run over
another good spot can be up high if avaiable and its easy to get low on the curves with the banked turns

Looking forward to your shots.

I've was in your position a couple of weeks ago. Now I've shot two meets with another this evening, so I'm an expert I'd save yourself some weight by just taking your 70-200 and 1,4x and a monopod if you have one. For my shooting I haven't found a need for wide lenses. You can get close to the action but not really that close. I've been taking a 300 and a 70-200 to my meets.

The difficulty I've found is that there are a lot of field events going on at the same time and it is hard to be in the right place at the right time. For the running events there is only one going at a time so they are easier. Try to get a schedule of events so you can plan where to be.

I've found the long jump and the hurdles to be the most fun to shoot. For the hurdles I'd use your 70-200 + 1.4x. That way you can shoot them going over a number of hurdles from directly in front of the finish line. Also even when you are shooting running events be aware of where you are. They throw some hard and heavy stuff at a track meet and you sure don't want to get hit. Even if you are outside of the fenced areas you need to be aware.

Neat things to shoot are the starts from blocks, baton exchanges in the relay races, hurdles from front and side, faces on shotput guys, finish line drama.

Take a hat and sunscreen. It can get hot out there.

Here are my albums. Hopefully they will get you excited about the possibilities. Good luck!

http://smu.gs/FO6wBb

http://smu.gs/zrBcy3

what state I can list a schedule
I guess coaching track for 35 years does help sometime lol

its in Georgia. I have the schedule which is a rolling schedule as far as the distance running goes i think.

starts at 9am with 1000 meter

but at 9am field events start as well. im shooting only for my school so focusing on my players.

i guess i need to focus on field events at certain times so i dont miss them since all shots of people running will look the same no matter what distance they are going.

the coach highlighted what we have players competing in and other than distance running i think i am shooting long jump at 9:30am, javelin 11:00am, and shot put 3:00pm

cool

Texas is

3200m
4x100 relay
800m
100m hurdles girls
110m hurdles boys
800m
4x200m relay
400m
300 int hurdles
200m
1600m
4x400m relay

field events are random depending on the meet
SP
Discus
LJ
TJ
HJ
PV

we dont throw the spear in Texas
or the hammer

thanks for the advice guys. i posted a few of my shots in the sports sharing section. i think i did good for my first time and i think my shots will be nicer next weekend when i shoot track again