2017 Mark Gunter Photographer of the Year Awards – the best of week 5
After five amazing weeks, entries to the 2017 Mark Gunter Photographer of the Year Awards closed today. We’ve been left awestruck by the response – over 1,200 incredible images were submitted, from photographers in 33 countries, and over $10,000 raised for some very worthy causes.
It’s now over to our panel of judges – cycling photography legends Graham Watson, Marcus Enno (aka Beardy McBeard), and Jim Fryer & Iri Greco of BrakeThrough Media – who’ll have the difficult task of narrowing those entries down to a shortlist of 10 images for each category. Keep an eye open for their personal shortlists, which we’ll publish through next week, in the lead up to the grand announcement of the competition winners in a week’s time.
Our sincere thanks go to our generous sponsors – Trek Travel, Specialized, Olympus, Shimano, Silca and Stages – whose prizes will soon be distributed to some very talented recipients.
All entry fees went to support Tour de Cure, Australian Cancer Research Foundation and Young Cyclist Development. Although we’ve now closed entries to the competition, if you’ve enjoyed the weekly posts and would like to make a tax-deductible donation to cancer research as part of the awards, you are warmly encouraged to do so.
With a spike in entries in the last week, our ‘best of’ today is a long one – but somehow we don’t think you’ll mind. Onto the pictures!
Professional category
- Wouter Roosenboom – Worldchampion Time Trial 2016 Tony Martin exhausted after his time trial in Marseille. Stage 20 in the Tour de France 2017
- Tim Bardsley-Smith – Jaw, meet Floor… it was hard not to get blown away every single day in Tibet.
- Michal Cerveny – Full Gas. An triathlete during World Triathlon Series race on Yas Marina Formula 1 Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
- Kristof Ramon – The surreal sight of Jan Bakelants’ bike dangling 3 to 4 meters up in a tree after he was propelled over a barrier into a ravine while descending from the Muro di Sormano at Il Lombardia 2017. sidenote: I never released the actual crash-pics (I also shot) as I found this image way more powerful (and respectful; without having to show the gore of this horrific crash as Bakelants condition was extremely serious at the time)
- Joris Knapen – Dusty Mitch!
- Gareth – 3 fans and a track stand
- Francesco Rachello – Ash Duban racing the Red Hook Crit Barcelona no. 5 women’s race that she will eventually win
- Daniel Ferreira – Winding Road January 2017, Estrada dos Romeiros, Pirapora do Bom Jesus – SP – BRAZIL
- Daghan Perker – Racers climb through a cloud of dust at KMC Crossfest.
- Christopher Lanaway – Peter Sagan demonstrated his exceptional talent taking the racing to the line with a photo finish alongside Alexander Kristof, having nervously awaited confirmation Sagan celebrates his 100th victory & third consecutive World Road Race Champion title.
- Catherine Fegan-Kim – It’s always an exciting challenge for me to shoot epic gravel races, such as the Crusher in the Tushar, which cover such beautiful terrain. I started out the day with a plan to photograph riders in each of the scenic areas. I was able to capture these riders in this wooded section. Looking through my images after the race I was happy to see that this photo also caught the mood through this section.
- Bryn Lennon – Into the unknown
- Balint Hamvas – Mechanics and party-goers exchange kind glances on the night of the last cyclocross race of the season in Diegem.
- Atsushi Tanno – Three ninjas.
- Alex Whitehead – Alexis Gougeard of France in action on Mount Floyen during the Elite Men’s Individual Time Trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Bergen, Norway.
Enthusiast category
- Mark Ross – Dulwich Hill Christmas Carnival – Perfecting the Slingshot. Perfecting the Pain face.
- Jordan Benjamin-Sutton – Chris Froome is guided into Paris by his Team Sky teammates
- Sarah Elizabeth Mosquera – Evan Wedsworth discovers how big of a shadow he casts.
- Petros Gkotsis – Demarrage mayhem in the wet- Stage 2 Tour of Rhodes:Greece
- Alain Rumpf – The Col du Sanetsch, the most beautiful Alpine climb you have never heard of
- Adriano – In search of up on the old Grimsel pass road in the Haslital. A place attracting both climbers with and without wheels.
- Romain Moracchini-Villard – Sunset ride at the magic turn
- Toshiki Sato – Teamwork beyond the final lap.
- Deborah Malin – Dawn on the Tourmalet.
- Lian van Leeuwen : Saltlake_Lian – Not much compares to the mayhem and speed of Red Hook Crit Milano. Fly-by during the men’s final 2017.
- Jason Spencer – Peter Sagan in the crowd at Paris-Roubaix
- Andrew Laity – The Empty Quarter Taking the road through the sand dunes in the most remote part of the UAE
- David Le – Tobin Ortenblad races to a win at CXLA.
- Jay Golian – Riding in Scotland serves up some big scenery, and it’s hard not to stop and be a tourist sometimes
- Alex Duffill – Stephen Hyde descending during round two of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Waterloo, Wisconsin.
- Ian Richards – Cool Down
- David Gillam – That rare climb where you never want to reach the top.
- Brandon – Moment of Silence as Kristof Allegaert lays a wreath on the steps of Sydney Opera House for Mike Hall.
- Angelica Dixon – Racing the clock
- Gavin Gould – Sophie deBoer of the Netherlands collapses on the ground shortly after the finish line at the first UCI Telenet World Cup Cyclocross event of the season. A very hot day, above 90F/32C. JingleCross World Cup, Iowa City, Iowa, USA. September 17th, 2017
- Laura Drosse – There are roads beyond Tarmac
- Jiri Parizek – This is my brother going up to Grossglockner glacier from side of Heiligenblut village in Austrian alps. We were pretty lucky with weather! Blue bird all day long!
- Glenn Davidson – Richie Porte charges towards the finish line as the winner of the 2017 Tour Down Under
- Yee Feng – Love + Racing amongst the cherry blossoms at the Thursday Night World Championships at Seward Park
- Simon ‘Ebbe’ Hedman – The magic of a flat tire
- Adrian Hoe – Long road ahead
- Simon Scholz – Rays of sunlight through the thick canopy on an early morning ride out of Girona.
- Quique Bueno – Speed, colours, light, the equilibrium at the legendary Vigorelli velodrome.
- Sarah Meyssonnier – L’Etape Colombia 2017
- Jennifer Doohan – TransAtlantic Way Race. Ireland. NIKON D300 09:06:2017 – 17-23 LENS 24.0-70.0 mm f:2.8 FOCAL LENGTH 29MM 1:200 sec; f:10; ISO 400 Manual; Spot metering
- Johan Haag – Bring a gravel bike and you’ll have a blast even in Dystopia.
- Brice Hansen – PBR Relief – Brady Kappius (Team Clif Bar) begins his circus act with a PBR in his teeth at the US Open of Cyclocross in Boulder, CO.
Smartphone/Action Cam category
- Ian Galistan – Tunnels of Galleria Rosazza, Italy
- Anne Fedorowytsch – I spy Peter Sagan from the shadows of Paracombe Rd.
- Michael Wichuk – Flandrien litter. Tour of Flanders 2017
- Geovany Sosa – I kept shooting from this spot, loved the way the barrier tape danced around with the wind.
- Jonney Yeates – An Austral for the ages – The frustration is palpable as Nick Yallouris falls for a second time in the re-run of the Austral Wheelrace.
- This image comes from Sean de Luna and was submitted as part of the 2020 Mark Gunter Photographer of the Year Awards.
- Darin Lien – The solitude and hard scrabble of Jack Rabbit Trail in Southern California.
- Spencer Brown – Cross in the Wasatch- Snow on the peaks, changing leaves, and that interminable run up at high altitude
- Jeff Provan – Mt Fuji Base Camp
- Merijn Heijne – Sometimes you simply know in advance that your cycling plans are just plain stupid. At the same time, though, you also realise that they will give you great stories afterwards. This was one of those days. Freezing temperatures, rain, hail and the fierce Dutch headwind for most of our trip. On this small ferry and with still 75km to go we were pretty sure that we would never get warm again. However, it turned out to be one of our best days of cycling in 2017.
- Leon Gower – Wet commute through London!
- Sean Fine – The larger my tires the faster I roll
- Arie Wetsteyn – It just happened
- AJ Moran – The newly sealed Elsmore road in the Southern Highlands gave us a new ride and a new climb. Approaching the climb early one Autumn morning we all noticed the approaching vista, simply stunning and too good an opportunity not to stop and shoot this amazing sunrise as the valley was shrouded in mist. Early morning rides have a knack of producing the most breathtaking scenery and one never regrets making the effort once you experience a scene like this.
- Mark Higgins – Climbing out of the Barossa Valley on the last leg of the Mawson Trail before Adelaide
- Matt Fee – When the wind isn’t smashing you and the lack of hills aren’t getting you down, The Netherlands can be a pretty special place to ride a bike.
What’s caught your eye this week? Give the photographer a shout-out in the comments below. You can also check out our best of week 1, week 2, week 3 and week 4 highlight posts from throughout the competition.