Tabor Challenge 5k at Mt. Tabor Park | Portland Event Photographer
There's a particular kind of energy at a community 5k that I don't think you can manufacture. Some events are slick and corporate, some are casual to the point of disorganization, but the Tabor Challenge sits in this gorgeous middle space where the whole thing feels like a neighborhood party that just happens to involve running. I had the honor of photographing this year's race winding through Mt. Tabor Park, and I left with the distinct feeling that I'd just spent the morning with the best version of Portland.
For anyone unfamiliar, the Tabor Challenge is a 5k that supports the LTJG Thomas J. Cameron Scholarship and the Memorial Field House at Cleveland High School. Thomas Cameron was a Cleveland High alum, a three-sport athlete, a Coast Guard Academy soccer captain, and a helicopter pilot who lost his life during a training mission in 2012. The race was created in his memory by people who loved him, and over the years it has funded scholarships for graduating Cleveland seniors who embody the same qualities Thomas was known for — leadership, integrity, hard work, and the kind of kindness that lifts others up. So while the morning has all the joyful chaos of a community fun run, there's also this quiet undercurrent of purpose holding it together. You feel it the moment you arrive.
The route through Mt. Tabor is honestly hard to beat. Towering Doug firs, winding park roads, that particular soft Pacific Northwest light that filters through the canopy, and makes everything look like a movie. I started my morning at the start line, where the crowd was a beautiful mess of every kind of runner you can imagine. Serious athletes in racing kits are stretching beside parents pushing jogging strollers. Kids in costume. Dogs in costume. People in '80s neon getups, complete with leg warmers and tutus. A guy without a shirt next to a woman in a CGA sweatshirt, next to a couple in matching pastel hats. This is what I love about events like this. There's no single type of person who belongs. Everyone belongs.
A particular highlight of the Tabor Challenge is the title sponsor: Secret Aardvark, the iconic Portland hot sauce brand whose habanero sauce has been featured on Hot Ones, shouted out by Jimmy Fallon, and turned into a national obsession after launching at Taco Bell. They show up to this race the way they show up to everything — fully, generously, and with a sense of humor. The blue Aardvark mascot was out in full force at the start line, bear-arms-up under the inflatable Tabor Challenge arch, hyping up runners and getting kids absolutely losing their minds with delight. There's something so right about a hot sauce brand sponsoring a community 5k. It's irreverent, it's local, it's exactly the kind of "from Portland with love" energy the Aardvark folks have built their whole identity around. They're a brand that's been quietly supporting Portland causes for years through music, arts, food, and active lifestyle events, and the Tabor Challenge is a perfect fit for that ethos.
When the race kicked off, the energy shifted in this beautiful way. The pack thinned out into the trees, and what had been a noisy crowd became a long ribbon of bobbing heads and bright shirts moving through the green. I love photographing runners on the course because you see who they are when no one's watching. The pure focus on someone's face mid-stride. The little gesture of a kid running alongside a parent, holding their hand. The dog is losing his absolute mind because he gets to run too. I caught one shot of a soaked, scrappy little pup mid-trot beside his runner that I keep coming back to — pure joy on four legs.
The finish line was where the morning really opened up. Runners crossing under the "YOU DID IT!" arch with arms thrown open, watches being checked, faces caught between exhaustion and triumph. One guy threw his arms wide like he was crossing the line at the Olympics, and honestly, who's to say he wasn't? Another took the moment to glance down at his split. A woman lifted her kid up high with one arm and raised a victorious fist with the other, and I caught it right in the middle of a laugh. Kids ran around in their bright green Tabor Challenge tees collecting freebies and hyping themselves up at the post-race tents, and parents stood around catching their breath and reuniting with friends. The whole scene had that warm, slightly out-of-breath glow of a community that just did something together.
What I love about commercial work like this is that it's storytelling, not just coverage. My job isn't to document every single runner crossing the finish line (though I get plenty of those for the race organizers) — it's to capture the feeling of the morning. The small, real moments that tell you what it was like to be there. The mascot is doing his goofy bear dance. The kid in the stroller mid-shriek of joy. The runner who finished hard and laughed harder. These are the images that brands and events use to remind people why they showed up, and why they should show up next year too.
If you're an event organizer, brand, or nonprofit looking for someone to capture the heart of your gathering — not just the polished marketing shots, but the real, vibrant, feeling-soaked photos that actually make people want to be there next time — I'd love to talk. Whether it's a 5k, a brand activation, a community festival, or something I haven't even thought of yet, my goal is always the same: to give you images that feel like the day actually felt.
Huge thanks to the Tabor Challenge team for the warm welcome and the chance to be part of something so meaningful, and to Secret Aardvark for being exactly the kind of sponsor every community event should be lucky to have. To everyone who ran, walked, strollered, or cheered: you really did do it.
Head over to the contact page if you'd like to chat about your next event — let's make something good together.
xo, Leah
