At 19.15km long, the Anadiou Special Stage was the second longest of the rally, comprising a mix of 40% tarmac and 60% gravel.
The special stage starts out from the village of Anadiou, passing through Kritou Marottou and Fyti to return to Anadiou, before heading northwest towards the deserted village of Sarama to then follow a fast tarmac section through Kios to end near Filousa.
This isn’t a special stage I’ve seen before, so the previous weekend my lad Will and I did a thorough recce. The stage passed through a tempting mine near Sarama that had lots of potential, but on balance, the deserted village of Sarama won.
There was an added bonus. The stage looped around Sarama, so there were two options. Shoot the cars as they approached the village, and then get up into the village itself for a different perspective.
When shooting a rally it’s easy to get rooted to the spot with cars passing every two minutes. It’s enough time to think about getting a different position, but not enough time to move any significant distance.
Everything worked out brilliantly. From a video perspective, you could see the cars from a mile away dropping down the winding road from Anadiou. Then from a stills perspective, there was a nice shot with three olive trees (three is always good!) followed by a going away glint shot. Then up in the village, there was a host of options.
Check out the pictures at IRC Cyprus Rally 2011 – SS8 Anadiou or watch the video below.
