Ironman 70.3 World Championship | Lake Las Vegas | September 8, 2013 | 7:43 a.m.

I’ve never covered an Ironman triathlon before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But since the race would start at 6:30 a.m., I anticipated some beautiful morning light. Instead, it rained continuously all morning.

I shot this photo from the bridge above Lake Las Vegas, where competitors began their 70.3-mile journey. My cameras were so wet I couldn’t see if the swimmers were in focus, so I just pointed in the right direction, shot a lot and hoped the autofocus was still working. The different colors of the swim caps correspond to different competitor divisions.

After the 1.2-mile swim came a 56-mile bicycle road course and a 13.1-mile run. When the finish-line tape snapped, Sebastian Kienle of Germany had defended his title with a time of 3:54:02.