The association has received as a donation the cycling archive of press and sports photographer Māris Millers (322 photographs and 1,641 photo negatives). This remarkable gift was handed over to us by Dace Millere (former Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper “Sports” and Māris’s wife) and Māris’s daughter Laura Brencāne.
Māris Millers (06.01.1959 – 22.08.2020), being one of Latvia’s leading canoe sprinters (USSR Master of Sport), also developed a passion for photography, which later became his profession. At the beginning of 1982 he worked as a freelance photographer, and from 1990 as a full-time staff photographer, documenting various events for the newspaper “Sports”. After Latvia regained independence, Māris became a co-owner and director of the newspaper.
Māris’s life was a constant race — both his leadership role and the responsibilities it carried, as well as his work as a photographer, demanded a great deal of time, yet his family was never forgotten. He was present at almost every major sporting event in Latvia, after which he would head to the Press House photo laboratories to develop images that readers could see in the newspaper already the next day.
The photographs are dated from 1980 to 2002. They capture events such as the Unity Rides, BMX competitions, Riga cycling marathons, junior championships, road and cyclo-cross races in Latvia and abroad, as well as many other cycling-related events.
The photographs feature athletes such as Romāns Vainšteins, Jānis Valdmanis, Dainis Liepiņš, Māris Kalveršs, Arvis Piziks, Jānis Kleinbergs, Ainars Ķiksis, Viesturs Bērziņš, Ernests Pūce, Dzintars Ūdriņš, Andris Reiss and Jānis Ozols.
In this article we have published 41 photographs, and in the near future we will certainly publish more images taken by Māris Millers.
📸 Photo Gallery
Please note: copying, reproducing or using the published photographs in any form without written permission from the Cycling Sports Association “Latvello” is prohibited.
Comments, memories and viewer discussions about these photographs can be viewed on the association’s official Facebook page under the respective post.
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