Thanks Zec for the great effort to share with us your harvest. I thoroughly enjoyed going thru' these pictures in the first morning of the New Year 2013.
Just for discussion, a higher shutter speed would make the background slightly darker and at the same time, you get less camera shake and sharper pic. As things are moving fast in this kind of shoot, you just compose and fire fast. Personally, I would go for at least 1/125s or even higher shutter-speed. Well, it is a matter of personal preference.