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Diary - August 2008

Wednesday 3rd August 2008 18:30hrs – Cracken edge Fell Race Cover

August is always a quiet month for us. We don’t hold any training sessions as people tend to be away on holiday, and the weather isn’t usually bad enough to cause many callouts. The main event of the month is the Cracken Edge fell race. It is a race organized by an ex-team member and the proceeds are donated to our team funds, so we are always glad to help out.

This year I was sent to marshal one of the gates on Ollerset Moor, roughly half way round. I parked up on the road to find a few people waiting in Chris’ van before setting off. A large rain cloud was making its way towards us, soaking everything in its path. So I took the offer of sheltering with the others in the van until it passed. Once it was clear I made my way up to my gate and waited for the runners.

Eventually the lead runner went through at an incredibly quick pace. In the end he would go on to break the course record. After a bit of a gap, the others started to come through. There was a long string of runners, including some familiar faces (team members, past and present). Soon I could see the leaders making their way back along the skyline, as some of the tail enders were still running past my check point. I didn’t envy the rest of their evening.

A message came across the radio to say that one of the runners had an injured ankle and was being assisted down to base. It was on the other side of the course and a couple of other team members had been sent to help out.

Finally after the sweeper had gone through, I made my way back down, met up with the others further down the track and we headed back to base.

Sunday 31st August 2008 11:42hrs – Callout

Having just finished a relaxing, sunny two week holiday in the Vendee, France. I was half way through the 700 mile drive back to reality and just having my first thoughts in two weeks about Mountain Rescue. We were just joking about the idea of leaving somewhere so warm to be going back to the possibility of sitting on top of a mountain tonight in the freezing cold rain. Suddenly my phone received its first text message in two weeks, and the joke didn’t seem so funny any more. I was a few hundred miles away to be involved in this one, so my acclimatization would have to be put on hold.

The callout was to assist an ambulance crew who had been called to a lady who had injured her wrist not too far from the road near Pym Chair in the Goyt valley. In the end they had been approached by a passing group of walkers who helped them get her back down to the ambulance, so the team was stood down on arrival.