This weekend just gone we were at Crawley 24hr race, not running but as event first aiders.
Another service Challenge Running provides, me and Maxine are both experienced first aiders and Challenge Running also provide first-aid courses as well. So if you have an event that needs experienced first aiders then give us a shout. The advantages of using us over St John’s or similar is that we are keen to get involved and will watch and monitor the runners. We won’t just sit in a car off to the side. We will be there for advice and monitoring and be pro active, if we see someone struggling or being unwell we will ask if they need assistance. Often people don’t like to make a fuss. We will also do minor stuff like patch feet and sort blisters and tape up injuries etc. We will talk to the runners and checkpoint staff and be very approachable during the event. We are also very competitive in our pricing. But anyhow enough of the plug for our first aid services.
Pam Storey the main organiser of the Crawley track race asked us ages ago to help out and we said we would. I have never run a track race of any distance and not even been to one. As it turned out it would be more interesting to watch than I thought for many reasons. Still not sure I want to run around a track for hundreds of laps. Only turning around and changing direction every four hours!
These race seem to have a much more specialised and smaller field that other races but also seem to be a dying discipline compared to road and trail racing though I think they have some great selling points. It’s a very safe environment for runners to cover large distances. It’s the best surface and logistics to get a maximum distance or faster time. Perfectly flat and fast spongy track, your own tabke/tent with supplies around the track every lap should you need it and a great support team if you have one. You also don’t need to focus on anything but the running, no navigation or terrain to negotiate and even at night it’s floodlit so no headtorch or slowing down.
My best 100k time was done on a very short loop repeated very many times a few years ago and that’s why I picked it.
There were the 3 distances(times) for races. The 6 and 24 hours would start at 12pm and then the 12hr would start at 8pm.
It was great to see all the legends that I had heard of in regards to track runners. I was especially honoured to meet and chat with William Sichel and a couple of others. Runners of all shapes and sizes and personalities.
Without much fuss we set up the first aid area with a large gazebo and table and chairs and even a mattress for the weary of maybe some attention that needs someone lying down. Also we could sleep in turns each night so we could monitor the runners at trackside.
As a coach it was interesting to watch different styles and ways of pacing and running. It was funny with some ne adopting a seemingly kamikaze flat out style but to then crash and regroup and then flat out again. Seems to work for some. Others like William Sichel who just run evenly as possible and consistently move up the board even they start at the bottom.
First aid wise we did not have much to deal with which is just the way we like it. A few sprains and strains and pulled muscles and niggles. A few could be massaged out and stretched out and loosened up. Some more serious had to call it a day and this caused a few tears but was unavoidable.
A regular visit from Andy Jordan the eventual overall winner on the 24hr event with some very severe and amusing cramping with him violently cramping and shouting which made him look like a epileptic with torreuttes
We do carry a comprehensive set of kit in our bag including a defibrillator though we hopefully never have to use it.
I am not going to go through all the results and races as they are well posted on the event website and fb page. https://m.facebook.com/British ultrafast
It was a thoroughly interesting weekend and we really enjoyed the experience and hopefully helped some runners out.
We made many new friends and I even got interviewed for a cool new podcast by beyond the ultimate and look forward to hearing my bollocks talking soon. Will and Cassandra were cool to spend time with.
Big thanks to Pam and her team for booking us to come along and be part of the race. Hopefully we can help out next year.
