Saturday morning and the bunkhouse kitchen and lounge were remarkably tidy considering the state of many of the previous nights revellers! Loads of empties stacked up by the recycling bin, several part empty vodka and JD bottles and that was about it! They were programmed for laser clay pigeon shooting later in the day, must ask them what the clay hit rate was!!
The med team was up and rarein' to go (sort of). Off to the Co-op to pick up a couple of bags of ice, unfortunately no gin etc, but it would do to make ice packs for soft tissue injuries. On site at the race base at 0745, rig the easy-up med base tent and sort out the gear for base and two med rescue points on the race trail, then time to issue radios, collect pack lunches, grab a bacon roll and a coffee and see the troops off for their day on the hill. The kit was taken out by ambulance which provided the opportunity to sus out the access points if a rider was sufficiently damaged and required to be evacuated from the trail. The mid trail crew had the shelter of a car to hide from the showers in and skulked like coiled springs waiting for action! No such luxury for the team near the top of the trail, for them it was waterproofs and lurk under trees waiting for riders to break themselves! Unfortunately the base team had to tolerate the loudspeakers blasting a commentary and occasionally some particularly odious rap c**p music?? (it can't just be an age thing!!), the plus points at base were an easy-up to hide in, the close proximity of the bacon roll and coffee bar and porta-loos. We suffer in the service of Rescue Medics!!!
Saturday was registration and practice day, riders could take their time, check out sections of the trail and work out the best line to take on the technical bits. For the medics it was fairly uneventful, a shoulder rotator cuff injury, a possible scaphoid fracture and an assortment of bumps and scrapes to clean up and dress. Hopefully Sunday would be even less eventful. As part of an event medic team it's one job where you hope not to have to do anything!!
1730 last rider off and trail closed, radios all in for charging up, and then it's off to the Co-op for some food and a bottle or three of red. On return to the bunkhouse all was quiet, we discovered the stag party were having a night visiting the bright lights of Peebles!! At least it gave us a quiet evening to savour the Co-op's finest 'special offer' red stuff.
An early riser, I was sat in the kitchen having a quiet morning brew when one of the revellers staggered in "My God" he says, "You're up late!", "No mate" I says, "I'm up early, I think you're up late!", "Oh bugger" he said as he staggered off bed ward!!
Day two and the weather appears to be a bit drier, radios issued, lunches, equipment and teams delivered to their respective spots on the hill and wait for off. Two more hours of practice for those that wanted and then the timed runs starting at 1100.
At base there were one or two walking wounded in for re-dressing or having wrists strapped to provide support for riding and then it was coffee and run through some of the diagnostic tools again for practice, more coffee and wait for the inevitable radio call "Rider down medic required". The hill troops did a stirling job when ever these calls came through, quickly on scene and evaluating the situation and casualty's condition. Thankfully the majority, apart from being knocked about a bit had only minor injuries, abrasions and the like, only two had to be picked up by ambulance, one with an ankle sprain and one with a fractured clavicle! (these things happen if you're going to throw yourself at a great rate of knots down a rocky hill on a bike).
With the race done and dusted we were free to pack everything back into the ambulance for out trek back through Edinburgh and up the A9. 2300 saw us back to Roy Bridge, park up the ambulance and bed. Another early start as my accommodation provider had to be in Glasgow around 0930 so a drop off in Fort William and a 30 minute wait for the 0715 bus back to Inverness and a second breakfast.
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