My Road Race

It being Good Friday, there was a St John Ambulance divisional duty to cover, a 10k road race. I was aware there was a race but was initially told it was a cock up and it was relating to a duty next month. It was not which is why it was last night at 10:30 pm I said yes to doing the duty with one of the new cadet members (who happens to be a mate as well- I was on my first placement when he was there for 2 weeks works experience).

Personally, it would have been nice if it was a better day for the race as it was bloody freezing cold. The sun was out when we made our way to the start of the race. When we arrived, we quickly found there was only 1 PRF (Patient Report Form- a document used by ambulance services for recording the details of casualties) and one ice pack between our two first aid kits. Thankfully, my other mate in St John (Divisional officer) had phoned up, but we both missed the call. I phoned him back and found he was phoning in to see how things were. I told him of the situation re: PRF and the ice pack. Thankfully, he was at the division building about to take a St John Ambulance down to Harrogate where there is a contract between St John and the hospital. He brought the ambulance down and I took some Ice Packs and Crepe bandages as well as yellow clinical waste bags as some PRF's. Having already spoken to the signing in Steward, we were told that another official would speak with us before the start of the race. In due course we were approached by an official from UK Athletics. The steward asked me to find him after the event to fill in a first aid report for the UK athetics new policy.

With everything ready to roll, the runners set off and we followed to the half way point and stood around freezing while not a lot happened that needed our input (this was good). After moving again to the finish line and freezing while waiting for the final runners to arrive, we headed up to the start point, signed off all the forms without too much hassle. Though I did get a free coffee out of the day.