Health and safety reflections from Cracoe fell race, Sun 21 July 2024

  • Always carry a phone
  • Always carry a waterproof
  • Be able to call Mountain Rescue, and keep warm while waiting for them to arrive
  • For all runs on the fells – short or long, racing or training, good weather or bad.

A comfortably warm summer Sunday afternoon. Just a short race, 2.5 miles. There’s no definite start time for the Senior race, it’s just whenever the Juniors have finished, which will not be before 1.30pm. From 1.30 onwards we mill about in the start field, dreamily passing time. Eventually the last Junior is in at 2.10pm and we’re underway. The kit recommendation is a waterproof but I decide we won’t need anything today, we’ll be up and down in 25 minutes.

Halfway up the climb, 7-8 minutes in, a runner at the front of the field collapses. I arrive about 90 seconds after; he’s unconscious, unresponsive, unmoving, and I fear the worst. Already he has a gaggle of runners around him, but I also stop to see if I can help. I hear the words “it’s a mountain rescue job” and instinctively dash straight down the fell. There are marshals and spectators on the course; as I pass I quickly mention what’s happened and ask if there are any first aiders. One lady says yes, she is, and will walk up to the casualty. I run straight through the start field to the café by the car park and ask if there’s a defibrillator in the village. Yes, outside the pub down the road. I find the defib in a box with a keypad on it and a sign saying dial 999. I don’t have my phone on me, but I mug a passer-by and he lends me his. I ring 999 and ask for the keypad code. The assistant tells me I have to report the incident first before I can be given the code. Five minutes elapse with me outlining events, describing the location and requesting mountain rescue. Eventually, the assistant tells me the incident has already been reported then gives me the code. I grab the defib and run back up the fell with it. It has a strap like a satchel and is surprisingly heavy. 30 minutes after the incident I arrive back at the casualty with the defib. At the same moment, the Air Ambulance helicopter lands close by and 2 paramedics jump out to assist the casualty, who I’m very relieved to see has now regained consciousness, still accompanied by several people around him.

Shortly after a regular ambulance and Mountain Rescue land rover appear in the fields far below. It’s not immediately obvious how they’re going to get up here, so for a second time I dash down the fell to help guide them up. After some scouting around we find a track to a gate blocked by a herd of cows. After shoo-ing them away the land rover can get through, across the next field and to within 200 yards of the incident. In the meantime the casualty, with the AA guys and everyone else, has managed to very gingerly walk down towards the land rover. At 3.35pm, 80 minutes after the incident, he’s in the land rover and soon after transferred to the ambulance and hospital. Later in the evening he posts to say he is recovering and thanks to all.  

On the face of things, it’s been a great outcome, considering. A runner has collapsed in a race but several people – runners, spectators and marshals – provide assistance as best they can. An emergency is reported and Air Ambulance, regular ambulance and Mountain Rescue arrive. The casualty regains consciousness, is brought off the mountain to safety and begins to recover.

Nonetheless, it’s good practice in any health and safety incident to review what happened and think about if there are any lessons that can be learned for next time. It would be all too easy to say “everything turned out OK”, move on and hope it doesn’t happen again. But this is the third similar incident we’ve been aware of at NLFR in the last 7 months, so here are some hopefully useful reflections from Sunday:

  • Assess the situation

When I stopped and saw the collapsed runner I understandably wanted to do something useful asap. It may have been better though to get a fuller picture of what had happened before acting. There were several people about and I just assumed someone would report the emergency. This is a problem though if everyone makes the same assumption! Perhaps I should have specifically asked “has the call been made?” and, if not, made it, either with my own phone or someone else’s. I could then have described the casualty’s condition and location while in situ. Equally, I could have asked the ascending runners if any were experienced first aiders at that point.

  • Take a phone

But I didn’t have my phone on me, I’d left it at the start, thinking it wouldn’t be needed. Well, it could have been; again, what if everyone else had decided not to bring a phone? (Obviously, you don’t always get reception halfway up a mountain, but often you do depending on where you are).

  • Take a waterproof

Even after stopping for just a short period on a warm day, I began to lose heat rapidly. I was just in a vest and hadn’t brought a waterproof. When I got back with the defib half an hour later, the guys I’d left with the casualty were still there; you may end up being still for some time in an emergency. So take a waterproof with you, so that in the event of you can keep either the casualty or yourself warm on the fells.

  • Defibrillators

In the event of cardiac arrest a defib could save someone’s life. Coincidentally we’ve been discussing defibs amongst the NLFR committee recently, and it was what came immediately to my mind at the key moment, hence my dash down the fell. I had recently visited https://www.defibfinder.uk/ which shows the location of every public defibrillator in the UK, so I had a pretty good hunch there would be one somewhere in Cracoe. What I didn’t know though was that I would need a phone to access it and that I would have to report the incident first (or that it would be so heavy). Another reason for having your phone on you. Equally, if making the initial emergency call, it may be worth asking the assistant for the location of the nearest public defib (and code) at that point, to save duplication and further delay later.  

It turned out the defib wasn’t needed on this occasion, as by the time I got back the Air Ambulance had arrived (with their own) and the casualty had regained consciousness anyway. However I later asked the lady who had gone up to provide first aid if it had still been worth me getting the defib; in her view it was, what if the helicopter had been on another call or hadn’t been able to land, or the casualty not regained consciousness?

It’s perhaps a more moot point whether it would have been useful to have had a defib at race registration. If there had been, theoretically it could have been with the casualty in 10 minutes, not 30. I do understand RO’s concerns though about expense, maintenance and the balance of responsibility (we do sign a disclaimer before every race accepting that we run it at our own risk). For the moment, perhaps be aware of the likely location of the nearest defib at a race, whether that’s at the start line or nearby phone box/other public location. Bear in mind that defibs come with instructions on how to use them, and amongst any race field there are likely to be first aiders who have used them before.

But perhaps the key reflection is: always take a phone and waterproof, so that your first option is making an emergency call for fully-equipped assistance, and to keep you and the casualty warm while you wait for it to arrive. Kit recommendations and requirements are not just for races, and not just for poor weather, but for all runs on the fells, long or short, fair weather or foul. Kit advice is not just in case it turns a bit cold or rainy for you on your run, it’s to protect you and others in the worst-case scenario.

Thanks to:

** Yorkshire Air Ambulance: www.yorkshireairambulance.org.uk/

** Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association: www.uwfra.org.uk

** Everyone else who helped on the day

Dave Middlemas