The last week has been a very busy one for Strata Medical staff. Claire and Robin have been providing medical support along with a team from Sports Care Services for around 400 competitors and crew on a 7 day mountain bike marathon through the heart of Wales. Robin acted as the controller for the medical team during the week also running one of two off road vehicles. He was in charge of positioning medical units along the route and co-ordinating the evacuation of casualties. He also occasionally stepped in as a marshall and at one point found himself running a river crossing through a flooded river. Often operating in remote locations and in difficult conditions he put his knowledge and expertise to good use. Claire crewed with Robin for the first half of the week and then ran one of the road units which was the primary patient transport and often doubled as a treatment room when needed.
The event included several timed special stages, linking stages each day of around 60 – 80 kilometers and unexpected river crossings! This combinatin of special stage and long linking stage provided the medical team with a unique set of challenges. The very wet weather didn’t help either!! Each night saw competitors and crew campng at various venues along the route. Each day the whole site was packed up and in a feat of logistical mastery was moved to the next venue, all carefully managed by the event staff. The route took the competitors through some of the most remote terrain in mid Wales and covered approximately 300 miles and included about 15,000 meteres of climbing!
The medical team were responsible for providing medical support at the venue, on the special stages and out on the linking stages. Two 4×4 vehicles covered the off road sections and two other vehicles moved around the roads to meet competitors as they emerged muddy, tired and occasionally injured from the mountains and forests. This resulted in approximately 600 miles of traveling for each of the four medical units, alot of this in off road capacities.
During the week the team treated various injuries, managing some of them for several days in a row. They also co-ordinated the evacuation of a suspected spinal casualty by air ambulance in what can only be described as monsoon like conditions. Each morning saw the medical tent with a queue of people needing patching up to keep their various cuts as clean and mud free as possible. There were also pulled muscles, strained tendons and sprained ankles to strap up ready for the days riding. Tell any of these riders however that they should be resting or even visiting hospital for an x-ray and they would look at you as if you were mad. The best we could do was clean, patch and support as much as possible. It is a unique type of medical cover that can keep mountain bikers going for 7 days in a row. Several cans of savlon dry spray, several square metres of melolin and metres of strapping tape were used in a week that both challenged and amazed the medical team. How do you ride a timed special stage, off road, on sigle track with a possibly fractured ankle? An exhausted medical team finished the week by helping out at the scence of a motor cycle crash just near the enterance to the final venue. We are now resting, cleaning kit and prepping the vehicles for our next event.
If you would like to know more about the event please visit www.mtbtransuk.co.uk or if you would like to know more about the medical cover that we provide please cotact the Strata Medical office.