ZS1PSG Peter, ZS1ZV Fred, ZS1XZ Erich, ZR1AAH Allen & ZS1PVS Paul assisted with race communications at the Jonkershoek Mountain Challenge trail running race on Sunday 21 August, near Stellenbosch. This was the first running of a gruelling 30km course up, down and around the surrounding mountains.
Here is Paul's report on how events unfolded and the subsequent rescue operation............
" The communications team gathered at 5.30am and made some quick changes to the deployment plan due to the unavailability of one foot mobile operator. Peter erected a field mast and operated base communications at the start/finish area. Fred was assigned to a mobile communications post in Langrivierkloof (R3) at about 700m above sea level. Allen, Erich and Paul left Fred's position at 6.15am and hiked for about 5km around to Bergriviernek (CP2) at about 1100m above sea level. At this time it was about 12C and raining.
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| On a fair weather day looking down on Bergriviernek near to where CP 2 was located ! |
Allen stayed to operate the checkpoint at Bergriviernek and Paul and Erich continued around towards the top of Kurktrekker gorge (CP1). While en route, Paul and Erich radioed in the numbers of the runners, who were running the trail in the opposite direction. Allen did the same from his position at CP2. The conditions at this time were cold, with freezing rain and strong wind.
A little over half way to CP2, Paul and Erich came across a female runner (patient 1) who was clearly hypothermic, shivering uncontrollably and unable to speak. Assisted by her running partner, Paul and Erich managed to wrap her up in a space blanket and put some warm clothing on her. Erich then ran with full 20kg rescue pack, with patient 1 and her running partner back along the course and escorted them down the Kurktrekker escape route. Erich also assisted another approximately 20 runners to leave the route via the escape route at Kurktrekker thereby averting even more problems in the future. Erich manned his position in appalling conditions for a further hour to ensure the route was clear before leaving his position.
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| Taken the following Sunday......a view from the highest point on the route |
In the meantime Paul continued walking in the direction of Kurktrekker, calling in the numbers of passing runners to base. Due to the cold, wet and windy conditions it was impossible to write numbers down and they had to be radioed in directly. Peter established a priority channel on a separate frequency for this traffic. The cold caused Paul not to be able to remember groups of three race numbers for more than a few seconds, so these had to be called in and captured promptly.
When it was apparent that no more competitors were coming along the course, Paul turned around and headed back towards the checkpoint where Allen was. Approximately 2km before reaching Allen's position and at about 1200m above sea level, Paul came across another female runner (patient 2) who had collapsed due to hypothermia. Paul and patient 2's running partner managed to balance her and proceeded in the direction of the course towards Allen's position. After about half a kilometre, patient 2 could no longer carry her own weight and the combined efforts of Paul, the patient's running partner and the race sweep were not enough to manoeuvre her any further along the narrow, rocky track. Unfortunately, this placed them on a North West facing cliff taking the full force of the weather.
Paul and Chris (the race sweep), put patient 2 under a waterproof groundsheet and took turns trying to warm her under the groundsheet and keep themselves warm and avoid muscle cramps by walking around. Patient 2's running partner was still in reasonable condition and to prevent him becoming hypothermic and adding to the patient count, Paul an Chris convinced him to continue along the course. Peter activated Wilderness Search & Rescue.
While all this was going on, another male runner (patient 3) had stumbled towards Allen's position in a serious state of hypothermia. Allen gave him some warm clothing and wrapped him in a reflective sports/space blanket, then escorted him off the mountain via one of the pre-identified escape routes by alternately, pushing, pulling and dragging him (plus a fair amount of aggressive coaching!). After a magnificent solo effort, Allen managed to get patient 3 safely to a 4x4 vehicle that had been put standby to collect them and return them to the paramedics on standby at the start/finish.
Paul and Chris were joined by another race official, Mark, who brought warm, dry clothing provided by Allen. They put this on the patient, mainly due to Mark's efforts as he was the only one with working fingers at the time. The three then dug in with patient 2 and waited for help. They managed to improve the patient's condition to the point where she started shivering again and began to remember personal details, like her name, telephone number and the names of her children and husband. The patient was given hot water from a flask and some snack food, which she managed to eat. The conditions at this time were under 10C, with high wind, pelting rain and approximately 50m visibility.
In the meantime, a full rescue effort had been mounted by Wilderness Search and Rescue (who had been briefed prior to the event) and field rescuers and logistics operators began steaming in.
The Skymed rescue helicopter arrived at the scene and proceeded to insert a mountain rescue medic and a paramedic as close to patient 2's position as weather and visibility would permit. Nevertheless it was still approximately a two hour hike from where the helicopter inserted the medical personnel to the position of patient 2. Unfortunately the weather only allowed for the insertion of one additional two person team before Skymed was forced to stand down. Other rescue personnel also began arriving on scene and teams were formed to carry in equipment for the anticipated stretcher carry and technical river crossings over some of the more than 10 waterfalls that had sprung up along the route due to the heavy rain. Among those responding to the WSAR callout were Hamnet members, ZU1MT Mathias, ZU1YZ Gela, ZU1JV Johan and JU1JM Johan. Gela took over base communications duty and Peter was appointed deputy incident commander and assumed on-scene command of the rescue. Erich returned to base to run the computer mapping of the incident. The Skymed rescue helicopter was stood down due to the weather which was worsening again after a brief respite at lower altitudes. By this time there were 22 field rescuers in the field in various positions in 5 separate parties, making their way to the patient. A long and arduous stretcher carry was expected and the field party was being manned accordingly. They were supported by as many as 9 4x4's. A field command centre had been set up in Peter's Land Rover running 3 separate VHF nets and the positions of the field parties was being plotted on Oziexplorer on a laptop mounted in the Land Rover. Proper interior lighting ensured that the management effort could proceed without hitch as darkness fell. The use of the computer mapping proved invaluable in keeping track of the rescue parties and eventual progress off the mountain.
When the medical personnel arrived at patient 2, they managed to get her back on her feet. They handed their packs over to Chris and Mark and, their load so lightened, manoeuvred the patient around to Bergriviernek which was more sheltered from the weather. They were joined by two more rescuers, bringing the first of the equipment, including a stretcher and some more dry clothing. At that position, the medics managed to warm the patient with active heating blankets. Paul, Mark and Chris began extracting themselves from the mountain, passing three teams of mountain rescuers that were heading up to the patient to assist with possible stretcher carry and technical rope work over the swelling rivers. An Oryx was put on standby at Ysterplaat Air Force Base and a technical rope specialist deployed to rig the Oryx for a short haul extraction.
Paul, Mark and Chris, accompanied by two rescuers eventually reached Langrivierkloof at around 7pm, which had been a gentle babbling brook 13 hours before, but which by this time was a thigh deep, raging white water torrent. The rescue teams had roped the crossing on their way in and this enabled Paul, Mark and Chris to cross and reach the vehicles.
The other rescue teams reached the patient in due course and the medics had improved her condition enough to escort her down the mountain on foot. The decision was made to exit via the escape route on the Panorama route. As a result, the Oryx was no longer deemed justified and it was stood down. The rescuers had to periodically rope sections to cross rivers safely and eventually reached the base at approximately 8.30pm.
All-in-all 43 rescue personnel were involved from all branches of WSAR.
Quotable quotes:
Paul van Spronsen (6.30am) to race control: "anybody not properly kitted and who finds themselves unable to run further will die!"
Allen Wood (8am) to Paul & Erich: "Gentlemen, this is not stuffing around weather."
73
ZS1PVS "
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