Today for the sixth year running, the team provided standby rescue cover for this years Rivington Trail Half Marathon event.

Organised by 2:09 Events, the race enjoyed its sixth year in Rivington, with the route starting at Rivington & Blackrod School, and heading north to the White Coppice area, and then returning to Rivington via the Rivington Reservoir system.

This year the team concentrated as we have done since 2012, on providing standby rescue cover, rather than also undertaking some marshal duties as in the first three years of our involvement with this event.

Seventeen team Call Out list members and Support Group member Dave Rees attended to provide standby rescue cover, with members all around the course in three of our Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicles, and our Minibus crewbus / Ambulance
In liaison with the event organisers, our presence today was co-ordinated from our Incident Control Vehicle, callsign ‘Bolton Mobile 6,’ by experienced team members Bob Hutchinson (A former Bolton MRT Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader, and our current President) along very long serving team member Diane Blakeley.

During the course of this years event, the team dealt with a small number of minor injuries and retirements, which are noted here for information and interest but do not feature in our Incident Listings.

All were treated and some were advised to seek further medical advice.

The event concluded early mid afternoon, with all members present kindly receiving from the organisers, as with all the competitors, and others helping with this very well organised event, a thermal shirt emblazoned with the Event name.

The team is pleased to be invited every year to help assist with this successful local event by 2:09 Events, with thanks to their Managing Director Mike Gratton of 2:09 Events Limited, of Farnborough, and we look forward to the possibility of a seventh event in October 2015 and the continuation of our involvement.

There follows a personal account of the day – a little tongue in cheek, by our President Bob Hutchinson ;

“On this very wet and cold Autumn morning 18 Team members provided the standby rescue cover for the ever growing annual Rivington Half Marathon.

A total of 357 competitors actually started the race in very rainy conditions out of some 440 people that had entered. No doubt the inclement weather put a considerable number off (as it would indeed put any right thinking person off).

Amazingly in spite of the weather the event passed off virtually incident free, no doubt influenced by the superb leadership skills exhibited by our aged President Bob Hutchinson and his long suffering, sorry serving, team-mate and carer Diane J. Blakeley (Bob’s wife Janet often charges Diane with looking after Bob’s welfare and ensuring he gets home safely).

Bob was put in charge because other than Chris Greenhalgh our Deputy Team Leader, who was working anyway and therefore unavailable for this event,(A GMFRS Firefighter at ‘Busy Broughton’) the rest of the top brass were at a Team members wedding in Yorkshire chucking Bucks Fizz down their necks and starting to giggle at everything.

All the competitors bar 3 finished the event.

One competitor retired just after the start and made his own way the few yards back. Another retired at the farthest point of the course with a twisted knee and was given a ride back in one of our Land Rovers. A third competitor was asked to withdraw by the organisers because she was walking not running.

At the finish first aid was administered to one casualty with a head wound, who had run into a tree branch, The incident was logged and words of advice were given in that it wood not have happened if he went to Specsavers.

The event concluded shortly after 13.30hrs, with each of the Team members present receiving a super technical base layer with the event logo on, and then all vehicle returned to their bases.

Bob was then returned back in to the care of his wife, unharmed by his experiences today after being back in the hot seat so to speak.”