Originally Posted by
jtinnion
Thanks for a great day's racing Richard and team,
All the Mercia guys and girls had a really good day - particular thanks to the marshalls, timers, results team and the MRT. You made some excellent safety decisions on the day, particularly bringing forward the mass start.
The hypothermia cases are very similar to what we had at the Longmynd Valleys race a few years ago, in similar conditions (wind, driving rain low down and sleet/wet snow on top). The more severe casualties were mainly elite / quick runners who didn't want to lose time by stopping to armour up. In our case it was made worse by having an event centre half a mile from the finish so a lot of people got cold walking back there in wet gear after they'd finished. We were fortunate that one of the early finishers was a paramedic who realised quickly what the problem was and got people organised to dry victims out and get them gently warmed.
I'm really sorry about the numbers cock-up which was totally our fault. We'll arrive earlier next year which should give us more time to get it right! I would suggest though that writing each runners first name and initial on the numbers as they are issued would have helped a lot, although it might slow things down a bit. We'd be glad to provide a couple of extra registration volunteers next year if you need them.
Anyway, thanks again for a brilliant event, and thank to all the runners for being so friendly and supportive. It really made a difference to some of our newer and/or slower athletes to be encouraged along by other runners.
We will be back next year!
Cheers
Jim