[QUOTE=alwaysinjured;579878][QUOTE=IanDarkpeak;579736]
Quote Originally Posted by alwaysinjured View Post

For the sake of example, I said one runner. The time of day and length of day is as they are at edale race. With 2 hours more or less to mam tor. The conditions cold and inclement as they often are, definite possibilities of hypothermia.. You have a decision to make on time to call out. It is a decision that in principle you can - and probably should - make as part of an incident plan before you start the race.

You have no idea where the guy is, only that he left mam nick in whiteout clag and has failed to show up anywhere else. The only ones you have asked say they think they saw him after that, but it was so claggy that they could not be sure, all they really saw was shadows of runners in the gloom.So what time do you send out the heavies? Sooner or later it becomes a yes /no time. Not a list of what to consider.

Not a trick question.

I am genuinely interested in how a mountain rescue guy / come someone heavily involved in organisation thinks - at what time do you change concern to action - and in practice whether that is before the race has already finished for many or most of the field, or the ones "around" the missing runner in the field- and what areas do you commmence the search - how many bodies are sent out to search?
I'd certainly give them time to;
a)return to finish if they are decided they were too tired and would walk back to race control.
b)get to the next cp as happened this year when some missed a cp
c)we would also try and get in contact via phone, check his car, runners who he travelled with.
d) race control had a telephone number so even if the runner wasn't carrying a phone the peak is a busy place and a telephone could be borrowed.

There is no steep/rocky ground in the area so I wouldn't be worried of a fall like I might in the Lakes. the time problem there if a runner decides to descend the wrong valley is much worse that the peak.

I wouldn't be calling out the reinforcements for 90 minutes unless I had other information which would make me concerned..ie reports of a whistle blowing.

Searching, well other than the sweep I wouldn't expect the CP marshals to do any searching of the route, their priority is to them selves first and the other competitors unless directly called upon, all CP marshals on the skyline carry bivvy bags/shelter/sleeping bag/first aid kits/spare clothing and food.. in case of a problem.
EMRT are on standby at the event and it would passed over to them once we had a last known position/concerns. They would put people on the hill whilst some further checking was done initially so they would be ready to search, a "hasty search" would be done first of the obvious descent routes/paths. This is where the majority of missing people turn up.

I can see this being a bigger problem in the Lakes though where comms are tougher