We assisted again this year with Kewash Trail ½ Marathon event communications.

Kewash Trail ½ Marathon

Our communication trailer was set up on the south side of the courthouse on the NW corner of the square on Main St in Washington.

The Net Control Operator for this event was Michael Hafner (WØHAF).

At the conclusion of the event, we met at the comm trailer for debriefing. Several ideas were exchanged for how we can do better next time:
  • Make more use of the ICS, including the planning and log forms, next time (and every event).
  • A second person at control is needed, both for logging and to enable both frequencies that were used.
  • We need to plan on antennas that allow both repeater and simplex simultaneously.
  • In town range on simplex is very limited, especially with a handheld inside the trailer!
  • A full time shadow for the event coordinator would be very helpful
  • The original thought was that the event coordinator and the comm trailer would be next to each other. That would have been better.
  • Overall, the event went very smoothly and the medical emergencies that cropped up were quickly handled.

Here is an informal “after-action” report. Teri is the event coordinator.  # refers to checkpoint.

The following people were present for the initial briefing and were all deployed prior to the race start:
KØBKL Jane #4 – Washington and D
KØWLC Gary #8 – Kiwi  
KEØIJZ Kevin #5 – Park Used 443 repeater for reception
KEØJVU Wayne #2/#1 6th street, then announcer  
KEØYYI Rick #3 – bank drive-thru Offered to ride on Gator, but Teri wanted 2nd person at bank
KRØTZ Steve #9 – turnaround HT issues, so relocated checkpoint on last gravel road
WBØGAG Bruce #6 – parking lot on 5th Hydration location
KØECW Eric #3 – bank corner Great job working with Wayne!
NØXOB Lynn Located in park (late arrival)  
WØHAF Michael #1 – Comm trailer  
  Terry Helped pass information with Teri  

Selected Highlights:

Rick arrived with the trailer
6:15 Trailer parked in front of the courthouse.
6:55 #1 Net officially started (most radio checks already completed)
7:29 #5 Reported runner down with Gator already on-site
7:40 Ambulance arrived on site
7:49 #6 Reported ambulance departed (runner had heart attack and was ultimately transferred to Mercy)
7:50 #9 1st marathon runners in-bound from turnaround point
7:56 #8 1st marathon runners in-bound (Teri stopped by moments later to ask where the leaders were located)
8:21 #1 1st marathon runners finished
8:52 NØXOB Lynn secured location in park and will look to be of use around #3
8:54 #8 Gary reported another runner down at his position – I relayed this personally to Teri, who was with the announcer, and a Gator was sent
9:15 #8 Gator arrived to assess downed runner
9:30 #8 Gator transported runner to ambulance (heat stroke?)
9:32 #9 Sweeper cleared Steve’s location, and checkpoint was secured (Steve assigned to check on #3 using a borrowed HT)
9:52 NØXOB Lynn didn’t feel that he could provide additional assistance, so secured station and left for home
9:53 #8 Sweeper cleared and checkpoint secured
10:39 #6 Sweeper cleared and checkpoint secured
10:55 #5 Sweeper cleared and checkpoint secured
11:00? #4 Sweeper cleared and checkpoint secured
11:15? #1 Officially closed net and then had debrief

WØHAF Debriefing Notes:

Rick’s truck didn’t have a wiring harness that would fit the lights on the Comm trailer
From the Comm trailer I could hear Wayne on simplex, but not checkpoint #3 (Rick and Eric)

Eric (KØECW) is in charge of events for CVARC, and he provided us with a handout that they use when organizing events like this one. Good stuff. They apparently make checkpoint assignments well in-advance of the event and try to let people fill the roles that the are interested in filling. I’m not sure that this would have worked well in our case today, but it is certainly food for thought.

Bruce suggested that this event would have been a good opportunity to use ICS forms as a training tool. I agree, but I think I would have needed a second capable person in net control in order not to fall behind. As it was, it was very challenging to write everything down.
It was difficult at times to track down Teri. Terry did a good job, but had to use a phone when there were questions so it wasn’t very convenient.
Checkpoint #5 had a very difficult time hearing net control on 147.045, but the 443.7 repeater worked fine. I ended up monitoring both frequencies and communicated with Kevin’s checkpoint on 443.7.
That is all that I wrote down. All in all I think the group performed well, with no major lapses.

I spoke with Teri afterwards and she gave a big “thank you” to the team.

We thank everyone who participated in this event. Your support is very much appreciated by the runners/bikers, event coordinators, the WAARC, and WCARES.