We have discussed adopting an Emergency Preparedness Plan to be followed at all WVMTR sponsored events. I took the RRCA Race Guidelines for safety and edited a few details. Here is a rough copy of those edits. I'm happy to forward the original for comparison. I would ask that the board review the suggested guidelines and make suggestions/edits. we can then bring the document back to the board and vote on whether or not to adopted the Preparedness Plan and a time frame for implementation.  If approved then all RD's would sign and return for our records.

Further questions for debate.

• Should a first responder/ambulance service be present at each event?
• In the document I changed "Medical Director" to Emergency Director. Is everyone ok with that?
• Should all Race Directors be CPR certified?
• What other concerns/recommendations does the board have?

The WVMTR Emergency Preparedness doc is a good guide for all RD's to follow. It is understandably written from a road race perspective, and does consider the roadless, remote trails we are running. I feel the Planning, Volunteers, Start Line, Water Stations, Weather and Finish Line points are achievable and at least in part already considered with the exception of Volunteer waivers. Communication and Medical Assistance are the points present a challenge to trail running. 

Can we to explore better communication alternatives? 
Are Wilderness First Responders onsite an alternative? I am willing to look into this.
It is possible to have local EMT's with emergency vehicles at some of our event, but not all. Having the race event on their calendar is important.
RD CPR certification would be good, but should not be a requirement for that person. He/she will usually be at the Finish not on the course.  

The reality is trail running is potentially more dangerous than road running.  

I will review the documents in a little bit.  Thanks for the work, Potts.

Thanks for putting this together Bill.  This is a robust document, but a good start in our goal to achieve congruity in our response to emergency preparedness.  

The genesis of this discussion is certainly the unfortunate event from Highlands Sky 2018 -- we would be remiss to not state that.  While there is nothing that we can do to prevent all emergencies, we need to make sure that we have consistent plans in all of our races in our process of addressing emergent scenarios.  

• Should a first responder/ambulance service be present at each event?  It's a great "perfect world" thought, but not practical on our state.  There is no way we could get first responders or ambulance services to be present for three days at the Trilogy.  No, I don't think we should mandate this, but should focus on solid communication procedure to contact emergency personnel if/when needed.
• In the document I changed "Medical Director" to Emergency Director. Is everyone ok with that? Fine with that.
• Should all Race Directors be CPR certified? No, but recommended and encouraged.

I have read over the document provided and it goes into pretty good detail. It seems more like a document for a person beginning as a new RD and not the ones we have; whom many possess over a decade of experience. If you are a RD and sign this you are agreeing to follow it to a T and the cups issue could become a concern at cupless events. I know that is a minor detail in the scheme of things . I believe having our RDs follow and sign this document we should look over the road versus trail issues a little more. As far as the medical side we have our bases covered at Sasquatch. PA at the finish this year and Dolin keeps up his CPR training for his day job. RDs can not be everywhere as you all well know, but at least if having a CPR certification for all RDs gets the racers confidence up in attending our events knowing their safety is being highly considered then it should give more peace of mind when participating in our club races. 

Tons of detail in this doc to cover all possible scenarios.  We need something like this to keep on hand as best practices.

If you boil it down to the main issue I suggest we have a simple one pager for RDs to give to volunteer that says, "What to do in the Case of Emergency". 

List the RDs name and phone number

Call 911....

In remote areas, instructions to volunteers on how to get word to the RD is appropriate.  Such as "one volunteer leave and drive to...."

I'm suggesting a standard set of instructions adapted for each race that RDs would hand to each aid station and start/finish volunteer.

It would be simple and effective. 

In the face of a dire emergency many people panic and may not think to do basic things.  

Thank you Bill for taking the lead on this.

Until this last HS40M we can all agree we have been pretty lucky not to have a similar event in the last 16 years.  We have had some close calls with heat exhaustion and heat stroke.  We are now at the point where we need to adopt a guide.  It is important to note that if we do not follow the guide it could be used against us if we were ever sued by a participant.  The first paragraph tries to make it clear that it is only a guide and not policy.  I think a statement that says that WVMTR hosts a variety of events of differing lengths, difficulty, and seasonality that will impact the need or importance of individual emergency guidelines.

• Should a first responder/ambulance service be present at each event? No, but the responding agency should be notified at least 30 days prior to the event.
• In the document I changed "Medical Director" to Emergency Director. Is everyone ok with that?  Yes
• Should all Race Directors be CPR certified? Encouraged.
• What other concerns/recommendations does the board have? See above

Sorry for getting to this party late 

Thanks Potts for putting this together 

I like thoroughness of this report.  As all our races offer different scenarios and concerns, I would think this would be useful to RD’s to review their own safety plans. 

If legal liability is one our concerns, which I’m guessing should be, then the advice from a lawyer should be considered.

reminds me  what do you call 100 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean 

a good start 

Jocularity should and will be tolerated! Very good Mr. Daly. 

So, what is our consensus on the next steps for the WVMTR Emergency Preparedness Policy?  It appears to me that we all believe that this is a very fine start.  I agree with Dan Todd in that we need to agree upon a guide that we can follow because, if not, it could be used against us legally.  We need a policy that:  1) We can all agree upon to follow.  2) We as a board will enforce that all club events follow.

If as we vote, if we agree to have this April meeting -- which I believe it is likely -- we should ideally have this document completed for that meeting with the RD's.  Bill, would you be willing to make some of the edits based upon our comments and bring the document back to the group (via email discussion) for critique and ultimately acceptance?

I agree with Dan Todd. This document will not be a policy but rather a guide the RD's should follow. The guide will hopefully promote consistency for how we prepare and host running events regardless of prior experience.

I will edit the guide based upon the boards recommendations then forward it to the Board prior to April's meeting. we can then vote on whether or not to adopt it at our annual meeting.

Sounds like a solid plan to me.