National First Aid Competition

Cadets from the Black Watch Battalion of the Army Cadet Force carried out a dramatic rescue on Saturday when a hang glider crashed into Yaxley Hill, severely injuring the pilot and a passer-by.

On an unusually warm and sunny October day cadets from across the UK representing every branch of the services coped with a series of realistic emergencies. The event was the Army Cadet Force Association's 11^th National First Aid Competitions at the Royal Military Academy. In the UK's largest and most ambitious youth first aid competition 35 teams competed in 4 separate national competitions. ACF and CCF teams were joined by St John Cadets and Royal Marine cadets from the Sea Cadet Corps. The event also saw the first full scale Inter-Services Young Adult competition for the 17-24 age range with 12 teams competing in their own event.

Champion Teams

In a remarkably close finish Black Watch emerged victorious by just 1 point from 2 NI Cadet Battalion. With Powys taking third place it fell to Somerset to emerge as the highest scoring English team!

In the separate CCF competition Black Watch's co-located Dollar Academy retained their title as National Champions with a comfortable lead over runners up Pates Grammar School. A team of St John cadets from Surrey were awarded the St John trophy contested for annually between Bucks and Surrey St John teams.

This event saw the first Sea Cadet Corps team compete at Sandhurst - the Royal Marine detachment from Stockport having qualified through the North West regional event. Having hosted the ATC National Competition at Sandhurst for the previous 4 years the ATC this year ran their own event, but were still represented by 4 teams who participated in the Inter-Services Young Adult event. The Inter-Service winners of the Young Adult event were Merseyside ACF, with an unprecedented and almost perfect team test score, dropping just 3 points.

Additional activities are added to the scores and teams from both ACF and CCF compete for the Combined Services trophy. Black Watch emerged as the overall winners, followed by 2 NI Cadet Battalion and Dollar Academy. In the Combined Services event the medals go to the best placed teams not already awarded medals, so the medal winners were City of London & NE Sector ACF, Somerset ACF (who both join the ACF winners and runners up at the Inter-Services/YGP event) and Cambridgeshire ACF.

Trophies and medals were presented by Major General Malcolm Wood CBE, Chairman of ACFA, who was with us for the afternoon to see the cadets in action and talk to them.

The Tests

The ACF team test was as ever demanding and innovative. Casualty simulators Anne and Mike King made up the hang glider pilot with an injury that involved part of the frame of the hang glider having penetrated all the way through his arm! Multiple fractures added to the complication of dealing with this casualty, but he had landed on top of a passer-by who with a serious head injury was unconscious and in danger of choking on an obstructed airway! The CCF teams were presented with a scene in which the owner of an ice cream parlour had been blasted with a sawn off shotgun, echoing the real experience of the Penicuik cadets. Young adults were presented with the scene of a street fight and stabbing.

All competitors including the reserves had to deal with an individual incident. The theme of the individual tests were the day to day incidents in which casualties depend on items of medication that they carry with them, requiring the competitors to recognise the equipment and understand what it was for. These included an asthma sufferer, a casualty suffering from anaphylactic shock who needed to use his epipen, and a diabetic who had insulin auto-injectors and a blood testing kit.The Team Activity, which counts for the Combined Services event, changes every year. The test this year was again different and innovative - the whole team (including the reserve) were tested on their ability to hand over to and assist the paramedic, as well as carrying out the extra immobilisation that may be needed before a casualty can be moved. Added realism was given to the task by the provision of two ambulances and paramedic crews courtesy of Adrian Hirons and his company AMS

Support

These events require a staff of 116, including the team stewards, to run them. Most are experienced in their roles and all are thanked most sincerely for taking on these roles with enthusiasm and skill. They can't all be mentioned, but some must be. All 15 judges came from St John Ambulance, providing both independent assessing and external accreditation. These included some of St John's most senior volunteers - Chief Commissioner (Youth) Sarah Holmes and Deputy Chief Officer (Operations) Lawrence Day. Other St John judges came from National Headquarters, British Forces Overseas, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex.

Major David Williams, Chief Judge, supported the St John judges and dealt with any questions about the marking. Beds and Cambs ATC led by Warrant Officer Chris Bone and Pilot Officer Angie Bone provided an impressive team of 22 cadet casualties and 7 adult staff. Colonel Mike Vince and Bucks ACF provided support for accommodation and feeding; Major Graham Emond produced the programmes. Captain Roly Uppiah flew back from Switzerland just to attend the event. Other staff included Lt Col Len Smith (in overall command of the testing stands); set managers; registration and results team and many others essential to the smooth running of a huge and complex event. Photography was provided by Deborah Slator, editor of ‘Focus on First Aid' magazine, which has sponsored cadets in the ‘Festival of First Aid' competition and adult staff for their Conference. A feature on the CTC first aid courses will be in the November issue of ‘Focus on First Aid'