Brisbane Area WICEN Group (Inc.) once again assisted at Southbrook (approximately 26km west-south-west of Toowoomba, as the crow flies) with the running of the Hip Pocket Challenge, run by the Toowoomba Endurance Horse Riders Association. This was done in collaboration with Ipswich WICEN. Brisbane and Ipswich WICEN had assisted here nearly 12 months before, and thus we return to help with this year’s event.
On this occasion, your correspondent is working the check-point rather than the base, so the equipment needed from our end was vastly reduced. A few radios and antennas, batteries for hand-held radios, some lights, and obviously some furniture and shelter for the day, we could travel lighter. We travelled up on the Friday, arriving in the late afternoon and establishing camp. There was no need for an awning here since the base operators (Simon Chantrill – Brisbane WICEN, and Robert Willinger – Ipswich WICEN) would be arriving the next day to set up the base station itself. For us we parked the van, then started to meet the neeeighbours (ahhem!).
The event began midday on the Saturday, and would finish at midnight. There were a number of rides taking place, but at our check-point (Checkpoint 3) we would only see two of these: the 80km and 40km rides. In particular, both these groups would pass us on their way to the first check-point — we weren’t needed to take numbers for the first few hours of operation. We would be needed in the evening when the 80km riders came back through us on the way back to base.
On the check-point, David VK4MDL and I were joined by Richard VK4ZA, and the three of us collected scores and kept each-other company. The check-point set-up was a relatively simple affair, consisting of a bit of shelter, a table, and the radios. We were able to find a spot off the side of the road in which to park our vehicles and set up the check-point. At this event, we just used simplex 2m FM communications, and at this location a basic antenna on the roof of the vehicle was sufficient to hear and be heard back at base. To enable mobility, we put the radio on the vehicle in cross-band mode and operated hand-helds.
In the mid-afternoon, about 2:15PM we saw the first of the 80km riders going out to their first check-point. At this point we were merely directing traffic. If one of them got into trouble, we were of course on hand to render assistance, but no scoring was taking place yet. The riders were simply passing us as they made the right-turn off the road towards Checkpoint 1.
Being here so early seems superfluous, but the need was confirmed when 3 competitors are seen walking their horses away from Checkpoint 1 back toward our not-yet-running checkpoint. A horse had tried to bolt whilst the rider was holding the reins walking beside her horse, and thus had sustained a wrist injury.
Luckily here, the 4G network coverage is pretty good, so in actual fact the competitor was able to call for a rescue float directly, but had that not been working, we could have done that too. We were able to provide some first aid, and provided a chair whilst we waited for the rescue float to arrive to collect both rider and horse.
In the scheme of things, this is a minor event, but nonetheless, requires medical attention and therefore a rescue float. If a horse were to become spooked, the rider can be thrown leading to all kinds of nasty accidents, falls have put riders in intensive care. The horse too, can suffer medical events requiring the services of a veterinarian, or throw a shoe, requiring a farrier to pay a visit. The checkpoint serves as meeting place, first aid service point and communications link for the riders in the field.
Our action at the checkpoint would not begin until well after sunset. The first hint of competitors on their way was not noticed until about 7:40PM, with the distant sound of some dogs barking, indicating that something had triggered them. We surmised that this was likely the 80km riders, and this was confirmed about 20 minutes later with the sighting of some headlights.
For scoring, we employed a hybrid system of Android tablet + stylus with a note taking application, and the humble sheet of paper. The tablet had the advantage that it did not require a light source and the virtual page provided had practically (for our purposes) unlimited length. A simple table sufficed for capturing the scores. A similar (simplified) scheme to the one used on the second day of the last Imbil event worked.
With this arrangement, I could simply scroll down to an area of blank page, scribble down the time, then start writing competitor numbers down as they were called out. Someone with the paper log would simultaneously scribble those numbers down on there too. If one of us missed a number, there was a good chance the other operator caught it, and so we could cross-check. Once the traffic was clear, it was then possible to radio through the numbers just seen.
Most of the action at our check-point happened between 9PM and 10PM, before dying off. After that, it was a slow trickle of competitors right up until the last one passing through at 10 minutes passed midnight. Thankfully Southbrook is a single-day event, so we can sleep in!
The Southbrook event is a very straight-forward event that is often run very well with timely notifications of vet-outs and withdraws, and this event was no exception. The mobile phone coverage in the area is certainly a welcome feature, as it does mean some of us can be doing things in the downtime, and competitors can use it themselves to call for assistance, but our checkpoints still serve a vital purpose in providing a number of assistance services to competitors when in need. As always, we look forward to 2025’s event early next year.
Our thanks go to the operators at Ipswich WICEN who assisted on this event.