Spartan Race – How hard can it be?

The Spartan Race

Last month we covered the Spartan (sprint) race at Cambridge. This is a 5k obstacle race, of which the Spartan web site sys – “Participants will confront obstacles ranging from the extreme to absurd”

The obstacles included, being hosed down with ice cold water, climbing up (and down) a wooden frame covered with plastic sheeting which was soaked with water and washing up liquid, crawling flat on stomach or back through an ice filled wooden box underneath barbed wire strands which were an inch or so from the runners head and back .

The Ice box

Over 1800 runners took part and we treated 52 of them. There were more casualties but a lot of those were medics themselves including a group of American Air Force paramedics, who used our stock to treat their friends injuries.

The day was very hot and we initially expected to have do deal with a lot of people with dehydration. In the end though the only people suffering that was us, as we had to work out of an inflatable air shelter. Nice to look at but hot as hell inside.

The main injuries turned out to be the usual suspects i.e. sprained/twisted ankles. We treated these by using the RICE method. We asked the injured runners to sit and Rest the limb whilst we applied Ice for 10 minutes. That done, we then strapped up the ankles using a (crepe) Compression bandage to give support to the injured area. This was followed up with the usual advise about keeping the injured area Elevated (which most ignored) and advice on regarding getting the injury checked out in A&E if it did not improve, or got worse.

Our Ambulance crew transported one runner to Hospital with a serious dislocation of the ankle where the circulation to the foot was being restricted.

We also had to deal with a lot of cuts and abrasions but the worst were caused by the barbed wire suspended over the ice crawl box. As the runners crawled out of the box they had to raise their heads up and some sustained quite nasty lacerations to the back of their heads.

Head wounds bleed profusely so most looked worse than they were but as the runners had had to crawl through mud and swim in a gravel pit, we also had to contend with the real risk of infection.

So the wounds were washed out with saline solution (sterile eye wash) and then for good measure cleaned out using an antiseptic solution. It can be difficult to find/dress minor head wounds due to hair but fortunately most of the runners had short hair, so in the most part, we asked them to hold a gauze dressing to the wound until it stopped bleeding. Then depending on the extent of the wound, we applied an adhesive dressing (where possible) to the wounds.

If you want to know more about the Spartan Race or if you dare to take part, go to their site at http://www.spartanrace.com