The race is divided into 20 different stages of 5-10 miles each. At each stage, there is an EMT team to handle any medical emergencies that occur on the course. The medical radio system is used to dispatch ambulances if any of the runners go down or any of the spectators need medical treatment. Since most of the race occurs in the desert near Death Valley National Park (aka the middle of nowhere), there is very limited cell phone coverage and the only reliable way to communicate is by radio. I helped service the medical radio network.
The weather over the course can vary wildly. The weekend before the race, part of the course had snow. The weekend of the race itself was hot; it was over 100 degrees.
My assignment was ensuring the first four stages had their medical radios up and running before the runners got there. Since we issued all of the stage leaders their radios the day before, most of my field work was fixing problems, replacing fuses, and giving them speakers.
The Race
I left Vegas at 6 in the morning so I could get to the first location before the race started at 9. It was 115 miles away and I had to contend with race traffic. All of the roads in my area were one lane in each direction. The pavement was just wide enough for the lanes and the shoulders were gravel. Each of the teams was required to have a vehicle follow their runner at all times, so there were a lot of cars on the road. Driving the same way as the race required passing all these follow vehicles, while driving the other way involved avoiding the cars that were using my lane to pass. Everyone talked about how dangerous it was and how long it would take to travel any distance. For me it was a lot of fun.
This picture gives an idea of how empty the desert was. You can also see some runners and their follow vehicles.
I spent 10-15 minutes on average at each of the stages I was responsible for. After that, most of my time was sitting around listening in on the radio for any problems, essentially doing nothing. I spent a lot of time sitting at one of the repeater sites. The person in charge of the site had a camper trailer with an awning that provided some shade. I also hung out at medical base where one of our group serviced the radios on the ambulances. This was the place the ambulances took people who needed more advanced care. If a patient's condition required hospitalization, there were helicopters on hand to transport people.
One of the things I liked was seeing the immediate effects of what I did. A few hours after I replaced a fuse powering a radio at stage 2, the radio was used to call for a direct helicopter evacuation for a runner who was unconscious. There was the time I helped someone replace every part of a radio in an ambulance only to discover it still did not work. Then when I heard him test it I realized the low voltage alarm was going off. After we removed an iPhone charger from one of the power outlets it worked perfectly. Minutes later the ambulance was off to collect someone.
If I was talking directly instead of writing, I could capture all the drama and immediacy of these incidents.
We were surprised there were around 250 medical incidents for the race. Surprised because last year there were over 400. A lot of the incidents were related to the triple digit heat. For a few hours the radios were in constant use. At one point they ran out of ambulances; they had to call 911. At another time they ran out of helicopters.
Our Thermal Resonator
Out in the middle of the desert I ate some great food. Someone from our shop built a pizza oven and was making fresh pizzas. This is the oven at the repeater site I spend most of the day at. The guy wielding the pizza mover did most of the design and welding for the oven. He is an interesting character; he is a certified welder and a registered nurse.
It was some of the best pizza I have ever had. This is not just because it was the only food around; it was top tier stuff.
Here we have Tom making some pizza. In the back you can see my car sporting an MRN (Medical Radio Network) sticker, as well as the truck I have been practicing manual transmission driving with.
The Route
From home to the Riviera Hotel (where we were based out of) on Friday I drove 272.9 miles and followed the normal way into Vegas on the 15. On Saturday I took Nevada 160 to Old Spanish Trail to California 127 (Death Valley Road). I then drove up and down 127 since that was my area. By the time I got back to Vegas past midnight and after some breakfast the next morning I had driven 314.0 miles. On the way home I drove the entire race course so I could drop some keys off in Pahrump, Nevada. That took me 327.8 miles and 6 hours, 45 minutes.
During the race at some points there were dozens of cars parked on both sides of the road and the street was filled with people walking around. It was past midnight and I had to drive at walking speed to be sure I did not hit anyone. I drove by the same place later that day and there was no sign of all the commotion from a few hours ago. All that was left were some bags of trash awaiting pickup.
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