Oparara Wilderness Trail Run First Aid

NZCT has granted the Buller Gorge Marathon Trust $2,040 for First Aid cover for their Oparara Wilderness Trail Run.

Race Director and Trustee Steve White says, “We operate an adventure walking and running event through Kahurangi National Park in Karamea. We need to provide full support with medical and rescue services for the environment we operate in and usually contract St Johns for the medical support component. It is a condition of our DOC concession and our own health and safety planning that we have medical support in place.”

“In both the Buller Gorge Marathon and our smaller Oparara Wilderness Trail Run, we provide a range of first aid and emergency services to our participants to ensure their safety. In the case of the Oparara, we maintain six checkpoints throughout the course in Kahurangi National Park. We helicopter some of our marshals and first aid people into their checkpoints.”

“We have found that St John Ambulance is the only organisation that can give us the medical resources and the skilled people we need to carry out this task. We pay them for that service and NZCT contributes to those costs. We could not operate safely without that cover.”

“The event contributes directly to the Karamea economy through accommodation and other local spending and is one of the largest events in Karamea. The BGM trust also makes donations to various local groups from race revenue which includes the Karamea Health Trust.”

The Buller Gorge Marathon Trust Board is a charitable trust that has operated the Buller Gorge Marathon since 1983. Its purpose is to attract visitors to the region through our two race events, to support those visitors to ensure they have a great time and memorable experiences, and lastly to direct their spending into various local community-based groups and organisations where it is needed most. Over the last forty years, our events have generated over $50 million dollars in additional localised spending.