From above, the scene was about as close to hell as they’d both expected. Kelly and Johnny stared wordlessly from the helicopter, as it circled over the crash site and prepared to set down on the Lingmell Col. They descended, and Kelly scoured the landscape for casualties. She noted that many of the people she saw kneeling and helping others wore running tops, with competition numbers stuck to their chests and backs. She didn’t have time to consider the generosity of humans in a disaster zone, but she had no doubt that this was what she was witnessing. The closer they got to the ground, the more distinct grew the cries. People shouted instructions, begged for help, ordered this and that, and then some were silent. The smoke from what was left of the helicopter was subsiding and she saw that a man had been pulled from it, covered in fire extinguisher foam.

Their helicopter touched the earth and she and Johnny sprinted to the crash site. An MRT climber had taken charge of the rescue of the man covered in foam and was applying tourniquets and dressings to his wounds. He looked unconscious. She and Johnny didn’t need to speak. They began at the impact site and circled outwards, assessing casualties to determine those still alive and requiring treatment.

‘Dead.’

‘Wounded.’

‘Priority.’

Johnny got to work on a lady who was probably a spectator to the race. Her leg was missing and she was convulsing. But she was alive.

Kelly worked outwards from the hot zone. There were so many people in different states of dress, and it was as if she’d walked onto a film set. Some wore running vests, others were almost naked. All across the Col, voices pierced the wind and she did her best to assess priorities. She rallied those who were not wounded and asked them to look for survivors, or to stand back and remove debris from the helicopter landing site on the Col to make way for further landings. If they couldn’t stomach the casualty work, then they needed to get out of the way.

She and Johnny had brought advanced medical equipment with them on the flight for stabilising trauma victims, and she assessed a runner. She shouted at anyone who’d listen that the emergency services were on their way, and to stay calm. She directed walking wounded to an area behind a pile of slate providing natural shelter from the wind, which was threatening to turn into a gale. They’d checked the weather before they set off and knew that the nearer they got to nightfall, the worse the weather was predicted, with the darkness forecast to bring freezing low fog and rain. It was almost three p.m. and they had about half an hour of sunlight left.