A man told her he was a doctor and his son was competing in the race. He hadn’t found his son yet but he’d been in second place, behind Glynn Cortantes, when the craft came down. She squeezed his shoulder and thanked him for his efforts. She looked skyward and willed the Sea King to get here, with surgeons on board. Another ’copter from the Penrith and Lakes hospital was also on its way, and she scoured the valleys for its blades. No sign yet. She had a fleeting vision of a flock of geese, which fly in arrow formation, the leader exerting all of its strength to lead the flock, until it tired and then was relieved by the next goose, and so on, so the group stayed together. If any of them fell behind or were injured, then two geese would always wait behind until the group came back, or accompany it up until its death, before joining the group once more. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry that this was how she saw the helicopters: flying in to save one of their own, and not giving up until the group was back together. The smashed vehicle was forlorn on the ground and she saw a trail of debris perhaps one hundred foot long, leading down to the valley floor, and to Wast Water below.

Whatever had happened was catastrophic and had begun mid-air over the water. She glanced back to the ’copter and realised that its tail was missing. A story of destruction began forming in her head, but now was the time for emergency thoughts only and she assessed another body. She directed those who said they had the stomach to help to check for signs of life in those who were lying on the ground.

‘Apply pressure to wounds, keep them talking, keep them warm, clear airways. Cover those who are deceased,’ she said.

She ran towards the ’copter and assessed which piece of wreckage should be where. She knew enough about them to realise that the cabin had broken in two. The man who’d been dragged out of one section was being attended to by Johnny. She quickly spotted the other section and ran to it. A few people stood in silence, and others cried. They were rapidly going into shock and needed to be removed from the mountain. She speedily evaluated the spectators and approached them, showing her lanyard ID to reassure them that the authorities had the situation in hand.