Ten teams battled it out at the Hunter Valley Mines Rescue Open Cut Competition in Singleton in September, but there could only be one winner…

Mt Thorley Warkworth was crowned the overall winners of the competition, led by Captain Morgan Creagh with teammates and Scott Tuckerman (Vice Captain), Jason Knox, Alan Watt, Mitchell O’Brien, Nicholas Chambers and Tony Martin.

Morgan was also named the Best Captain on the day for his stellar performance leading his team through the eight exercises that involved everything from theory to climbing down a mine shaft and rescuing someone from a car accident.

“This win has been a long time coming, having first started in Mines Rescue competitions back in 2011,” said Morgan.

“With the build-up leading into the competition, we knew we were working towards something big. We treated this like our grand final and even with three new team members, we stayed focused, kept it simple, and worked together as a tight unit. One of my main goals was to complete every scenario and achieving that makes this victory all the more special.”

While Mt Thorley Warkworth took out the top prize, the runner up for the overall competition was Mt Pleasant Operations, captained by Keelan O’Riley with team members Shannon Brooks (Vice Captain), Blake Murphy, Rebecca Orton, Josh Dever, Nathaniel Nixon and Jake Teague.

Regional Manager of the Hunter Valley Mines Rescue Station, Matthew Enright, said their aim is always to give the brigade members skills they can use at work, but also at home in their personal lives.

“The exercises vary from theory events to vertical rescue and pretty much everything in between. There are eight different events in the open cut competition based around a variety of rescue scenarios that they might come across one day in their workplace.

“We try to make them as realistic as possible and, in the training, we often try to factor in their home lives so if they’re heading home and they come across a car accident or someone having a heart attack or a stroke we teach them skills they can use in those situations,” said Matthew.

@ The Coalface ventured to Hunter Valley Mines Rescue Station to watch the action unfold and we were blown away by the professionalism and realism. From the bloody cuts and gashes to the simulated vertical rescues, everything was well thought out, right down to the noise. In one scenario, teams had to manage the challenge with music blaring until realising they could turn it off.

“There are little things that happen in the background in an emergency. One example is an emergency alarm going off and you’re trying to do something technical that you don’t do every day. We want to teach them how to manage that stress.

“We put things in place to create that environment here so they can tackle those situations if they arise,” said Matthew.

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