‘WOW’ was the consensus from this year’s Finke Desert Race, the other was ‘IT’S COLD’ especially for our Darwin & Gove counterparts…Thermals were the required insulation for the weekend at minus 2.5 degrees overnight.

Finke this year was amazing even for us ‘Finke Tragics’; overall leaving Alice Springs bound for Finke some 240kms south, were roughly 80 buggies and 502 motorbikes of all shapes and sizes. Out of those 582 vehicles a record number reached Finke and started out the next day.

We, SJA treated 118 patients of which 68 mostly required some strapping tape for those beautiful blister specimens! 10 were spectators from all over the track…we had no fatalities and no extremely serious injuries. We transported to Alice Springs Hospital only 15 and 5 to the Clinic in Finke.

One of the best Finkes yet. One spectator, well, he was just plain lucky…lucky he camped near Bundooma, lucky there was a chopper handy and lucky ICP Mark Ferguson was available to deliver the drugs this man needed…all before the race even started Sunday morning.

Our very own Caleb Auricht (Glen’s son) came into the finish line 6th this year, after last year breaking down just short of Mt Squires. Well done Caleb you are simply amazing.

We had some visitors from interstate this year with Kane Mortlock from Woolongong Div NSW and having a ball; I think we blew him away with what SJA is capable of in the NT. We placed him at Deep Well checkpoint and apparently he was kept busy.

Also Steve Peers had a busy weekend hosting the National Chief Commissioner, Prof Paul Arbon, National First Aid Services Manager, Stephen Carter, National Youth Manager, Belinda Ding and Deputy Commissioner Kieran Brown (read here for more). They all got to check out the Start / Finish line here in Alice and hopefully they didn’t get too covered in Central Aussie dirt ‘n dust and had a great time.

Thanks to Russell Campbell for the awesome photos from the Deep Well section of track. Thanks also to everyone who volunteered their time and any who travelled, some a long way for a very cold but fantastic weekend.

On Monday night once everyone got home and cleaned the vehicles I didn’t hear many complaints at all mostly just that it was cold and yes it was!

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2007 Finke Race & Cadets 
2009 Finke Race