The Ultrabalaton running race was held on the 11-13 May. Our team of four rescue members participated in the event. Lajos Sass, Kilián Huber, Péter Kunisch and Péter Gonda ran in the colours of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service. This year, the team was escorted by a driver, Zoltán Kiss, also a team member of the rescue service.

The weather was rather moody, the temperature was around 3-4C in the early morning, which was followed by a 25-degree heat.  The 220 kms’ distance race had to be finished in a storm during night. The first runner of the team started at 6:35 a.m. on Saturday and the last arrived at 2:31 a.m. on Sunday in the finish area.

The long race was exhaustive enough and it was interspersed with minor cramps and unsettled stomach.

It has become a tradition that the Duna-Ipoly National Park celebrates the Earth Day together with other non-governmental organizations and this year was no exception to this tradition. The event has attracted and called outdoors many families again. The Hungarian Cave Rescue Service was happy to join to it. As usual, we made all the preparations for the cave rescue demonstration early Saturday afternoon in the territory of the quarry, where the visitors of the Pál-völgyi barlang (Paul Valley Cave) curiously spotted the sky as they reached to the exit.

Sunday event was visited by many people and fortunately the raining waited until the end of the day. We demonstrated how we carry the stretcher together in the event of an accident and the stretcher could also be tested by the visitors at our stand. 

On November 30, 2018, we organized the second blood donation event. Here are the brief results:

34 main blood donors X 4.5 dl of blood taken = 15.3 liters of blood (3 people).

This is how we were able to WORK TOGETHER to help those who were in a difficult situation! Thank you for every participant, we hope to see you all next year! For those who like more detail: This year, 34 of the 36 registered participants were able to donate blood. 5 of them were new blood donors, they are registered separately because they consider it important that those who do not yet have experience in this field have come and will probably return if everything goes well, ie they get into the system.

The usual great cave rescue training during fall was held in the Devil’s Hole Cave in Solymár this year. Also we excersized near the entrance on the surface. We practiced the handling and transport of the stretcher in several groups. In addition to the members of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service, the members of the Bakony Cave Rescue Service, the Northern Hungarian Association of Cave Rescuers, the firefighters of the 1st District of Disaster Management also joined and practiced together.

We also gained a wealth of useful experience in performing tasks that seemed simple at first glance.

More pictures CLICK HERE can be found on our facebook page.

4 members of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service attended an international cave rescue training course specifically for women at the invitation of the Cave Rescue Service of Slovenia (Jamarska Reševalna Služba). The course was being held from 24 June to 1 July, 2018 in Scezna, Slovenia.

In addition to the Hungarian delegation, cave rescue women (and some lucky men) from Germany, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Turkey and Ukraine also came to the training.

The aim of the training was on the one hand to share and deepen the knowledge of rope technique used for rescue (which is becoming more and more uniform throughout Europe), on the other hand to transfer the knowledge that enabled women who might be physically weaker than their male counterparts to participate effectively in a rescue.

Our first semester rescue practice was organized on the weekend of June 2-3, 2018, after consultations and obtaining permits, in the Spiral Cave of the Mecsek Mountains. We had training in this cave before. The exciting cave has put us to the test again with its heavy narrows, narrow stream branch, and serious pit system.

Our regional unit in southern Hungary went fist to the cave, with a doctor and medical equipment, took care of the injured and kept him warm. A command point was set up on the surface where the rescue work was organized and directed. The central rescue team and the other regional units arrived to the rescue scene in several groups. We have built our cave phone system as well as rigged the rope work for vertical transportation.