| Summary: Well priced kit with most essentials | |
| Price: £28 | |
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It seems a little strange reviewing something that I would hope to never use, a bit like an avalanche transceiver or the safety rope on an abseil. Inevitably though we will all need a first aid kit at some point and of course it is more often than not mandatory kit in an adventure race. Besides the obligation to carry it during a race it is common sense to carry one whenever out on the hills and Adventure Medical Kits are designed specifically for that purpose.
Adventure Medical Kits have been designed by an Emergency room doctor and active outdoorsman. They are used by some of the top AR teams in the world and come in a range of sizes for every length of race from sprint to expedition.
The Ultralight 0.7 (it’s weight in ounces) is designed as a bare minimum “ultra lightweight” first aid kit for 2 people for trips of up to 4 days. However, this could easily be stretched to fit use in a team expedition race and its light enough that it would be fine to carry on an Open 24 or Rat Race.
The kit is contained within two inner bags featuring a ‘leak proof, waterproof and airtight seal’, which I found did not always seal 100% without a lot of fiddling and I could not ever trust the seal to remain closed, despite claims to be tested and approved by the US Navy; I kept it inside another dry bag just in case.
With no standard first aid kit for adventure races, I had to tailor it for every race, adding and removing items as determined by rules and common sense. The current version in the shops seems to have an altered content list to the test kit so it is worth double checking the contents match your requirements. The U.S. version of this kit comes with ibuprofen, antihistamine, and antibiotics but not in the U.K. You will probably want to bolster the contents with some pain relief medication, more effective blister protection materials, and Loperamide as determined by your race’s mandatory kit list or your own sensibilities.
Most racers’ first aid kits are cobbled together from bits and pieces acquired over time, but if you are starting from scratch or want to be sure your adhesive dressings are still sticky and sterile when you need them, then it is worth checking out the AMK Ultralight range. They produce the 0.3 and 0.9 kits with less or more contents depending on your group size and trip length. The 0.9 kit has been popular with teams competing in Primal Quest, Raid Gauloises and Eco Challenges and contains a few extra items sure to be needed on an expedition race at some point.
The most important piece of medical kit you could have with you in a race is knowledge and Adventure Medical Kits acknowledge the necessity of sound advice by publishing a free ebook called ‘A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness and Travel Medicine’ which you can download here: http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com/documents/Comprehenive%20Guide%20Wilderness.pdf
The AMK Ultralight and Waterproof 0.7 kit currently contains the following items:
Bandage Materials
2 Dressing, Gauze, Sterile, 3″ x 3″, Pkg./2
2 Dressing, Gauze, Sterile, 2″ x 2″, Pkg./2
3 Bandage, Butterfly Closure
1 Bandage, Conforming Gauze, 3″
4 Bandage, Adhesive, Fabric, 1″ x 3″
2 Dressing, Non-Adherent, Sterile, 3″ x 4″
3 Bandage, Adhesive, Fabric, Knuckle
Bleeding
1 Gloves, Nitrile (Pair), Hand Wipe
Blister / Burn
11 Moleskin, Pre-Cut & Shaped
Duct Tape
1 Duct Tape, 2″ x 100″
Fracture / Sprain
1 Bandage, Elastic with Velcro, 2″
Instrument
1 Splinter Picker/Tick Remover Forceps
3 Safety Pins
Medication
2 After Bite Wipe
Other
2 Aloksak Waterproof Bag, 6.75″ X 6″
Wound Care
1 Tape, 1″ x 10 Yards
1 Tincture of Benzoin Topical Adhesive,
Vial
5 After Cuts & Scrapes Anaesthetic/Antiseptic Wipe
For more details please visit: http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com