The oak plant around Heinz Eichinger, Amy 9×19 and Reini Rossmann hosted the Survival Rally 2024 in the beautiful Pielach Valley in August, with the team from Ranger Magazine and Militär Aktuell in the thick of it. In Part 1 we reported on the base camp and our equipment, in part 2 about the “Hunting” station, followed by part 3 and the perception exercise. The next section of the course required skill.
Over hill and dale
With the admittedly disturbing story in mind, which we used as a memory aid at Station 2 a pink flamingo treating his sore fingers with an ointment after shooting a pistol, while a Tasmanian devil jumps rope with a red cube – we once again hurried to Station 3 as quickly as possible, but still carefully. What did the doctor say before we started the rally? Stretching helps? Good, so we finally had a reason to stop for a moment.
Even at this point of the rally, the heat demanded a clever use of the water we had brought with us. If only we had remembered what we were told at the briefing about the water sources: Was it possible to drink from this stream or was there a guaranteed clean supply later, at the Pielach? This uncertainty forced us to use every opportunity to at least cool down our bodies from the outside and at the same time to pay close attention to the amount of drinking water we had brought with us. First of all: we definitely drank too little during the rally.
When we reached station 3, the obstacle course, we saw the consequences of a colleague from another team overheating slightly: expertly looked after by the two station supervisors, he was lying with a cooling bandage on his head and his feet up. Until shortly before our arrival at the finish line, the sun showed its merciless side and brought many a rescue mission with it.
A medical emergency that occurred between the next two stations and was not directly related to the rally or the tasks set even caused the station operations to come to a standstill and we lost some time waiting. We later learned that the case fortunately ended up being harmless for the person involved.
Not that we didn’t need the breaks – quite the opposite. But what we didn’t know at the time was that – due to the emergency – the time score would no longer play a role at the end, but only the performance at the stations themselves would be assessed. Reflecting on the tasks and not rushing through them would have done us a lot of good, especially at the end, but we had time in mind above all.
The obstacle course was small but nice. Some obstacles were easier to overcome in pairs. So again: the ranger of the two of us hurried a few steps ahead, pushed ropes and branches aside and looked for the easier route. When crossing the stream on the thin rope, the person behind helped to stabilize the wobbly construction. Once again, everything went hand in hand.
When asked about our estimated running time after crossing the finish line, we were more than two minutes off the mark. We couldn’t believe that we only needed around one and a half minutes to complete the course. In hindsight, that was a sign of stress and the resulting tunnel vision – an important lesson!
Ranger tip: Tunnel vision helps you to solve simple tasks in a targeted manner – such as finding safe footholds and the easiest route through the course. However, it prevents you from keeping an eye on the big picture. The spatial and temporal dimensions are part of this. So before questions or tasks need to be clarified and completed, take several calming breaths and think about something “tangible”, such as looking at your watch or reaching for the floor. This gives the “system” time to switch over and you are ready for the next task.
Part 5 of the Survival Rally experience report continues with Station 4: “First aid”.
