'Amazing' community effort to free 180 cars from mud

Daisy Stephens
BBC News
Mel Slade A group of eight people wearing waterproofs pushing a car in a muddy field.Mel Slade
A team of people helped to move about 180 stranded cars

Participants of an orienteering event where about 180 cars got stuck in the mud have praised the "amazing" response from organisers, attendees and local farmers.

Just under 500 people attended Berkshire Orienteers' Concorde Chase in Cold Ash, Berkshire, on Sunday, according to organiser Fiona Clough.

But when people started to leave at midday after several hours of heavy rain, their vehicles got stuck, sparking a seven-hour operation that ended up with tractors towing them out one by one.

Attendee Paul Fox said it was "a really good example of how to manage a crisis".

Mel Slade A tractor pulling a silver car over badly churned muddy ground, with a row of trees in the backgroud.Mel Slade
Four tractors in total came to help tow the cars out the field

Ms Clough said about 250 vehicles attended the event, and to begin with conditions were fine.

"But then [the rain] got heavier and heavier," she said. "People started struggling."

She said 4x4 vehicles were used to tow cars - but then they started getting stuck too, so she had to call in reinforcements.

In total, four tractors came and towed the cars out of the field one by one.

Mel Slade A man and a woman sitting in the front seats of a car smiling at the camera.Mel Slade
Carol and Alistair Lovegrove attended the event with their 16-year-old daughter

Attendee Carol Lovegrove, who attended the event with her husband and their 16-year-old daughter, said their car was stuck in the mud for about six hours.

"I've been going orienteering all my life and I've occasionally got stuck in car park fields," she said.

"This was just muddier than usual."

She said the organisers were checking in regularly with people, handing out snacks and checking they were warm enough - especially those in cars that were low on fuel and could not run their engines.

"They were clearly doing as much as they could," she said.

And the 52-year-old, who was one of the last to be rescued, said the tractor drivers were "amazing".

"They just got on with it," she said.

Helen Ashenden A man in a red coat and a black hat smiling at the camera with a field and a row of trees behind him.Helen Ashenden
Paul Fox said there was "teamwork involved" to free all the cars

Mr Fox, who came from Andover to take part in the event, said it was evident quickly that people needed "a little bit of a helping hand".

Along with a team of others, he helped push cars out of the mud at the start and, as conditions deteriorated, towards the entrance to the field to make it easier for the tractors to tow them out.

He said "everybody was helping one another", sharing towing bolts and helping attach them.

"There was definitely teamwork involved and also people showing concern for older competitors on their own, or people with young families," he said.

The 62-year-old said there was no anger, just a desire to help.

"Everyone just accepted it and everyone had a smile on their face," he said.

"At the end of the day, everyone got out, everybody got home."

Mel Slade A blurry photo of a tractor towing a car across a muddy field. It's getting dark and the tractor's headlights are on.Mel Slade
It took around seven hours to free all the cars

The last of the cars was towed out of the field at around 20:30 GMT, Ms Clough said.

She said the experience was difficult, but the tractor drivers were "absolutely magnificent".

"There wasn't a grumpy tractor driver amongst them," she said.

"They're our tractor drivers... we love them."

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