THE region’s only airborne emergency service made quite a splash at the second annual Northwich Krazy Races soapbox derby.

As this year’s headline charity, the North West Air Ambulance (NWAA) had a huge presence at the event, not least in the race itself, with their superb soapbox cart – called ‘Katie Copter’, designed to look a lot like their own well known yellow and blue aircraft.  

As the service gets no statutory funding from the government, and as they’re not part part of the NHS, the NWAA needs to raise £12 million this year to continue running its vital service.

This year alone, crews have launched almost 1,700 vital missions, no doubt saving many lives.

Northwich Guardian: (L to R) Katie Copter driver, Mikey Foster, with colleague and team mate, paramedic Andrew Duncan(L to R) Katie Copter driver, Mikey Foster, with colleague and team mate, paramedic Andrew Duncan (Image: Newsquest)

Helicopter critical care paramedic, Andrew Duncan, hopes proceeds from Northwich Krazy Races will go a long way towards helping them achieve their ambitious funding target.

He said: “We’re having a fantastic day out so far, and we’re really pleased with the way Katie Copter has been running. Mind you, we’ve still got two runs to go.

“We raised the money to build her money separately to the charity itself. She was mostly funded through staff and volunteer donations – like our own mini crowd funding.

“There’re five of us on the actual team, but there're loads more of us here today for support.

“We decided we make it not all about the racing and turned the day into an opportunity for a staff social event. Ours is a difficult job, and we all need things like that from time to time.

Northwich Guardian: Andrew Duncan greets the fansAndrew Duncan greets the fans (Image: Newsquest)

“As we don’t receive any government funding, we thought it was important the Katie Copter didn’t cost the charity anything.

“That way, all the funds raised can go towards paying out fantastic doctors and paramedics. They all do an amazing job.

“The service wouldn’t exist at all without our fantastic community of fundraisers and partners.”

Since NWAA began in 1999, it has responded to 31,000 calls for help across the region – that’s an average of seven a day.

The team covers an area of 5,500 square miles, an area home to more than eight million people, and responds to cases where critical intervention needs to happen as soon as possible, so patients can receive the best care available, and get the best outcome.  

Andrew added: “We’d like so say a big thank you to everyone who has come here today to cheer us on.

“The whole thing has been brilliantly run, and we think the day will just get better and better.”