Eight volunteers from the Eden unit gave up their time to travel to Mogo, where they attended a learning symposium on Friday, which included presentations and lectures, and on Saturday and Sunday a number of rescue scenarios.

The team were observed and scored, as they planned and carried out rescues at a number of different emergency scenarios, which rescue coordinator Nev Cowgill said were very realistic, set up as near as possible to resemble actual crashes.

"It was a tremendous learning experience for all of us," Nev said.

"We were the first cab off the rank on Saturday morning and went straight in to the road crash setups they had.

"The first one was wrapped around a big steel pole, the second one was up on a concrete wall - there were quite a lot of casualties, most of which were real people, everyone took a part, except in the most serious entrapments, where mannequins were used," he said.

The Eden SES Unit volunteers elected to have the facilitators mentor the group throughout their training exercises.

"We battled through at our own pace, it was good to have them there to encourage us and give us input. We have certainly taken a lot away from the weekend for our unit at Eden," Nev said.

"We only had 30 minutes for each challenge and were supposed to get casualties out in under that time, but closer to 40 minutes was our best effort."

The RCR Challenge was run jointly by NSW SES and NSW Fire and Rescue.

The team from the Eden SES Unit included newly qualified RCR operators as well as the unit's three most experienced RCR operators.

"We also did workshops and learnt a few tips about the tools we use and completed trauma challenges, it was a great exercise overall, very beneficial," Nev said.

The Eden SES Unit is always looking for volunteers and would welcome interest from anyone, even if they are not necessarily looking for active service on the ground. Contact commander Patricia Daly on 0458 737 160 for more information.

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