Time spent on Mount Panorama during race week is a bitter sweet experience for Carol Cameron of Fern Bay, near Newcastle.
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In 2000 her husband Max died in her arms on the mountain that meant so much to them both.
Max had suffered a heart attack and subsequently died in the police compound while waiting for assistance.
He had been coming to watch the bikes race at Bathurst since 1952.
“At least he died on his beloved mountain,” she said.
Carol said that because of his long association with motorsport at the Mount, council and race promoters named the camping ground at the bottom of the mount The Max Cameron Campground in his memory.
“It was really touching,” she said.
Carol and Max had known each other since she was 11 and he was 13. He was the love of her life.
Around her neck she wears a medallion with his photo etched on it.
She said every year while their kids were growing up they would bring them up to Mount Panorama and camp.
Later they began volunteering with the Motorcycle Council of NSW by escorting the campers to their camp sites. Even though her husband is gone, Carol still comes back every year to volunteer her time during the Bathurst 1000.
She is not alone – she has many good friends among the dedicated volunteers who have spent between 10 and 24 years assisting the campers.
Carol said it is a job she truly loves.
“I feel so close to him up here,” she said.
