Students take on Ten Tors

STUDENTS from Matravers have conquered this year’s Ten Tors challenge, walking up to 55 miles over Dartmoor in self-sufficient teams.
The Ten Tors Challenge, one of the toughest tests of endurance in the country, is organised by the army and teams visit the ten nominated tors. The teams must be self-sufficient, carrying all that they need to complete their route while surviving two days on the moor. This year the teams were fortunate to have a weekend without rain, although rain from the previous week did make some patches of ground harder to negotiate. While many schools in the area chose not to enter teams this year due to the close proximity to the exam period, Matravers entered teams for all three distances of 35, 45, and 55 miles. All of the 24 students, who are in years 10, 11 and 12, completed the challenge. Two of the teams even reached their eighth tor by the first night. The students from Matravers had been training since January with day trips and weekends away to prepare them for all eventualities. For members of the 35 mile team, it was their first time taking on the challenge. Despite the unknown quantity, their confidence was justified when they completed the challenge on Sunday afternoon. For them, the hardest part was “getting up on Sunday morning”, but the team is keen to do the Ten Tors next year and increase their distance to 45 miles. Having taken on the 35 mile distance last year, one team upgraded to 45 miles this year. For them, the hardest part was simply to “keep on walking”, and they found the wet and boggy terrain could be challenging at times. Some of the walkers are now working towards their Duke of Edinburgh award – which they say will be a “walk in the park” compared to the Ten Tors! You can find out more about the challenge, and see how the Matravers teams did, at http:// events.exeter.ac.uk/tentors