The culmination of months of training happened over the weekend – the 2108 Ten Tors Expedition. I am the Team Manager, along with Pete Davies, of the National Trust’s team ‘Wild Tribe’. We work and train very closely with Torquay Boys Grammar School led by Roy Colvile. Over the weekend we had five teams out who all successfully completed their routes. It is a massive effort involving dozens of volunteers and young people – a huge thank you to all the people who make it happen, a special thanks to Neil Parsons and Tony Owen and of course Roy Colvile without whom the Wild Tribe couldn’t be involved. Here are a few of my pictures from the weekend.
Dawn – 5.30 am Saturday over our camp site
Getting ready and having breakfast
Two Merlins bring in the starting gun.
Walking up to the start with West Mill and Yes Tor in the background
Paratroopers set the scene
Flying the flag
Spot on target
The canons start the event
And they are off
Different teams on different routes
Time for some of the team of volunteer Team Managers to reflect and have a rest
Some time later on Sunday …. TBGS 35 mile team – 4th team in overall – wow
TBGS 55 mile team – first 55 mile team in ….. even bigger wow
National Trust Wild Tribe 35 and 55 mile Team arrive at the finish together before noon
Wild Tribe 35 mile team
Wild Tribe 55 mile team
Wild Tribe 35 milers – all smiles at the finish
55 miles in under 29 hours – that is some achievement and you can see the happiness and relief in their smiling faces
Wild Tribe 45 mile team approach the finish
Impressive achievement again – they were in just after 2.30pm some with some staggering blisters and aching muscles – 10 Tors is all about resilience, team work and grit – they nailed it
Finally a huge thanks to the Army for organising it with a lot of support from the Royal Navy and RAF. In my view the organisation was the best ever – smooth and slick. And boy were we blessed with the weather – no rain on either Saturday or Sunday, and Sunday was a sun fest!
And next year we will do it all again and help to transform and build another generation of brilliant young achievers.