Ten Tors
Ten Tors is an annual weekend hike in early May, on Dartmoor, southwest England. Organized by the British Army, starting in 1960, it brings together teams of six young people, with the 2,400 young participants hiking to checkpoints on ten specified tors. The majority of entrants are schools, colleges, Scout groups and Cadet squadrons from South West England, though groups from across the UK have regularly taken part, as have teams from Australia and New Zealand. However, from 2012, only teams from the South West of England are eligible to take part, due to the large numbers of entrants.
Event format
Teams of six are required to visit ten specified tors and 5 to 10 via tors, these are required although not counted towards the 8 tor limit on the first day or your ten tors.; on the top of each tor is a checkpoint. Each team is required to visit all of the specified checkpoints in the correct order. Any member can choose to withdraw at a safety control, as long as there are 4 remaining participants; teams falling below this number could merge in earlier years, while later rules required a badly reduced team to forfeit.There are 26 different routes over three different distances, lettered from A to Z, using a total of 19 different manned tors: 12 Bronze routes of for those aged 14 to 15 years; 10 Silver routes of for those aged 16 to 17 years; and 4 Gold routes of for those aged 18 to 19 years, or 17-year-olds who completed a Silver or Bronze route previously.
The organisers stress that the event is not a race - although teams often compete to see who can finish first - but a test of endurance, navigation and survival skills, because of not just the distances and the challenging terrain, but potentially also the weather; conditions on Dartmoor can vary considerably and change suddenly. In 1996, for example, the event was struck by a heavy snow storm, leading to some teams still being out on the moor a day after the event was due to have finished; while in 1998 temperatures reached 26 °C.
Participants arrive at Okehampton Camp on the Thursday or Friday before the hike, watch a safety briefing video and have their equipment checked, a thorough process known as scrutineering. Teams must carry all their food, clothing, tents, stoves, fuel, navigation equipment, maps, emergency rations and a first aid kit; they also collect drinking water from the moor and use water purification tablets. Each team has a nominated team leader, who is responsible for ensuring that the team's route card is stamped at each of the ten tors.
All the teams start at 0700 on the Saturday from an area of flat land next to Anthony Stile, close to Okehampton Camp on the northern edge of Dartmoor. They stand in a semicircle and set off when a cannon fires. They have 34 hours to visit each of the ten tors on their route in the correct order. Teams must not pass through a checkpoint between 2200 on Saturday and 0600 on Sunday morning; nor may they pass the eighth tor until the Sunday. Those on 35 mile routes must camp at one of the manned tors on their route, while 45 and 55 mile teams may camp anywhere on the moor. Teams must arrive back at Anthony Stile by 1700 on the Sunday, having visited all ten tors on their route in order, to qualify for a medal and complimentary pasty. Teams that finish the challenge as a complete six also receive a certificate.
History of the event
The first Ten Tors Expedition took place in September 1960, with around 200 young people taking part. By 1980, the numbers had grown to more than 2,600. To protect the environment, the numbers are now limited to 2,400 individuals: 400 teams of four to six teenagers. The Army uses the event as a large scale logistics training exercise.Until 1967, the event was organised by the Junior Leaders Regiment, Royal Corps of Signals. This responsibility passed to Headquarters South West District, and in 1986 to 43 Brigade, the regional Headquarters of the Territorial Army in the South West.
Since 1977, an additional event, The Jubilee Challenge, has been held for young people with physical or learning disabilities. This involves a selection of four routes of between, both on road and cross-country.
Many military units and civilian groups provide support for this event and the Jubilee Challenge, including the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, Exeter UOTC, 243 Field Hospital RAMC, 6th Battalion The Rifles, two Sea King HC4 helicopters from 848 Naval Air Squadron, 39 Signal Regiment, two Gazelle helicopters from 7 Regiment Army Air Corps, Bristol UOTC, and the Dartmoor Rescue Group.
1981
The first ever Junior Army Team from Junior Leaders Regiment Royal Armoured Corps JLR RAC finished the Gold Course with 24 minutes to spare, despite several of the six-strong team having severe foot injuries. They were cheered home by an honour guard of Royal Marines and Paratroopers who walked with the boys over the last mile.1993
reports "Hurricane Force" winds during the event.1996
A cold northerly wind on the Saturday of the 1996 event turned to rain and snow overnight. This continued through Sunday, accompanied by fog and driving wind. Requests from Tor party commanders, two of whom had their tents destroyed, added to pressure to abandon the event, and there was a mass evacuation of the moor on the Sunday afternoon, the first time the event had been terminated early. Fifty-one teams completed their routes, but no record remains of their success.2001
Ten Tors was cancelled in 2001 due to the foot and mouth epidemic, but went ahead the next year.2003
For the second year in succession the Plymouth DofE Award 45 team took the honour of leading the teams over the finish line, at 08:49, improving on their time of 09:23 in 20022004
In 2004, the Ten Tors record for earliest complete team home was broken by R1809, Dartmoor Plodders, with a time of 08:19. This stood until 2009.2005
In 2005, one of the original teams from the 1960 Ten Tors took part in the event, which was held on 14–15 May in particularly adverse weather conditions: constant rain on the Saturday, combined with a bitter wind, leading to an unusually high number of retirements.2006
In 2006, the event was held over the weekend of 13–14 May, with high temperatures on the Sunday resulting in several cases of dehydration.2007
On Sunday 4 March 2007, Charlotte Shaw was swept away by the rain-swollen Walla Brook near Watern Tor, while training for the event. The rest of her group raised the alarm using a mobile phone, but despite her being evacuated by a Royal Navy helicopter within 20 minutes, she died later that night in Derriford Hospital, Plymouth. In December 2009 an inquest into the death was halted for the case to be considered for criminal charges. Several other groups were also evacuated by helicopter after weather conditions on Dartmoor deteriorated.The event itself was abandoned at 21:30 on Saturday 12 May 2007, halfway through, due to severe weather conditions; the decision was influenced by the high drop-out rate of 15% on Saturday. Participants spent the night camped at a manned Tor, before being escorted off the moor by the military the following day.
2008
From 2008, the event was much changed, with different routes and use of the moor to help bird conservation in the nesting season. Steeperton Tor and Hare Tor were dropped from the Tor list, and the pass from Dinger to Kitty Tor known as "Death Valley" was zoned off limits. Each team was permitted only four training walks on the north moor. A review of these changes. The 2008 event was a total contrast to the previous years, with temperatures in the low 20s Celsius, and participants dropping out because of dehydration rather than hypothermia.2009
In 2009, the Ten Tors' record for the earliest complete team home since the rule change was broken with a time of 08:17 by 20th Torbay Explorer Scouts.For the first time, an all-girls team from Torquay Grammar School for Girls also broke the record for successfully completing the 35-, 45- and 55-mile events consecutively and with the same team members.
There were fewer dropouts than in other years in almost perfect weather conditions.
2010
2010 saw the 50th anniversary of the Ten Tors event. To mark the occasion the Duke of Edinburgh visited the event on Sunday morning to speak to finishers and present some with the commemorative 50 years medals. It also marked the first year that teams carried a GPS tracker which enabled the organisers and team managers to track the participants' progress directly. The first finishers were 20th Torbay Explorer Scouts and King Edward's School Bath who walked over the line together at 7:37 to break the record for earliest finishers by 40 minutes, and also finishing four and a half hours ahead of any other team on their route. This also meant the scout group had crossed the line first for three consecutive years. Notable other finishers were the 'Denbury Boys' who, made up of men who completed the first ever Ten Tors, successfully completed the 35 mile event.2011
The 2011, Challenge started under a clear blue sky, but cloud obscured the tops of *West Mill and *High Willhays even then. Cloud and a fresh breeze built up through the day, but by 17:50, a blue sky was breaking through. Sunday was very similar with the first finishers walking in under a blue sky, but again the cloud gathered through the day. .The largely overcast and cool weekend was almost perfect walking weather - of the 390 teams which started 374 walked over the finish line, and of those finishing teams 316 walked in with all six team members. Over the last fifteen years of the event, this is the highest percentage of both Finishing and Complete teams. Sixteen teams either retired or were 'crashed out', but even here the statistics are impressive – in the previous 15 years teams are noted as stopping at their second Tor onwards. In 2011, the first teams to stop reached their fifth Tor before doing so.
It was also the 60th anniversary of Dartmoor as a National Park so everyone received a participant certificate.