Ten Tors Takes Place This Weekend

© MoD

Dartmoor's annual Ten Tors event, held this year on the 9-10 May, will see thousands of teenagers take part in a testing two-day mass backpacking challenge.

The start of a previous Ten Tors - photo copyright MoD  © MoD
The start of a previous Ten Tors - photo copyright MoD

Depending on their age group, four hundred teams of six teenagers will be walking courses of 35, 45 or 55 miles, crossing tough terrain to visit checkpoints on ten nominated tors. The youngsters must be self-sufficient, carrying all that they need to complete their route safely, whatever the weather.

The Met Office has issued an area forecast specifically for this weekend's event. It's a mixed picture: sunshine, heavy rain and strong wind on Saturday; drier but still cold and windy on Sunday.

The Ten Tors Challenge is organised by the Army's Headquarters 1st Artillery Brigade & South West, from its Moor Group Headquarters at Okehampton Camp, with help from the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force and the Dartmoor Rescue Group. Between them they oversee the participants to make sure that, in their words, 'none comes to lasting harm'.

Dartmoor National Park Authority has also been working closely with the Army and team managers to help minimise the environmental impact of the event.

In 2013 the National Park introduced the £ for the Park initiative, under which people taking part in organised events on the moor are invited to make a donation to put something back into its upkeep. Ten Tors has donated around £1400 to date, which the National Park say has contributed to repair work on popular access routes such as the bridleway heading south from Princetown past South Hessary Tor, and Manga rails on the River Teign. 

Donations from this year's event will be spent on path repairs and conservation work too. Teams are also being invited to return to Dartmoor to help out on future volunteer work days.

Peter Harper, Chairmanof the  Dartmoor National Park Authority said,

'Dartmoor National Park Authority has for many years worked closely with the organisers, landowners and commoners to minimise the environmental impact of the Ten Tors challenge and to maximise the local economic benefits of event.  We know that the event  can help foster a passion in young people to help look after this very special place, now and in the future.'

'Having led a Ten Tors team myself for the past 19 years, I know how challenging six months of training and the event itself can be. The reward is seeing how the young people develop from individuals into a team to master that challenge. We wish all those taking part in Ten Tors and Jubilee Challenge 2015 the very best.'


This post has been read 1,544 times

Return to Latest News

Loading Notifications...
Facebook Twitter Copy Email