The story of the Ten Tors 55-mile team began at the end
of the Michaelmas term, when a group of individuals
expressed their interest in attempting the monster
challenge on Dartmoor.
This year only a few volunteered: Ed Warmington, Alex Dunham
and Ralph Lawson, who had all done Ten Tors before; Angus
Urquhart, who had completed every training session for both
45 and 35 miles but had yet to complete the challenge; Sophie
Whitfield, the only female and the youngest in the group, and
me, who had zero Ten Tours experience but had always wanted
to do it After all, it's only a big walk...
Every Monday lunch-time we did long-distance runs, topped
off with the infamous lamp post shuttle: sprinting up a hill to
different lamp posts to feel the burn in your legs. There were
also walks on Dartmoor with Mr Belfield, Mr Mason and Mr West
with water-logged boots and packs filled with rocks.
Finally the big day was upon us. You wake up to something quite
special, as Chariots of Fire booms across the camp at 6am. We
listened to the Ten Tors prayer and then the cannon had fired
and we were running down the hill. The weather really wasn't
in our favour: it was either raining or utterly tipping it down. By
the end of the first hour I was wearing nothing that was dry. It
was also bitterly cold, hurting your face and hands, but worst of
all was the wind, making our trekking tough-going up the tors.
It was at tor 3 that problems started: Angus was having difficulties
with his hip and the team's pace had begun to slow. By tor 4
poor Angus was in a lot of pain. We made the decision that I
would carry his pack the 5.5 miles to tor 5. The hardest part was
fighting the wind; with two packs on (one on my back the other
on my front) I became a human kite. When we saw tor 5 ahead
we made it our mission to get there, but when we reached it, it
wasn't tor 5! This was still two kilometres away. At 700m short
of the tor Ralph and Alex physically carried Angus up. At the
top we called in a helicopter. Just before Angus was stretchered
aboard Alex leaned over him and shouted over the engine noise,
"Don't worry buddy, you're going home," patting him on the head
in classic war film fashion!
The Last Leg
We were now tired, wet, and very cold, with extremely little hope
of completing the challenge. We decided to walk through most
of the night so we could arrive at tor 6 before 6am. We walked
until 12pm, ate pretty much everything we had and fell asleep
in seconds.
We woke up at 4am, and at 5:45am were at tor 6. While Ralph
checked the team in, we met a 35-mile team. One of them was
really struggling with cut feet and I remember him looking like he
was about to cry, when Ed gave him whatever blister plasters he
had left. A true gent.
Now we had to race to get to each check-point before it closed.
For 6km to the last tor we struggled through waist-high grass
that made walking extremely painful on our battered feet. We
stopped briefly, and in those short five minutes Sophie fell
asleep. Tiredness was a weight in itself.
After a huge hill, there was a heavenly tarmac track for the final
7km, a river that we crossed not even caring if we got wet, and
a final hill. Marching in form as fast as our battered bodies could
manage, we crossed the line with four minutes to spare!! I was so
proud of our team, who I was now so close to. I was also hit with
a massive sadness that it was over. So if you ever get a chance to
do anything of this nature, jump at it; you won't regret it.
I'd also like to say a big thank you to Mr Mason, without whom we
definitely would not have done it. Without his teaching we might
still be on Dartmoor somewhere.
Ten Tor Tenacity
King's put out teams to walk the 35-mile and 55-mile Ten Tor routes this
year. This account of the 55-mile trek by Conor Bannister gives a flavour
of what both teams went through
35-milers - Cameron Souter-Frost, Hugo Campbell-Smith, Sam Stickland and
Holly Hands at the inish line
55-milers - Sophie Whitield, Conor Bannister, Ralph Lawson, Alex Dunham
and Ed Warmington at the inish line
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