Teen spirit and the Ten Tors

When, in 1960, three Army officers decided to run a Dartmoor youth expedition to give young civilians the experience of navigating, bivouacking and field cooking so enjoyed by the Army’s junior leaders, they could not have imagined that more than 2,400 teenagers would still be gathering to do it 60 years later. The Ten Tors event is widely respected as one of the toughest weekend challenges any teenager will tackle. Over-subscription means few teams east of Wiltshire get in, although thousands of children are motivated to get fit, take up walking and learn to navigate, since 40 or so may find themselves vying for one of six places on each team.

Just making the starting line, therefore, is an achievement, a point emphasised with much military chutzpah as it gets underway at Okehampton Army Camp on the first Saturday in May. If this helps stoke nervous energy, so much the better: each team must navigate a route of 35, 45 or 55 miles, passing through 10 checkpoints and carrying full overnight