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Intrepid Ten Tors Team Tackle Storm

28th February 2020

Storm Ciara promised to cause chaos to the UK on the weekend before half term and the 35 mile Ten Tors team changed plans to ensure that they were able to complete their next challenge.  

The 45 mile team had the weekend off with Year 11 mock exams lurking, which needed careful preparation.

The team camped out on the school fields as the winds built and the rain came down late Friday night. Participants made use of the gym for some team building and communication work, which is such an important element of the Ten Tors challenge. The development of critical ‘soft skills’ help to improve the odds of success.

The day started at 5.00am with the squad cooking a hot breakfast, packing up and being ready to roll by 7.00am. Their bags were filled with ballast to ensure that there was parity between team members.  The walk saw them head out as far as Starcross before looping around Cockwood and then heading back to tackle the Dawlish and Smugglers Valley, prior to reaching Teignmouth station.

With the route flatter than the moors, pace was an important aspect the team were able to work on and all drove hard to hit their schedules. The hard concrete paths also brought their own challenges, with feet being sorer than if they were on the moor.

The final few miles of the 17 mile walk were hard and the team had to help each other battle through. As they summitted the final climbs (Dawlish and Smugglers) they came across other walkers who were amazed at what these young people had done that day. The sessions were a reminder that some people may believe young people give up when they are tired or hurt. These Trinitionians showed that the only place they were stopping was the finish line!

The physical and mental challenge saw the pupils finding roles for themselves in the squad which is so important ahead of team selection in March. A hard reality of Ten Tors is that only 6 out of the 8 pupils will make it into the team in May, while all have invested a lot of time and energy to get to this point.
Both the 35 and 45 mile teams will be camping on the moors and walking on 27th/28th February. We are hoping that the next named storm does not compromise training!