The 61st Ten Tors Challenge took place on Dartmoor at the weekend, and Mount Kelly was once again strongly represented by four teams across all three levels of the challenge.
After months of intense training, concluding with the Mount Kelly Expedition in March, all of the pupils in the teams were well prepared and looking forward to the challenge. However, to quote the famous line from Burns’ poem “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men gang aft agley”, with a week to go before the event, one of the 45-mile team members suffered a broken leg and had to withdraw. A day before the event, another member of the same team had to withdraw due to illness, however, Clara and Louisa stepped in at short notice to the huge relief of everyone.
The 35 team of Will, Sienna, Dilys, Jessica, Caitlin and Molly completed their route in impressive style, finishing at 1202 on Sunday. Mention must also go to Chloe who managed to secure a place on the Dartmoor Plodders team and also successfully completed the challenge.
Our 45A team of Noah, Freddie, Rosie, Charlotte, Heinrich and Clara completed their route and crossed the finish line at 1342, a very impressive achievement.
The 45B team of Charlotte, Kiera, Morgan, Louisa, Roman and Ollie came in at 1357, although sadly Ollie had to fall out on the Saturday evening due to a serious ankle strain.
The 55 team of Jack, Emily, Barney, Sophie, Ben (an OMK pupil, currently at Devonport High School for Boys) and George (from Shebbear College) finished very strongly at 1350.
All four teams deserve huge respect and should be immensely proud of their achievement. As the blisters heal, the aches and pains fade and the dust settles on this year’s event, they will be left with memories which will last a lifetime.
A big thank you must also go to Mrs Kelly and Mr Morrell for overseeing the training, along with Mr and Mrs Reid, Mrs Brijnath, and all of the College staff who contributed to the training of the teams this year. Not forgetting all of the parents whose support over the course of the year was also invaluable in helping the pupils stay committed.
Article by Chris Morrell, Teacher of English (College)
More photographs can be found on Facebook.
Categories: Expeditions
