By: Blonde Two

When the Ten Tors Big Cheese jumped onto our Blonde minibus to give us our grilling the other day, one of the first things that he said to us was, “You are not one of those racing teams are you?”  We were very proud to be able to respond that we were not. Let me explain;

Ten Tors was not designed to be a race, rather a test of skill, endurance and teamwork.  There is, of course a sense of competition, and one has to admire those teams who are strong and fast enough to arrive back at camp early on Sunday.  We Blondes however, have a mantra that we teach our youngsters – “Six by Five”.  “Six by Five” means that we want to see all six young people in each team get back in one piece by the time the finish closes at five o’clock on Ten Tors Sunday.  We don’t mind what time, just as long as they are still together and still working as a team.

This is no mean feat.  Exhaustion can bring on irritation and injuries.  It can be tempting to get fed up with slower team members, even to fall them out as injured.  But the true team players, by default the true winners in our eyes, will do anything within their power to get all of their team home, they will carry their kit, they will give them their food and they will speak words of encouragement.  These guys are the ones that truly embody the spirit of Ten Tors, if you come up to the finish, watch out for those teams who are together and who are helping each other home.  They are the ones to be truly impressed by!