So Ten Tors is over, the boys are exhausted and their parents are very, very proud.
Given their huge speed on Saturday we all left early on Sunday and got up to Oakhampton in time to see them cross the finishing line at 10.53 precisely. Here they are approaching the line:
From left to right we have Tim W, Tim T, Ollie, Steven, my Tom (small curly one in the foreground) and John. (My Tom isn't actually that small but Steven behind him is over 6'!)
Showing true Bolitho grit and courage, after 35 miles of arduous terrain, they ran the last 30 metres over the finishing line!
It's incredibly difficult to compare teams against each other except for those doing the same route. There are 12 different routes and, as teams have to stop by Tor 8 on the Saturday, those who are nearest to the end on the Sunday are, clearly, going to come in first. For T and his team, they reached Tor 8 by 5.12 on Saturday but had a very long flog home on Sunday - probably 6 miles from Tor 10 to the end.
However - and remembering this isn't a race(!) - they arrived back first in their group at 10.53 and, to put it into perspective, the first team back on their route last year was in a 11am and two years ago it was 11.35am. In other words - they did unbelievably well and walked at one heck of a lick. Their teacher from School was saying yesterday that he'd been concerned during training that he was getting really unfit as he couldn't keep up with them. Looking at the times they were recording on Saturday, he realised they were just damn fast!
We are all incredibly proud of them and, furthermore, they were all at School today! Here they are receiving their medals (from Tim T's Dad!):
My T is holding the certificate as he was Team Leader.
Well done boys - you're a credit to the school, yourselves and the younger generation as a whole, many of whom - sadly - wouldn't be able to walk a quarter of the distance you did, let alone carrying all their kit as well.
A huge pat on the back from me. Well done!
ReplyDeleteYou must be very proud parents!
Well done to team B52 :-)
ReplyDeleteIf it is not a race (but a hike with a competitive element), then it still is a long fight against that silly little voice in the back of your mind saying "oh come on, you're nuts! Just quit". Been there done that with long distance running, and it feels great to cross the finish line and know you've won that battle :-)