The Dart Trekkers 45 mile team were invited for breakfast at a local cafe prior to Ten Tors.

The voluntary group have entered one 45 mile team for the competition after training for nine months.

All the competitors completed the 35 mile course last year and were hopeful for a safe completion this year. The team, a mixture of girls and boys have been training since September.

All training sessions are run by dedicated and loyal volunteers who give up their free weekends to take the children onto Dartmoor for training including Terri Walker and Matt Pink. This year, the group have been lucky to have some former 55-mile competitors helping at recent training sessions.

The team leader this year was Josh Pichowski and the navigator was Izak Hemmings.

Over the past nine years, the voluntary group have put twenty one teams through the competition. Other team members include Miles Jones, Lottie Cusack, Jordan Gooch and Abby Peeke.

Ahead of the challenge, the team were invited to Cafe Alf Resco for a breakfast on the Friday before leaving for base camp.

For those who are unfamiliar with the event, the Ten Tors challenge allows local groups and schools to enter teams which either hike 35, 45 or 55 miles over the rough terrain of Dartmoor visiting ten nominated tors in under two days.

The teams must be self sufficient, carrying all that they need with them to complete the route and camp out overnight.

Kate Ryder from Cafe Alf Rescos said how pleased she was the Dart Trekkers had another team for the third year running.

“It’s so important for children to be outside and exercising and that’s what the voluntary group provides.”

Two of the team members work at Cafe Alf Resco and Terri, team manager said how accommodating Kate had been to allow the children to fit in their training weekends alongside their shifts at work.

Terri said the team finished the competition at about 3.30pm, finishing very well despite the sore feet on Monday morning. She said the whole team were in good spirits after the dry and clear weather they had throughout the weekend.