Ten Tors 2025 Success!!
Last weekend, all three JOG teams completed their Ten Tors 2025 routes, continuing a stretch of John of Gaunt success that has lasted since 2019! The students should be incredibly proud of what they achieved and of the physical, mental, and organisational challenges they overcame—both during the event and throughout the training.
Event preparation began after school on Tuesday with mandatory safety briefings and instructions on how to use their tracker beacons. Navigators then pored over their allocated routes and maps, searching for the easiest and quickest ways to move between checkpoints. Routes were quickly typed into mapping apps, Word documents, and spreadsheets to calculate timings and distances.
Wednesday after school saw the internal equipment inspection, where students laid out all their kit in the gym to be scrutinised and double-checked by JOG staff and volunteers.
“Smokey Bill” made the journey down on Thursday, dodging traffic and setting up our large basecamp tent—a marvellous solo effort that included creating a full field kitchen, seating for about 20, and putting up all the student tents.
On Friday, the students set off. Once at Okehampton Army Camp, Mrs Brooks excelled by registering our teams, collecting beacons, and issuing control cards (to be stamped) and medical wristbands. The students then enjoyed the live music, the Armed Services’ “Engagement Village” activities, and the various food and drink vans. With 2,400 students doing Ten Tors, 400 students completing the Jubilee Challenge, probably 2,000 institutional staff, and over 3,000 military and medical personnel on site, the normally quiet camp was transformed into a vibrant carnival atmosphere.
At 05:00 on Saturday, the customary “Chariots of Fire” blared across the campsite—but most students were already up, preparing for the start. After a “Bill’s Banging Breakfast,” they applied sun cream, sorted hydration sachets (the forecast was hot!), and marched up to the start line. They joined thousands of others awaiting the launch, enjoying a fabulous VE Day-themed parachute display with skydivers trailing red smoke and a Union Jack flag falling from the beautiful blue sky. The field gun fired at 07:00, and the teams set off into a warm, yet unforgiving, Dartmoor.
Over the next day and a half, staff and parents desperately tried to track the teams’ progress. By Sunday, it was clear that all three teams were going to finish. Unfortunately, the distance and the weather—cold and wet on Sunday morning, then blazingly hot—took their toll on a couple of our 45-mile team members, who were forcibly withdrawn by Mountain Rescue at their ninth tor. However, their efforts were extraordinary, getting much further than many students on the day and far beyond many previous JOG participants. (In fact, 4 out of 8 of our 45-mile teams have failed the Challenge since 2008.)
Overall, it was a fabulous achievement by these incredible young people, and 16/18 students were clapped over the line by parents, friends and thousands of other spectators. Well done all!
Results:
35-mile Challenge (Bronze) – Finished 13:20
(4th quickest JOG team since 2009)
Ed Stacey & Jensen Haase (navigators), Seb Balawender (captain), Phoebe Morris, Leo Lockwood-Norris, Harry Bronson
45-mile Challenge (Silver) – Finished 14:38
(2nd quickest JOG team since 2009)
Ed Carter & Jensen Walsh-Hill (navigators), Jack Lilley (captain), Evan May, Nitya Sannaveerappa, Tom Usher
45-mile Challenge (Silver) – Finished 15:20
(4th quickest JOG team since 2009)
Olivia Fyall & Sophie Brennand (navigators), Korey Drysdale, Jonah Coy, Dominic Carter, Alfie Baily
Before I sign off—until the whole process starts again in October — I'd like to thank the volunteers and staff who make the entire experience possible:
- The JOG administrative / site team:
They massively assisted with bookings, finances, minibus repairs (sorry!), photocopying, and laminating, as well as Headteacher Ben Rhodes, who once again made the effort to attend the 2025 Event and support our students.
- Our boots-on-the-ground team:
Local firefighter Bill “Smokey” Smith, Jasmine Smith, Mountain Leader Iain Richards (20 years of Ten Tors volunteering—sadly leaving us), Imogen Wood, Mrs Brooks (Chief Quartermaster), subs / dogsbodies Lauren Baldwin and Isla Biggs, and my long-suffering wife Charlotte (15 years of being a Ten Tors widow).
Mr Gray
