AROUND 2,400 youngsters from across the South West will descend on Dartmoor this weekend to take part in this year's Ten Tors and Jubilee challenge.

The annual Army-run event, which is in its 51st year, is one of the biggest and toughest adventure challenges for young people in Britain. It starts at 7am on Saturday from Okehampton camp, where 400 teams of six, ranging in age from 14 to 19, will make the start of their respective journeys.

For many it will be the biggest challenge of their young lives, with participants having to trek unaided across 35, 45 or 55 miles of Dartmoor's often unforgiving terrain. Each team will have to rely on their navigational skills and ability to work together to complete the course, which offers every kind of bog, stream and river to cross, and seemingly endless inclines up granite-topped hills to climb.

Central to the spirit and ethos of the challenge is that teams must remain entirely self-sufficient during their arduous expedition. They have to camp on the moor overnight and carry all the food, water, bedding, tents and other essentials they will need to sustain them on their challenge.

Equally testing for the less able bodied is the Jubilee challenge, which starts shortly after the start of Ten Tors. Almost 300 youngsters — many in wheelchairs — will start the challenge, completing routes up to 15 miles long. Teams or individuals are all accompanied by an officer cadet from Exeter University Officer Training Corps.

The majority of the teams entering Ten Tors are from the region's schools and youth groups. They will be joined by scout groups, sports and ramblers teams and armed forces cadet units, who have also accepted the challenge.

Director of Ten Tors Steve Hodder took part in the event in the 1970s. He said: As I look back on it now I realise it was one of the most challenging, but also exciting things I did when I was growing up.

'I look back with pride on how we learnt how to cope with a waterlogged moor and the horrendous weather conditions of 1974. We learnt the importance of looking after each other and, crucially, how to work together as a team.

'As an individual I learnt that with determination and thorough preparation and training, anything was possible. Teaching youngsters the value of these lifelong lessons is one of the most important legacies of Ten Tors and the Jubilee Challenge.'