THE countdown has started to one of the UK?s biggest youth adventures of the year ? the annual Ten Tors expedition across Dartmoor.
This weekend, 165 team managers will converge on Okehampton Camp, where they will receive a taste of what the 2,400 youngsters are likely to experience when they take part in the expedition in May.
The managers? weekend focusses on the challenges posed by the climate on Dartmoor and reinforces the stringent equipment and safety measures imposed by Army organisers.
The managers will be briefed by experts from the military, Dartmoor Rescue Group and the police before walking out onto the moors.
Major Mike Pether, Ten Tors secretary, said: ?This is a wonderful event, now well into its fourth decade and established as the greatest annual adventure of rough terrain in Britain today.
?We?re looking forward hugely to another success.?
Major Pether said the Army devoted many months to ensuring the infrastructure, resources, manpower ? some 500 military and civilian personnel ? and safety provisions were in place for the event.
And he added: ?The real heroes and heroines are those teenagers who take part, achieve a huge sense of having won against the odds and their own limitations.?