RAIN and wind took its toll during the annual Ten Tors challenge on Dartmoor last weekend, as more than 640 of the 2,400 youngsters pulled out of the gruelling event. Conditions on Saturday were bad for the teams attempting the 35-mile, 45-mile and 55-mile two-day hike across the moor ? but there were smiles on the faces of the teams as they crossed the finishing line on Sunday, having endured cold and blisters to complete the challenge. The event, now in its 45th year, is organised by the army with support from community groups and the Dartmoor Rescue Group. Army spokesman David Harris said: ?Considering the weather was poor on Saturday, everybody did remarkably well. ?There were in the end 647 fall-outs who couldn?t make it for a variety of reasons ? sprains, strains mixed with a good deal of emotion ? but the conditions were difficult and all credit to everyone who got round and completed their respective courses. It was a marvellous effort, it really was.? He said as far as the Army was concerned, they were ?most pleased? with the way the challenge had gone. ?As always, we had all the safety infrastructure in place, the helicopters, communications etc, and it went remarkably well, but really the tribute goes to the resilience and guts of those youngsters.? The first team home was the 35-mile team from Kelly College in Tavistock, which crossed the finish line at 9.35am on Sunday morning. It made the weekend extra special for team leader George Hall from Belstone ? he celebrated his 15th birthday the night before the start of the challenge! Kelly College?s 45-mile team was the second team home, coming in around 10am. Ian Hardy of Kelly College said the participants were delighted with the way the event went ? particularly in the light of the ?foul? weather on Saturday. In addition to the school?s own teams, several students joined other teams in the event. ?I think it all went according to plan ? they are all very pleased,? he said. And the first team to finish the 55-mile route was the all-male team from Okehampton College, which had entered a girls team for the 35-mile trek and a mixed team for the 45-mile event. The youngsters, some of whom took part in last year?s event, have been in training for the challenge since February. Tracy Nethercott, team manager, said: ?They all did really well ? it was very much a case of smiling faces at the end, although there were a lot of blisters!?