London: Prince Harry has announced that he will be taking part in a 208-mile race across Antarctica with a team of wounded British servicemen and women in November and December.
The 28-year-old will take on teams from the United States and the Commonwealth in the 335km ‘Walking With The Wounded South Pole Allied Challenge’ this year, Sky News reported.
“It just remains for me to say to Soldier On Canada, Soldiers To Summits from the US and Soldier On Australia - welcome to the party,” Harry said at a conference in London during which the teams were announced.
“As a member of the British team, I will have a brew ready for you when you join us at the Pole,” he said.
He said that the aim of the event was to “meet a challenge head-on and overcome it and inspire others to do the same.”
Harry did not take part in a bid to conquer Mount Everest with the group last year because of his military commitments.
He also withdrew early from the successful trek to the North Pole in 2011 to attend his brother’s wedding.
He said of the South Pole race that though the format and scale is different, the aim remains the same, which is “to enable our wounded to do what they and all other servicemen and women do better than anyone else I know - meet a challenge head-on and overcome it and inspire others to do the same.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, these men and women have given their all in the cause of freedom, in our cause,” he said.
“That they should once again step into the breach - this time facing down the extreme physical and mental challenges of trekking to the South Pole - just underlines their remarkable qualities,” Harry added.
Harry, who is already patron of the Antarctica expedition, confirmed that he will race in Team Glenfiddich with Sergeant Duncan Slater, 34, who lost both his legs in a blast in Afghanistan in 2009; Major Kate Philp, 34, who lost her left leg after a bomb blast in 2008; Captain Guy Disney, 31, who lost his right leg in a rocket attack in 2009; and Captain Ibrar Ali, who lost his right arm in a roadside bomb in 2007.
ANI
