Harry gets kitted out at the launch
Prince Harry said he will have the kettle boiled and waiting for rival teams when they reach the South Pole – after the team of injured British servicemen and women he will be accompanying.
The third in line to the British throne announced he will make the Antarctic trip with the British Walking With The Wounded contingent later this year.
Harry was at the launch of the UK team’s effort in the South Pole Allied Challenge.
Three teams, from the UK, USA and Canada and Australia, will tackle the walk from Novolazarevskaya Station to the South Pole, hoping to reach their goal in December this year.
Prince Harry joined the five-strong UK team, including four amputees along with team guide Conrad Dickinson at the London launch, where they were kitted out with Helly Hansen gear for the trek.
The prince is expedition patron of Team Glenfiddich and announced at the launch he would be walking with them.
He said: “In three short years, Walking With The Wounded has come from a wonderful, faintly mad idea to a multinational challenge, with teams from the UK, the Commonwealth and America, this time racing each other to the bottom of the world.
“They were not allowed to officially call it a race.
“The format may be different. The scale is certainly different. But the aim remains the same: to enable our wounded to do what they and all our servicemen and women do better than anyone else I know: meet challenge head-on and overcome it and inspire others to do the same.
“These men and women have given their all in the cause of freedom, in our cause.
“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.
The UK team
“So, what are these qualities? Courage, to be sure; physical strength, endurance, a sense of comradeship – absolutely.
“But there’s something else, something deeper than that. Something that draws me back to this charity and these people time and again – and always will.
“It’s toughness of mind. An unquenchable spirit that simply refuses to say ‘I am beaten’.
“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.
“As a member of the British team, I will have a brew on ready for you when you join us at the Pole.”
The UK team is Duncan Slater, Ibrar Ali, Kate Philp, Guy Disney and guide Conrad Dickinson.
The teams have undergone extensive cold weather training in Iceland last month and will continue their training through the summer, with a final snow preparation session in October.
The participants will fly to Antarctica in November with a target arrival date at the South Pole of 17 December.
