The three teams from Walking With The Wounded, a UK charity dedicated to retrain wounded soldiers for careers outside the military, have departed from Cape Town on Friday 22 November en route to the South Pole where they'll be racing in the 2013 Allied Challenge.

Delayed for three days due to extreme weather conditions, the teams who checked into The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay on Monday were finally given the go ahead to Novo, Antarctica, where they will spend their first few days acclimatising before the race.

Prince Harry, British actor Dominic West and Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård, all three patrons for Walking With The Wounded, have joined the 12 injured men and women who will be competing in the 335 km trek that is expected to start on 1 December and described as the biggest modern-day expedition of its type. Faced with the gruelling conditions of the South with temperatures as low as -35°C, glaciers, snowstorms and gale-force winds the three teams from the UK, USA and Commonwealth will trek for approximately 15 - 20 km per day between check-points before crossing the finish line on 16 December.

The courageous wounded servicemen and women, the majority of who have suffered physical or mental injuries in the line of duty, have embarked on this challenge, despite their injuries, in a quest to show the world the braveness
with which they have served their respective countries.

Walking With The Wounded stage extreme expeditions to illustrate the extraordinary determination and courage of the injured, using this platform to draw attention to the need to help in their career transition, and to raise significant funds for charity. For more information visit www.walkingwiththewounded.org.uk,  www.facebook.com/walkingwiththewounded or follow @supportthewalk on Twitter.

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Issued by: Jacques Spies

Contact: media@vlife.co.za