Prince Harry has said the Walking With The Wounded adventurers trekking to the South Pole “can’t wait to get to the end” of their challenge.

But the 29-year-old, who is taking part in the gruelling charity expedition, described how spirits were really high following the decision to suspend the competitive element of the trek. The prince was part of a British group which also included Captain Ibrar Ali, from Eggborough. It was racing to the South Pole against teams from the Commonwealth and the US, but the competition was stopped over the weekend after some of the adventurers, who include injured servicemen and women, became very tired after encountering difficult terrain.

The three teams have now banded together and Harry said they were now just over three days from their goal. In a voice blog he said: “We are three and a half days from the South Pole. I think it is going to come all pretty quickly to us. We’ve been out here now for about three-and-a-half weeks. Everyone is in really high spirits.

“The race obviously got cancelled a couple of days ago – a really good thing that has happened. It is nice to see everybody intermingling with each other, not only every night because we camp together, but also during the day.”