A WOUNDED soldier from North Yorkshire is preparing to take on a new £1m fundraising challenge.

Ibi Ali was a Captain in the Army and lost his right arm in a roadside bombing in Iraq in 2007. Since then, he has walked to the South Pole with Prince Harry as part of a fundraising event to help injured former servicemen and women.

Now, former Yorkshire Regiment soldier Ibi - originally from Rotherham, now living near Selby - will run seven marathons on seven continents in seven days with ex-RAF serviceman Luke Wigman, to raise money for a new Defence & National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC).

He said: “The DNRC came onto my radar about a year ago and I’ve got an emotional link to anything to do with rehab so became an ambassador for them.

“I did the Invictus Games and met up with Luke who’s always had the challenge on his bucket list - I didn’t even know the event existed - so put him in touch with DNRC, then somehow got roped into it as well.”

The new centre will be built near Loughborough and will open in 2018, replacing the current facility in Surrey which was established in the 1940s.

The DNRC will cost £300m, which is being met entirely through charitable donations. More than £200m has been raised so far, with the remainder to be met by public fundraising.

The challenge will start in Antarctica at the end of January, and end in Sydney in February, with Ibi, Luke and other participants only getting about 12 hours rest between marathons.

Ibi completed the Marathon des Sables - six back-to-back marathons in the Sahara - in 2015, two years after leaving the army and walking to the South Pole for Walking With The Wounded, but said he was, as always, nervous about the first stage of the challenge.

He said: “I think I’m physically prepared and robust enough to deal with the challenge pain the discomfort , but that’s nothing like some of the pain and discomfort some of the guys will be going through in rehab so if I can help that with some of my own suffering, than all the better.” To donate to the DNRC via the website at www.thednrc.org.uk or by sending a cheque payable to “The DNRC” to DNRC, PO Box 76, Rotherham, S63 9XY. People can also give just £5 by texting ‘DNRC’ to 70080