A WOUNDED former soldier is on his way to completing seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.

Ibrar Ali was a Captain in the Army’s Yorkshire Regiment and lost his right arm in a roadside bombing in Iraq in 2007.

Along with ex-RAF serviceman Luke Wigman and others, he is running marathons on every continent to raise money for a new Defence & National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC).

On Monday, Ibi finished twelfth out of 29 male participants, running 26.2 miles on the Union Glacier in Antarctica - where temperatures were about -15 degrees Celsius - in four hours, 15 minutes and 42 seconds. Luke finished in third place with a time of three hours, nine minutes and 42 seconds.

Luke was also the third man across the finish line of the second marathon in Punta Arenas, Chile, with a time of three hours, two minutes and 41 seconds, while Ibi finished in tenth place with a time of three hours, 50 minutes and one second.

They should today, be taking part in their third marathon in Miami, Florida, before flying to Madrid for Thursday’s event, followed by Marrakech in Morocco on Friday, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.

The final event will see Ibi, Luke and everyone else taking part in the World Marathon Challenge take on a marathon on the streets of Sydney, Australia, facing 27 degree heat on Sunday.

The challenge aims to raise up to £100m towards finishing the new DNRC centre, which will be built near Loughborough and open in 2018.

The centre will help rehabilitate hundreds of injured veterans from the armed forces, and while £200m has already been invested through grants and fundraising, the remaining amount must be met by public funding.

To donate to the DNRC via the website at 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.

To keep up to date with the challenge, follow @ibi_ali or @luke_wigman on Twitter, or see invincible.org.uk