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The former rugby league player and coach is fronting the The Sick Children's Trust: 2010 Tower Power Challenge at Bridgewater Place in Leeds, and is encouraging runners of all abilities to take part.

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The tower run will take place on May 22 and organisers said it would be first event of its kind to take place outside London.

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The Sick Children's Trust hopes the challenge will raise £90,000 towards its target of £1.7 million for The Big Move appeal, which has already so far raised more than £1.25 million.

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The charity needs the cash to move its home from home, Eckersley House, for the families of children undergoing prolonged hospital treatment, from St James's Hospital to Leeds General Infirmary (LGI).

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St James's Hospital is moving its children's wards to the LGI to create a Paediatric Centre of Excellence.

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By May this year most of the children's wards will be moved to the new centre, meaning that Eckersley House will no longer be needed in its present location, but will be in great demand at the LGI.

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The Sick Children's Trust said that if it didn't move Eckersley House hundreds of children would go through prolonged treatment without their families being close by.

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Leeds-born Ellery said: "Tower running is one of the toughest new sports to capture the imagination of fitness addicts all over the world.

"I'm encouraging runners to be one of the 300 hundred people running up 600 stairs in this adrenalin-fuelled tower race.

"The 2010 Tower Power Challenge goes further than your average 10k race. The average runner will burn 704 calories an hour of flat running but racing upstairs increases that by 50% - it's quite a challenge.

"But it's not just an endurance test, the 2010 Tower Power Challenge is a brilliant fundraiser and Eckersley House needs public support now more than ever to complete the build of the new house at the Leeds General Infirmary.

"We need to raise the final £500,000 to open the new house in June."

Ellery launched the challenge with the Jerome family from Leeds, who were supported by Eckersley House when their twin daughters Zara and Kea, now 18 months, were taken into hospital at four weeks old, with bronchiolitis.

Although the Jerome family live in Leeds they struggled to look after their other two children and visit the twins, especially when Kea became increasingly ill and Zara was not allowed on to Kea's ward.

The twins' mother Vanessa said: "It was a godsend for us as a family.
It meant that my husband Mark could sit on the ward with Kea while I went to Eckersley to breastfeed Zara.

"It also meant that we could be together as a family and be with our other two children for the first time in 12 days.

"Eckersley really was a home from home. It meant that we could have some privacy as a family away from the wards and that we could be strong for Kea, who was still really poorly at that point.

"I can't describe what a huge help Eckersley House was to us at such a hard time for our family."

Vicki Smith, fundraiser for the 2010 Tower Power Challenge said: "This is our final fundraising drive for the new house and we're looking for enthusiastic runners to help us raise £90,000 towards our £1.7million target for The Big Move appeal.

"Now's the time to lace up the sneakers, download that form and start training. The Tower Power Challenge is an unusually healthy way to get to the top!"

Participants must be aged over 18 and the training plan is available to download on The Sick Children's Trust website. To register and download a sponsorship forms go to www.sickchildrenstrust.org or contact Vicki on 07525 424406 or towerpower@sickchildrenstrust.org.

The Sick Children's Trust aims to make sure that families can stay close by their sick child at all times making a real difference to their recovery.