º£½ÇÊÓƵ

A former engineering firm boss who will attempt to row 2,000 miles on a treacherous Arctic route has bottled up a brilliant way to fundraise the trip with teammates.

Phil Kite, the former chief executive of Newcastle’s Reece Group, already holds a world record for rowing the atlantic in a team of four over 42 days.

And the life-changing experience led to him to seek out his next challenge – joining a team attempting to make it through the notorious Northwest Passage, the Arctic route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which is covered by ice nine months of the year.

Fundraising for the NWP 2021 trip has, however, proved difficult during the coronavirus pandemic, leading the group to join forces with a Scottish distillery to launch their very own gin.

While it might seem an unusual way to raise funds, the tipple has historic connections to the journey they are set to make.

The hunt for the Northwest Passage between the oceans first began in the 14th century, when Europeans sought a route to Asia for trade and those who tried include some of the greatest explorers who ever lived, including Sir Francis Drake, Martin Frobisher, Captain James Cook and Sir John Franklin.

But it was an man from the Orkneys called John Rae who finally found a sea route in the 1860s, which was traversed by another adventurer 43 years later.

In tribute to Mr Rae, the team are working with Orkney Distilling, makers of Kirkjuvagr gins, using the same water source that Cook and Franklin used to stock their ships.