THE owner of a deli is one of four friends set to row 3,000 nautical miles across the Atlantic.

Will Quarmby, who owns Quarmbys deli and coffee house, in Sheriff Hutton, is founding member of Row4Victory, a team of men who will take on the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge feat in December 2018.

Currently fewer people have rowed the Atlantic than have travelled into space or climbed Mount Everest.

Described as the "world’s toughest endurance race", the team will start in La Gomera, Canary Islands, and finish in Antigua.

The other team members are Fraser Mowlem, of Linton-on-Ouse, Glyn Sadler, who lives near Borrowby, and Duncan Roy, who was originally from Ingleby Arncliffe near Osmotherly. The race will be in aid of the Royal British Legion.

Fraser Mowlem, from the team, said: “When I was initially asked if I would row the Atlantic as part of a team, I was truly humbled, scared and also really rather excited.

"I couldn’t get the idea out of my head, so quickly agreed to join the team.

“2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War and so it seemed obvious to us that Row4Victory should be in support of the Royal British Legion.”

The team will attempt to win the four-man pure class race and smash the current race record. The race could take between 35 and 70 days with the team rowing two hours shifts in pairs.

They follow in the path of the celebrated Yorkshire Rows team of four York women, who undertook the race in 2015, taking 68 days to make the crossing.

Row4Victory need help to get them to the start line and across the Atlantic so consequently are looking for sponsorship to help raise the approx. £100k that a successful campaign costs.

Potential corporate sponsors and partners should get in touch at row4victory.com