Pic Credit: PA

A group of British explorers have made history by rowing 450 miles to the North Pole in the world’s first voyage.

Jock Wishart, who is in his late 50s and his team Rob Sleep, 38, David Mans, 28, Billy Gammon, 37 and Mark Delstanche, 35, have become the very first people to row to the magnetic north pole in what has been described as one of the “greatest” ocean journeys to present.

The men rowed across the Atlantic and circumnavigated the globe in a powerboat to highlight effects of climate change and demonstrate the problem of people pumping too much CO2 into the atmosphere.

Mr Wishart said they were all ‘exhilarated’ after completing their 450-mile voyage through the Arctic waters.

The rowers reportedly encountered polar bears and collided with icebergs on their specially designed vessel, and Mr Wishart even had a seal attack him during the one month journey.

One thing is for sure, all of the men would have endured some seriously hard training on indoor rowing machines beforehand to make sure they were fit enough for the duration of exercise.

The successful rowing trip, which was dubbed the “Old Pulteney Row To The Pole” and was described as the “greatest ocean rows of all time”, included scientific research being compiled to help provide fresh environmental data on the impact of arctic deterioration on the polar landscape.

Adventurer Mr Wishart commented on the celebratory exploration, saying: “We are all exhilarated and relieved that weather conditions were in our favour and we have completed our row to the magnetic north pole while it was still possible.

“It is an enormous achievement, and a privilege for our team to have been part of what is one of the world’s last great firsts.”

“It was just up and down as we tried to pull the boat onwards because the crew were extremely talented to complete this out as we did not want to miss out on anything. Everything had gone very much like clockwork.”

The voyage was documented by the BBC by 28 year-old Mark Beaumont, titled Rowing The Arctic. Mr Wishart has previously been to the geomagnetic north pole, when he was part of the first team to walk unsupported there in 1992.

The rowers slept in shifts and were fuelled by 7,000 calories per day dry rations.

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