A banker is undergoing a gruelling training regime in a bid to row the Atlantic as part of a six-woman crew.

Katie Pattison-Hart, who grew up in Baildon, will be part of a team bidding to set a double world record.

They will compete to become the fastest female crew and the first six-woman team to row the 3,000 miles from the Canary Islands to Barbados.

The challenging journey is being undertaken next month for the Sport Against Trafficking event Row for Freedom, to raise awareness of human trafficking. The women are also trying to raise £1 million for human trafficking charities.

Katie, 32, a former pupil of Beckfoot School, Bingley, said: “The Row for Freedom cause has captured my heart and I feel privileged to be part of this once-in-a-lifetime experience. This is the biggest challenge – both mentally and physically – that I’ve ever taken part in, but the sense of achievement at the end of it will be huge.”

The women’s efforts are part of the world’s toughest rowing race, the Woodvale Challenge. They will row around the clock, two hours on, two hours off, for about 40 days.

Katie, a financial economics graduate, has worked for Lloyds-TSB at locations across the UK and helped to set up a new branch in Dubai before becoming a director of a United Arab Emirates-based finance house. She then took over as a sales director of a consulting firm.

She is taking a career break to focus on the Row for Freedom.

“I am focusing my efforts on the row while working part-time as a gymnastics coach, and am working backstage at events looking after VIP clients, as well as doing some modelling,” she said.

Katie is rowing with Julia Immonen, Andrea Quigley, Debbie Beadle, Kate Richardson and Helen Leigh. She will have support in Bradford from her sister Abigail, a partner in The Coffee Lounge cafe in Bingley, and other sister Caroline, a teacher at St Columba’s Catholic Primary School in Bradford.

Last year more than 700 victims of human trafficking were identified in the UK. Row for Freedom is supported by adventurer Bear Grylls, who said: “I so admire the determination of these ordinary girls trying to do something extraordinary for the injustice of human trafficking.”