FIFTY new friends were made as old and young came together to help a veteran raise money for three causes.

On Saturday Jordan Wylie joined the owners of Combat Fuel Fitness Alex Berezynskyj and his partner Kyrie to take on a 24-hour rowathon.

The trio welcomed rowers as young as six and as old as 80 in the challenge which raised over £1,000 for Frontline Children, Epilepsy Action, and Seafarers UK.

The challenge came just six weeks before dad-of-one Jordan will attempt to become the first person on record to row completely unsupported across the Bab El Mandeb Straits.

The straits are located between Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, and Yemen, on the Arabian Peninsula, and link the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, via the Gulf of Aden.

Talking about the rowathon, he said: “In my fundraising I try to make it more collaborative and community based, I want to get people involved and accomplish their own personal challenges.

“People were allowed to come and do short spells of 15 minutes but some people did the full 24 hours — there were some really inspiring people of all different ages, shapes and sizes.”

He added: “As well as a great workout it is always really inspiring to see so many people want to make a difference. A lot the people who turned up I had never met before. We said it was like we made 50 new friends.”

Jordan has begun final preparations for the challenge which comes after he ran in three of the most perilous countries in the world – Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia — and raised £100,000 for children affected by war.