A SPECIAL 103-mile walk will take place early next month in memory of a Portaferry teenager. Abi’s Butterfly Breeze will remember Abi Rogers, the 15 year-old who lost her battle with mental health four years ago.
Now in its third year, the walk marks Abi’s love of butterflies by walking between the renowned butterfly houses at Seaforde, in County Down, and Letterkenny. The walk will take place over a special week of events between September 5 and 12.
Abi’s mum Cathy explained how Abi’s love of butterflies was the inspiration behind the annual event, which aims to keep her memory alive and raise awareness and money for Inspire Wellbeing’s new Bright Future mental health programme. The week includes a 103-mile walk or run, with the number of miles representing the distance from Seaforde Gardens and Tropical Butterfly House in County Down to another butterfly house, Tropical World in Letterkenny.
Fundraisers are encouraged to walk or run 103 miles over the course of the week, either by themselves or in teams of up to 10 people. Other events will take place across the week include a charity football match involving Portaferry Rovers over 40’s taking place on Tuesday, September 6 at Ann Street football pitch. On Thursday there will be a smartphone quiz in The Lep Bar, including a raffle with prizes including an entry into the Belfast City Marathon.
The Butterfly Breeze week will finish with a 10k chipped run on Friday, hSeptember 9. The race will be capped at 250 people and will begin at 6 pm, starting and finishing at Portaferry GAC.
Anyone who would like to enter, can do so at https://athleticsni.org/Fixtures/Portaferry-10k.
All funds raised over the course of the week will go towards the Inspire Wellbeing charity’s Bright Future programme, a mental health service for 14- to 24-year-olds.
The service was set up last year with the help of the money raised during the first Butterfly Breeze event, which took place in 2020 Anyone who would like to donate to Abi’s Butterfly Breeze, can give via the link below. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/cathybrodieabisbutterflybreeze2022
