Two million steps for Cancer Focus NI

22 women, most of them mums, have been out and about pushing buggies and pacing out power walks to notch up the steps for the charity.

Emma Dowds Tsang and members of her fitness studio, T-Fit Studio 01 in Dunloy, decided to make the most of their outdoor exercise time to raise money for the charity, which has been struggling to survive during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We were long overdue a social event and had decided to have a nice afternoon tea. The date we had planned was in October, breast cancer awareness month, and so we thought it would be so worthwhile to join the Cancer Focus NI Support your Girls campaign,” Emma said.

“Alongside the afternoon tea some of the girls had agreed to complete a sponsored class-a-thon so that we could drum up as much support and funds as possible.

“Unfortunately once the new restrictions came into force we had to change our plans. This is where the one million step challenge idea came from. It started with ten of my members agreeing to take part but when the word got out about what we were doing and the cause we were supporting, we were soon 22 strong. One of the girls, Karen McMullan, had to isolate but she didn’t let that stop her and instead did almost 90,000 steps on the treadmill.

“We were aiming for one million steps but reached that target by the end of day four, so, we set ourselves a new target – two million steps. We managed to make it to 2,080,519 steps, which surprised us all.

“We finished off with a takeaway afternoon tea which was a great success. Delicious cupcakes were donated by Pappy’s Bakery in Dunloy and Geraldine Cochrane, one of my members who is a home economics teacher, baked up a storm. I’d like to thank everyone who helped with our fundraiser and especially all those who donated. Special thanks to Hardy Bros of Rasharkin for their generous support.”