Thousands raised for Mayor's charity at Bear Run Supercar event

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Alderman Graham Warke received a cheque in excess of £10,000 today (May 9) towards his chosen Mayoral charity, Foyle Down Syndrome Trust. 

The money raised is the proceeds from the recent hugely successful Bear Run 74 event.

Mayor Warke, took part in a two day tour of the North West by some of the finest Supercars and Muscle Cars in Ireland.

The Bear Run 74 visited Derry, Inishowen and Donegal to allow the public to get a close up look at the impressive vehicles and raise funds for Mayor Warke's charity for his year in office - the Foyle Down Syndrome Trust.

The tour included a pit stop at Eglinton Flying Club where members of the Trust met the drivers and had photos taken with the cars.

Mayor Warke said: "We had a brilliant weekend travelling across the North West in some of the world's best supercars.

"Congratulations to the organisers who put meticulous planning into this event to make sure hundreds of people in our Council area and Donegal were able to see these stunning vehicles.

"I want to sincerely thank everyone who supported us over the two days and helped raise funds for Foyle Down Syndrome Trust.

"It is a weekend I will never forget."

Mayor Warke said he was totally overwhelmed at the generosity and kindness of people across the North West. 

He expressed his sincere thanks to everyone who took part, donated money or gave up their time to support it. 

He added that he was looking forward to the next big fundraiser, the Supercar event, taking place in the city centre on May 21 from 12 noon to 3pm where the public can come see an array of exotic modern and classic cars.  

Steve Frazer, Managing Director at City of Derry Airport, also thanked the public for their donations and organisers for their fundraising efforts: "It's wonderful to be involved in such a unique event and to be supporting Foyle Down Syndrome Trust, a charity very close to our hearts here in the North West.

"We joined the Mayor in welcoming the amazing troop of Super Cars and Muscle Cars on its pitstop at Eglinton Flying Club on Saturday, as well as providing some goodie bags for the visitors from the Foyle Down Syndrome Trust and the event partners.

"Although the wet weather descended, it most certainly didn't dampen anyone's spirits.

"Well done to the Bear Run 74 initiative for providing such a wonderful weekend for all involved and for the fantastic sum of money raised for Foyle Down Syndrome Trust."

The Bear Run started at Lifford Applegreen at 9am on Saturday before the cars travelled in convoy to the event at City of Derry Airport at 11am and on to Applegreen Carndonagh at 2pm.

From there, they travelled via Buncrana to Wild Ireland animal sanctuary in Burnfoot at 4pm before finishing the day in Downings at 6.30pm.

On Sunday morning, they began at Downings at 10.30am before a Photo stop at the Poisoned Glen and lunch in Mountain Top Letterkenny at 12.30pm.

They visited Halfway Karting in the afternoon and finished at Downings.

You can donate to the Mayor's Charity the Foyle Down Syndrome Trust at derrystrabane.com/mayor