This article is from page 8 of the 2011-04-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
A NORTH Clare woman has set her sights at bringing the coveted Rose of Tralee title back to the Banner County for the first time in the history of the competition.
Rineen woman Claire Keane was last week selected as the Galway Rose for the 2011 edition of the competition. Despite togging out in the colours of her neighbouring county Claire says that she will do her utmost to bring success to Clare and Galway in this year’s competition.
“Obviously you would love to represent where you are from but in a way it is even nicer to have been chosen to represent Galway. The fact that I was chosen to represent Galway, even though I’m not originally from Galway, shows that they really must believe in me. I’m very humbled and very happy to have been chosen,” said Claire, who has been living in Galway for the past eight years.
“Of course I’d love to be representing Clare and in a way a part of me will be representing Clare but I am very happy to be going forward as the Galway Rose. Galway is a great spot and it is joined onto Clare so hopefully I can do well for both counties in the competition.”
Clare was chosen out of a field of 27 girls to become the Galway Rose. Her entry into this year’s competition was sponsored by the Central Park Night Club, who supported her on the night along with her brothers Damien and Brian.
“I grew up watching it but I never dreamed that I would be taking part myself. I always loved watching the competition but I never thought I’d enter and a never thought I’d have a chance of winning,” she continued.
“The competition itself isn’t anything like what people would see on TV. What people see on TV is just the final part of it – before that there is a whole series of interviews with the judges, both individual and in groups. It has been quite a long proc- ess already.”
Claire attended Rineen National School and Scoil Mhuire in Ennistymon before completing a business studies degree at the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology. She also completed a marketing post graduate at NUI, Galway, and now works for American software company Brightwork and the Central Park Nightclub.