Thomas Lynch from Castleisland is the 2017 Rose of Tralee Escort of the Year.
Thomas, a business consultant with Grant Thornton, topped the poll among Roses and Rose Escorts to become the 2017 Rose Escort of the Year at the Rose of Tralee International Festival.
Dáithí Ó Sé announced the result live on RTÉ One television last night in the Festival Dome and presented him with a cheque for €1,000.
Paired with Kilkenny Rose
There are 64 Rose Escorts at this year’s Festival and Thomas was paired with the Kilkenny Rose, Tara Roche for the first three days of the Festival, followed by the Dubai Rose, Lisa O’Donohue for the remainder of the event in Tralee.
“It’s uplifting to see how the children and the town interact with the Roses and the joy that they are experiencing,” said Thomas, who was sponsored by Grant Thornton.
“When we pull out a Rose’s chair, when we hold their hands coming down off the bus and when you see them kind of giggle and look back at the other Rose and say, ‘Oh, I could get used to this…’, that kind of lifts our spirits. It means we are doing something right and we are making the week magical for them,” he said.
World of Rugby
Thomas is passionate about rugby, particularly tag rugby, and while he played basketball and tennis from a young age, he enjoyed trampolining in college before discovering the exciting world of rugby a few years later.
Daniel McLaughlin, a carpenter from Donegal sponsored by McLaughlin Taylor Dry-lining and Paul Fitzgerald, a radio presenter from Limerick, sponsored by Gretta Gibbs and Limerick’s Live 95fm were also shortlisted for the Rose Escort of the Year award.
Rose Escorts in 2018
Nearly 200 men aged between 21 and 30 applied to become Escorts at this year’s Rose of Tralee International Festival and following a detailed interview process, the final 64 were selected to take part in a Boot Camp weekend in Kerry to help them prepare for a busy week at the Festival.
Applications are now being accepted to become Rose Escorts in 2018 and full details are available from www.roseoftralee.ie.
The second TV Rose of Tralee selection will take place tonight from 8pm in the Festival Dome and the 2017 Rose of Tralee will be crowned at approximately 11.10pm.
You can contact The Maine Valley Post on… Anyone in The Maine Valley Post catchment area who would like to send us news and captioned photographs for inclusion can send them to: jreidy@mainevalleypost.com Queries about advertising and any other matters regarding The Maine Valley Post can also be sent to that address or just ring: 087 23 59 467. Please Note: A click on any of our adverts will reveal all you need to know about what our advertisers need to tell you.
Copyright Notice: The images and text which appear on The Maine Valley Post site remain the exclusive property of John Reidy, (unless stated otherwise) and are protected under International Copyright laws. Images or text may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without the written permission of the author, John Reidy, in this instance. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration (digital, artist rendering or alike) is a violation of International Copyright laws. All images are copyrighted © by John Reidy 2017 087 23 59 467.
