Beauty and the armless golfer

WINNER: Lucy McAuliffe is this year's Wellington Rose of Tralee winner.

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Leprechauns and armless golfers rarely come up in the same conversation, but the Rose of Tralee is no ordinary pageant.

Contestants in the competition must be single women aged between 18 and 28, of Irish birth or ancestry.

This year's Wellington winner, Lucy McAuliffe, is a 22-year-old Otago University graduate and recruitment consultant, born in London to an Irish father and Kiwi mother.

Prospective Roses faced a series of questions to assess their values, personality and knowledge of their heritage - including, "If you met a leprechaun and he gave you three wishes, what would they be?"

If Ms McAuliffe ever met such a character, she said she would wish for a place at the International Rose of Tralee competition in Ireland.

There, the event is held over five days and televised nationwide.

With her remaining wishes, she would pay off her friends' student loans, as well as her own, and take her mother on a round-the-world cruise.

Contestants at last weekend's competition were also required to perform a talent for the judges.

A confident public speaker, Ms McAuliffe told the audience about famous people sharing her surname.

The list included Christa McAuliffe, who in 1985 was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to become the first teacher in space. Sadly she died when the space shuttle Challenger disintegrated seconds after liftoff.

"The most peculiar was Tommy McAuliffe, who was an armless golfer apparently he wedged the club between his neck and his shoulders, which I thought sounded pretty Irish."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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Mule   #1   10:00 pm May 15 2009

Good answer, particularly question two... Deedle e dee potatoes

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