ENNISTYMON woman Kate McGlennon (pictured) is one of two Clare beauties to make it to the final six of the Miss Irish Sun 2013 competition. Kate was first runner-up in Miss Clare 2013 and in the Miss Sunday World 2013. Kate is currently studying midwifery in Dundalk IT and loves modelling. The 19-year-old is hoping the people of Clare get behind her and help her win the competition. “I was born and raised in Ennistymon. My mother was raised on Main Street, Ennistymon, my father in Lahinch so I am an out and out Clare woman and I think I would be a good representative of my county. I would love to win this because it is a huge competition and every girl wants to win the Miss Irish Sun competition because it is so big. It is where Georgia Salpa started in 1997 and it opens the door to being the face of the paper. The modeling contract with …

THE three dolphins who stunned experts by coming inland as far as Bunratty this spring have been spotted back in the Shannon Estuary.Simon Berrow of the Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Foundation said he is pleased they are still alright and that the right choices were made when they were at Bunratty. “It’s a great story and it’s always nice to have an ending. When they left we assumed they went back to the estuary but we didn’t know for sure, so it’s nice to have confirmation that they are fit and healthy and we made the right call.”He said they were found very quickly after summertime monitoring got underway. “I have some research assistants for the summer to do dolphin monitoring and on their first trip out they came across dolphins off Moneypoint and they were the three at Bunratty. The fact that the three of them are still together as a group is impressive.”The second time they were seen …

KARL Michael, who spent nine years of his childhood in Shannon, has reached the semi final of BBC show The Voice.When judge Danny Donoghue of The Script fame opted to give Andrea Begley a so-called fast pass, Karl and Mitchel Emms were left at the mercy of the viewers. Ultimately they decided to put Karl through.Speaking to The Champion this week, he felt his time on the hit show was up. “It was terrible, I thought I was going home,” he acknowledged.He actually felt he had done quite well. “I thought the performance was good but there’s always room for improvement. I’ll do better this week.”The 27-year-old is looking forward to the penultimate round. “I’m singing I believe I can fly by R Kelly. It’s non stop practice, I can’t wait to do it, it’s a great song.”Karl is now based in London and on his first appearance on The Voice, all four of the judges turned their chairs around …

Over 200 cyclists from all over Ireland flocked to Barefield last Sunday to take part in the annual Rás Clár cycle race in blistering hot conditions. Organisers, Dolmen Cycling Club were very pleased with the huge turn out and all four races were hotly contested. The main race of the day was won by Richard Hooton of Visit Nenagh-Team DMG who took his first win of the 2013 season when out-sprinting Mick Fitzgerald, Fermoy CC and Clare’s Mike Storan of Killaloe Planet Tri into second and third respectively. The Nenagh man was the strongest at the end of 110 gruelling kilometres, just having a bike length to spare over Fitzgerald and the fast finishing Storan. Sunday’s race saw a sign-on of a whopping 200 riders, with just over a quarter of those competing in the main event. The A1s and A2s went off together and from the gun a threatening move escaped featuring Timmy Barry (Aquablue), Hooton, Paddy Clarke of …

THE president’s (Martin O’Mahoney) prize was played for at Dromoland at the weekend when the winner was Liam Murphy with 55 points. He pipped Tom Frawley who had a similar score. In third place, a shot further back, was Con Woods. They were followed by David Casey with 51 points and Damian Ryan with 51.

CLARE Community Games had three competitions completed over the past week, the U-12 girls’ Gaelic Football and the inaugural competitions in both throwball rounders mixed U-11 and spikeball for both boys and girls. The throwball was held in Kilmihil Secondary School, co-ordinated by David O’Brien. The spikeball was held in Coláiste Muire, Ennis.

MOSSEY Joe has emerged as a live candidate for the Galway Plate at Ballybrit in six weeks time, following a scintillating success in the three-and-a-half-mile WS Recycling Champion Hunter’s Chase at Stratford last Friday evening.

A STRONG second-half performance saw Corofin-Ruan overcome the challenge of a gallant Tulla side in the U-14B final in Clarecastle on Friday evening. The victory sees them crowned champions for the second successive year.