29, August 2008
The big attraction of the day was the stunning five star trip for two to Abu Dhabi accompanied by €1000 spending money. This prize was generously sponsored by City North Hotel in their second year as sponsor of this great competition. Karen Koster explained “As Horse Racing Ireland Fashion Ambassador 2008 I get to see a lot of ladies wearing beautiful outfits but the standard here at Bellewstown was exceptionally high. It made it a very difficult job to pick 15 finalists, never mind a shortlist of three and an overall winner.”
Ladonna Tallon, Sales Manager for City North Hotel explained “Being an integral part of Bellewstown Races is very important to us at City North Hotel. This is our second year as sponsors of this competition and we are delighted at the fabulous turnout this year. The hotel is very popular with ladies dropping in for lunch, afternoon tea or celebrating family occasions. Being sponsor of this competition allows us to offer ladies all over the North East an opportunity to dress up and have a fun day out.”
Ladies were invited to a champagne reception in the City North Ladies Day marquee – the room was wall to wall with colour, style and ladies admiring each others outfits. The personal touch seemed to be a big part of this years competition – each of the three winners had either handmade a part of their outfit or had customised it to suit them personally.
Winning 3rd prize, a Luxury Afternoon Tea for 2 Guests at City North Hotel, was Emma Jane Flynn from Termonfeckin. Emma Jane is a trainee solicitor and she wore a coral pink Michael Kors halterneck dress. The dress had a fabulous gold band around the neck that supported the halterneck. Her beautiful gold bangles from Dubai complimented the outfit perfectly. She finished it perfectly with a handmade bag and a stunning pair of Stuart Weitzman gold shoes.
Second prize was won by Michelle Dunne of Beabeg, Co. Meath. Michelle works as a primary school teacher and revealed to us that she had actually used children’s hair slides to accessorise her shoes ensuring that they co-ordinated perfectly with her outfit. She wore a fabulous black and cerese pink outfit consisting of a black skirt and top from Coast overlaid with a pink coat, from Penneys, that emphasised her beautiful hourglass figure. She wore a stunning hat from Tully’s of Drogheda featuring both pink and black. Her black shoes were accessorised with cerese pink jewels from Desmirean of Duleek, that picked up the colour of coat. She also handmade her own bag.
The overall winner was lucky enough to win a trip for 2 to Abu Dhabi to a 5* hotel with flights, transfers and €1K spending). The winner was Denise Dunne from Colpe, outside Drogheda. Denise worked as a hairdresser before retiring to become a full time mum to her two children. Denise was quite speechless when she realised she had won this prize. She told us “My youngest child, just 8 years old, predicted that her Mum would be the winner. She was thrilled when I called her to tell her the news.”
The most striking feature about Denise’s outfit was her fabulous headpiece that was made up of black leaves and pink flowers. People stopped her all over the enclosure at Bellewstown Races to find out where she had bought it. Being interviewed by Karen Koster at the Champagne reception Denise revealed that “I made this headpiece myself. And even more breathtaking is that it only took me about two hours. I even made a handbag to match.”
Denise wore a backless black dress with a pink satin coat and black shoes. Her outfit was beautifully accessorised with fabulous jewellery from The Design Gallery in Ashbourne and Drogheda. She and her husband Louis were totally stunned at the news of the fabulous prize she had won and are now eagerly looking forward to their fabulous holiday courtesy of City North Hotel and Bellewstown Races
Alan Delany from Bellewstown Race Committee concluded “This event was such fun today – such a lovely occasion for ladies to join us on the hill at Bellewstown Races. We are delighted to continue our working relationship with City North Hotel and we look forward to next years competition already. Don’t forget to put the date in your diary 27th August 2009 and keep watching www.bellewstownraces.ie for all the latest news.”