The Homecoming Queen

Lorraine at Kilternan Ski Club 28MAR17

he big Team Ireland party is on Saturday, but the gang all gathered up at their second home, the Ski Club of Ireland, this evening – just to see if any of them had stopped smiling yet.

The biggest showing for Ireland yet, with 29 competing athletes, you’ll be glad to hear that, after their Olympics glory in Austria last week, each and every one of them is still smiling ear to ear.

And none more so than Lorraine Whelan, the Delgany girl having picked up yet another two medals at last week’s Special Olympics Winter Games.

The Ski Club of Ireland’s Kilternan HQ is like a second home to Lorraine and the gang, and at this evening’s homecoming, they were all enjoying the cakes, cookies, fun – and that sudden burst of sun that miraculously broke through just as they arrived.

Travelling up with Lorraine were her parents, Brendan and Marie, along with her sister, Fiona, and sister-in-law, Wen, along with the latter’s two kids, Alex and Mira. Running late was Wen’s hubby, David, but the party somehow managed to kick off without him.

You got the sense that the Whelan family had been pretty much partying all week. And will continue to do so, certainly until Saturday’s big official Team Ireland shindig. And quite possibly for the next four years. When the 2021 Special Olympics Winter Games will get underway…

We had a quick chat with Lorraine out on Kilternan’s slippery slopes, about family, fame and flying down those feckin’ hills…