It Rained On My Parade...!

It was March 19th, I was in Singleton attending a fundraiser for The Children's Cancer Institute Australia. The evening was a great success the family and friends of the late Tom Kirkwood had gathered in his honour.
I had had a thoroughly good time and had met some inspiring people. The most inspiring had to be Mr. Kurt Fearnley, a Gold Medal Olympian (too much for me to even try to attempt to describe his achievements maybe you should do a wee search for yourself). http://kurtfearnley.com
I probably had about 40mins sleep before getting up to travel to the Sydney St.Patrick's Day Parade and Family Festival. I was so excited! I was to assist at the commentary of the St. Patrick's Day Parade. This was to be a major bullet point on the "Galvin Bucket List"...but it was not meant to be... from Cessnock to Sydney the rains were tropical and consistent...like what you'd find on Beale Strand on a balmy August day... a downpour. Then the inevitable happened..I got a phone call from President Ger Ryan.. this was around 8.20am and a strange maturity soon replaced the disappointment...Yippee!! I could go back to bed!

Julia Gets Stung Down UNDER!!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 28th 2009 Tragedy Strikes Twice For Irish Wife Down Under. Julia Galvin, Wife carrying participant in this weekend's Singleton Countryfest has been the victim of bad luck for the second time. Julia Galvin has returned to N.S.W to enter the Countryfest Wife Carrying Race. This is no easy feat as Julia (38) weighs in at a dainty 120kg. Julia had the honour of being carried by local Power Lifter David Vaughan last year. Where the pair raised thousands for The Australian Childrens Cancer Institute. Reeling from the last minute revelation that Paul Sironen withdrew his offer to carry Miss Galvin at the event , Julia, yesterday evening, sought consolation and advice from Australian wife carrying Guru, Anthony Partridge at his family gathering, when disaster stuck again...this time in the form of a bee!! Unknownst to Julia a honeybee from Anthony's garden had climbed up her trouser leg and and stung her. With this the shocked Irish woman soon displayed an impromptu Irish Jig whilst squeeling Irish obscenities into the Hunter Valley night skies. "It was a terrible ordeal...when you travel Down Under your eyes are peeled for spiders and snakes...not a honey bee! I'll just have to 'bee hive myself' I guess?!!" chuckles Julia. Julia Galvin is in high sprits nonetheless, " This was the second piece of bad luck to befall me, I am not disappointed in Paul Sironen, he has an injury plus he's getting on in years..none of these things will will deter me from entering this weekend and I am looking forward to meeting with my new carrier Sydney Strongman Mr .Christopher Sexton." World Champion Bog Snorkeller Julia is fresh from a whirlwind tour of Australia, she has been as far north as Julia Creek QLD where she took part in the Bog Snorkelling event at the Dirt'n'Dust festival and as far west as the Hutt River Province a land locked Principality near Geraldton in W.A. . Julia Galvin is a Citizen of Hutt River and has the Royal Approval of Prince Leonard to Represent His nation at Novelty sports worldwide. Since her trip to Australia Julia has been quite the "media darling" rubbing shoulders with Larry and Kylie on 7's Morning Show as well as appearing on Channel 9's Today Show. You can meet Julia Galvin at Singleton's Countryfest this Saturday May 2nd before she flies back to Ireland next week.

Julia Galvin heads for OZ

(photo; Don McMonagle)

For Immediate Release.
Mar 19th 2008


Champion BOG SNORKELLER and darling of the broadcast and print media in a dozen European countries, Julia Galvin (37) is about to tackle Australia. Weighing in at a 'dainty' 120kg, Julia braves the 22 hour flight from her native Ireland to pit her stamina against Australia's finest practitioners of novelty sports, including Bog Snorkellers (with and without a lead bicycle) Wife Carriers and Stone Throwers. First stop in her itinerary is the coincidentally named JULIA CREEK in Queensland at the DIRT 'n DUST FESTIVAL.

Bog Snorkelling is a sporting event that consists of competitors completing two consecutive lengths of a 60 yard filled trench cut through a peat bog, in the shortest time possible. Competitors must wear snorkels and flippers, and complete the course without using conventional swimming on flipper power alone. Wet suits are not compulsory, but are usually worn.

How did Julia, a biology teacher, find herself competing on an international level in this bizarre sport?
“I was banged up in hospital following a serious accident, suffering from relentless chronic pain,” she says “To distract myself I delved into the Guinness Book of Records. An entry in the book fascinated me; a photo of a guy bog-snorkeling. I vowed if I ever walked again I was going to be a bog snorkeller. Of course, I was on 16 pain killers a day when I decided that..”

But Julia did learn to walk again. And she learned to swim. And eventually learned to snorkel. And within a year she had weaned herself off medication and was representing Ireland at the world bog snorkelling championships in Wales, “coming second to a burly life guard” and has spent the last number of years inspiring others while accumulating silverware.

However Australia is a unique challenge in itself for Julia. “I'm afraid of spiders,” she admits “and I don't care for the sun. Ireland is a country where 26 degrees centigrade represents a heat wave”
But she is hugely looking forward to what the Irish like to call 'the crack'

END