May 13, 2012

Media fun

You know a Paralympic Games is starting to draw near when a whole bunch of media requests start piling in. After my nice little getaway it was straight back into it and that meant an 8.30am start with production company Broken Arrow. They are producing athlete profiles on a few of us to be played on the ABC in the lead up and throughout the games, however with a slightly more artistic and creative take than what has been done in the past.

It was a long day of shooting but it was a lot of fun, not only did they film me but also got an insight from my Mum and Long Jump coach Dr John Boas. It was 6pm by the time we finished and that didn’t even include footage of me actually training... that’s to be done in the coming weeks. I’m really excited to see the finished product, the guys are so passionate and some of the other work they have done is amazing!

(Filming with Broken Arrow)
 
After the filming was done there was no time to rest as I had been asked to have a chat with Luke Pentony for an ABC Grandstand radio interview on his program 'The Bell Lap'. A lovely guy and we chatted all things athletics and on some of the finer details of how I manage competing in both alpine skiing and athletics. 

Here is the radio interview: 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-27/the-bell-lap/3976656

The article that came from our interview:
Gallagher looking for London redemption: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-27/gallagher-looking-for-london-redemption/3976956/?site=melbourne
 
(And a quick snap for the South 
Melbourne Market who sponsor the VIS)

A few days later and I was off to Sydney to help launch the Australian Paralympic Team uniform for London. One of my sponsors 2XU also happens to be the outfitter for the Australian Paralympic team so it was great to check out all the gear we will be wearing!

The event was held at Mercedes Benz Australian Fashion week which meant we also got to test out our skills at modelling! What a fun event it was, we had a great media turn out and it was pretty obvious everyone LOVED the uniform. RM Williams are making our ceremonial gear and they have done a great job. RM Williams also created our ceremonial look for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Paralympics so I have had the pleasure of wearing their clothing before and just like in Vancouver I do think we will look the best. 
   
For our 2XU casual and competition attire well I am biased because I love wearing 2XU but not only are the clothes incredibly comfortable they’ve also managed to choose green and yellow shades that look good! After the show we got to show off our uniform for the cameras and do a bunch of quick interviews for the various TV networks in the room.

Intertwined with catwalk rehearsals, shows and training was also MORE interviews. First up more footage for the Australian Paralympic Committee and then a whole lot of posing and ‘focused staring’ for the ABC team who were getting some shots for the opening credits of the games coverage. So in the end it was a big day but a lot of fun! It’s days like these which really get you excited for London because it really brings to the fore front that this is all happening... and that it’s not really that far away! 

And of course in amongst all the media has been training and as per usual lots of it! We are almost at the 100 day to go mark for the Paralympic's so it's head down bum up and cranking out some hard yards as the days tick over! :)
  
(Interview time in Sydney) 

(At the uniform launch rehearsal & look 
who popped up on the big screen in the opening piece!) 
 
 (Lights, camera, action!)
 
(The Australian Paralympic Team uniform for London 2012)