Miss Set To Impress As Wife

Newcastle Herald

Thursday April 10, 2008

By FRANCES THOMPSON Upper Hunter Reporter

JULIA Galvin is fresh from bog snorkelling in the muddy, artesian waters of Julia Creek in Queensland and ready to wow the crowds at CountryFest's wife-carrying competition at Singleton this weekend.

From County Kerry in Ireland, and weighing more than 120 kilograms, the former teacher reckoned Julia Creek was the warmest bog she'd ever experienced.

The emphatically Miss Galvin is looking forward to the event because she'll be carried by a championship power lifter.

Miss Galvin is the first to praise people who have succeeded in their chosen field, a trait that comes from feeling her life and sanity were saved by someone else doing something unusual.

In her late 20s and incapacitated by a spinal injury, reading about bog snorkelling set her on a path less travelled.

"Novelty events saved my life," the 37-year-old said.

These "novelty" events include bog snorkelling, in which contestants swim underwater for a set course using an unusual stroke.

Then there is mountain bike bog snorkelling.

That is riding a 100-kilogram bike underwater around a pool for 40 metres.

"At 27 I was in a Zimmer frame," Miss Galvin said.

"The only time I left the house was to see the doctor."

The experience taught Miss Galvin life was short and it was later than you thought, she said.

And novelty events have allowed her to travel the world.

"I never thought I would get to Australia," she said.

Miss Galvin said most wife-carrying events were entered by tiny women "size zero types".

That's not her style.

In the Finland event, the winners get to drink the woman's weight in beer, she said.

Miss Galvin said she had not seen a kangaroo and thought the animals were just a way to get tourists to Australia, although she might change her mind if some "hunk" took her out in his ute to find some one night.

CountryFest is on at the Singleton Showground on Saturday from 10am.

EXPERT TIPS

THE 'fireman' and the 'wedding' are hard on the man's back, while the 'piggyback' blocks his windpipe.

An expert has offered this invaluable information ahead of the Australian round of the Wife Carrying Championships in Singleton on Saturday.

Peter Heffernan, the organiser of the Singleton event, said the 'Estonian carry' was the best way for a man to lift his wife.

"Without being rude, the lady has her legs wrapped around the guy's head with her laying over . . . his back," he said.

AAP

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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