The Mid-Week Missive
Have you heard about the Opening Ceremony?
This mid-week newsletter is usually for paid subscribers only but in the spirit of the Olympic Games it’s free for all this week. In exchange can you promise me one thing? Cue up - Paddock to Paris - for your next car trip, enjoy the awesome stories and share with your networks. Would that be ok? And then we can all be excited together - and maybe lift the roof off with our shrieks for rural and regional Australian athletes.
How do you plan to watch the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony?
Did you even plan to watch it at all?
You should. It starts at 3:30am on Saturday morning. And it will be worth it. ‘Bold, original and unique’ is how they’re describing it.
It will not be held in a stadium. Just you know, in the city and on the Seine.
Each country will float 6km down the Seine in boats of their own.
Spectator seating has been set up on bridges over the Seine and along its banks. And because it’s not in a stadium, anyone who’s in Paris can watch it unfold. (There’ll be 80 huge screens dotted around the city). Isn’t that the greatest?!
Hundreds of millions. That’s how many people are expected to watch the biggest opening ceremony ever to take place.
Tell me you’re not excited now.
Paddock to Paris: our podcast highlighting rural and regional athletes going to the Olympics. Have you pressed SUBSCRIBE or FOLLOW in your podcast app yet? Please do. These are amazing in-depth stories that celebrate the extraordinary depth these athletes have to go to make it to the Olympics - and each and everyone of our guests say they can’t do it without their small local communities.
Jack O’Brien, an olympic rower from Walgett, NSW is still floored by the efforts of support from his farming neighbours who erected their own ‘billboard’ just outside of town in the lead up to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. He’ll be rowing in the Mens 8 at Paris - before weighing up his Rowing future while at home for harvest later this year.
Shannan Davey an Olympic Boxer from Narrabri would not be at the Olympics were it not for the support of his community. It’s the 1%-ers. A local farmer has financially sponsoring him on occasion ever since he observed his determination in training but noticed his trackies were always ripped and threadbare.
Now he’s about to make proper history: Australia is taking it’s biggest ever boxing team to the Olympics. There’s 6 girls and 6 boys, with Australia’s first indigenous boxer, and Australia’s first female muslim boxer.
“It’s an amazing team to be a part of and I am so priviledge to be apart of this team. We have so much opportunity to get more than one medal this year, this team is special and the bond we have. I know, I know we are going to go there and make more history and it’s going to be a big awakening for Australian boxing I believe.”
Olivia Barton is in Paris training with the Australian Equestrian team as a second reserve.
Laura Gourley from Edgeroi near Narrabri is an Olympic Rower also, she’ll compete in the Womens Quad Skull next week - and has a brilliant story to tell about maintaining fitness, strenght and motiavtion during Covid lockdowns.
And there’s more to come over the next two weeks…….
Col Pearse from Euchuca or Bamawn Extension, is quite possibly the most positive person (and hilarious) person I’ve ever interviewed. He’ll be in the pool at the Paralympics and is ranked #1 in his 4x100 medley event. He’s the dairy farmer you might have seen in the Woolworths ads.
Aislin Jones from Bairnsdale, VIC will compete in the Women’s Skeet Shooting event and after that she’ll casually run a Marathon on the Paris Olympics course just for fun. She’s shares a lot about the financial difficulties of being an elite athlete.
And also we’ll hear from Patrick Tiernan, Jamison Leeson and swimmer, Meg Harris OAM.
Meet Alice Moffitt: Paddock to Paris producer
No joke, the creation of this podcast has been one of the most fulfilling projects I have done in a while, not least has been the chance to work with Alice Moffitt who’s lifestyle articles seem to pop everywhere I look these days.
Alice is the reason why we have been given access to such wonderful athletes. Her research and organisation has been next level and she’s also a bit of an Olympics obsessive too - she’s filled in many blanks for me.
Where do you live, with who and what do you do?
I live on my family's beautiful beef and sheep property in southern NSW near the tiny village of Candelo. My partner Sam and I - and my Kelpie Coco - live on the farm in a funny old building that used to be a dairy, and before that a butter factory. I work on our farm doing all aspects of livestock management. I love a busy day in the cattle yards. Sam works here too but goes away often doing seasonal harvest contracts in his truck. My family also own the quaint Candelo General Store (a one-stop grocery/gift/stockfeeds shop with a wonderful cafe attached) which my sister and I manage. I just do the bookkeeping but it takes up quite a bit of my time. In between this I'm a freelance features writer and write regularly for Country Style magazine. I have a dusty old journalism degree but I've never worked full-time as a journalist. I love nothing more than pitching a story about a rural/regional person, home or business to a magazine and being part of the process of it evolving into a story in print. I've been obsessed with magazines - and all forms of media really - since I was young. I've also been dipping my toe into a little bit of PR work recently for some local businesses and also for a gorgeous group of ladies from the central west who own boutique international tour company Pink Pelican - which has been great fun.
What's it been like being a producer for the Paddock to Paris series?
I was so delighted to be asked by Skye to help out with the research for this series. Apart from the opportunity to collaborate on a project, I love nothing more than deep-diving into somebody's story, then the thrill of the chase to try to secure an interview.
Who's got the coolest Olympic story?
I've had such fun doing background research on these athletes. I'm a little awe-struck by all of them. Not that it was intentional for the series, but we seem to have interviewed quite a few from the NW NSW region. It just goes to show how tough and hard-working country kids are.
What event will you make sure you don't miss?
I'm a sucker for the swimming events and will definitely be on the edge of my seat watching Meg Harris in the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle relay. And also the women's marathon - those women are incredible. And the Opals - Lauren Jackson at her FIFTH Olympics!
Any ones that are flying under the radar that you think we should know about?
I'm excited for the men's beach volleyball, in particular rural SA athlete Zachery Schubert (and his partner Tom Hodges) who have been in incredible form. Zach also owns a cricket (the insect) farm! Also, Matty Denny, a discus thrower from Allora in rural Queensland.
Outside of the Olympics and freelance work - what things do you love to do, Alice?
I'm very late to the pilates party but I started doing a local reformer class a couple of months ago and it's the most fun I've had exercising in a really long time. I'm terrible at it but it's challenging my brain and body simultaneously. I love catching up with and eating out (and in) with friends. A group of eight girlfriends and I try to do a mid-week dinner at one of our houses on a rotating roster every month. It's very casual, a lot of fun and usually the highlight of my social calendar! I'm also very excited to be planning a three-week-ish road/camping trip that Sam and I are going on to the Flinders Ranges, Uluru, Alice Springs and a little of outback Queensland in a couple of weeks - dreadful timing clashing with some of the Olympics however! Lots of podcast listening kilometres, camp fires, stunning outback scenery and hopefully some book reading too. Other than that, some weeks I barely leave the farm and I spend a lot of time with my family, in particular my sister and her three kids. Her son Julian, who is 6, is my shadow on the farm in the school holidays.
What other podcasts are you enjoying at the moment? Or Books?
I listen to a lot of podcasts at work while out on the buggy (side-by-side) moving/checking sheep and cattle. I like a couple from the Mamamia stable, The Inspired Unemployed, ABC Conversations, Humans of Agriculture, The Design Files Talks, Good Weekend Talks, Graziher's Life on the Land, and obviously Company. I'm in a bit of a book slump however. I'm ashamed to admit I have a stack on my bedside gathering dust. Hopefully our upcoming holiday will fix this. I'm a subscriber to quite a few newsletters though- do these count as reading? Maggie Mackellar's The Sit Spot, Clare Fletcher's Put the Kettle On, Highly Enthused, Sophie Hansen's 5 Things to Be Cheerful About, Galah magazine's Galah Weekly, The Guardian's Rural Network, Emily Herbert's While My Baby Sleeps and Skye's Company on Sundays are some of my faves.
This week I’ve been;
Reading: During the holidays I’ve just finished Bri Lee’s The Work. It’s really, really good - refreshing modern takes on priviledge, entitlement, power dynamics, feminist views on work and marriage and kids and it’s shortfalls. There’s a love story - with a country boy, so there’s that too. I’ll definitely be reading her next book.
Watching: Colin From Accounts. Hard recommend. Funny, actually hilarious, delightful and bit wacky. It wont take you long to get through it.
Listening: I’ve been quite pepped up these last few weeks, it’s been busy so it’s called for some trusty Angus and Julia - who actually have a new album out.
These newsletters take a while to pull together sometimes - curation is one of my fave things to do though so that makes up for it. But if you want, you can support this work by becoming a paid subscriber, and it’ll get a little kick seeing your subscription notice pop up in my inbox.