SARANAC LAKE – The inspiring stories of U.S. Paralympians, and their successes at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janiero, are being told in their hometown newspapers across the country thanks in part to the efforts of a local communications and public relations company.

GreatRange, based in Saranac Lake, researched and built a database of news media contacts in the hometown of each of the more than 300 members of the U.S. Paralympic Team in the lead-up to this year’s games. Since the games started last week, GreatRange has worked with the team to connect these media outlets with Paralympic athletes in Rio.

GreatRange partner Doug Haney, who previously worked as the chief press officer for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, said he was contacted by the U.S. Paralympic Committee after he delivered a presentation at a communications summit last winter at the U.S. Olympic Committee’s headquarters in Colorado Springs. He said the Paralympic Committee wanted to come up with a way to get more stories written about their athletes than ever before. That’s been a challenge in the past, Haney said.

“The Paralympics are hard because they come a few weeks after the regular Olympics, right at the start of the NFL season and college football, and high school sports are starting up in small towns,” he said. “To have this major sporting event happening in Brazil, it’s almost, unfortunately, an afterthought for journalists.”

Haney subcontracted with another Saranac Laker, Greg Popp, to comb through the list of 300-plus Paralympic athletes and build a database of media outlets and contacts in their current hometowns as well as the communities where they were born.

“Greg called all those places,” Haney said. “Let’s say it was the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. He would have reached out to the newspaper and said, ‘Who should I talk to? Who should I send information to about Paralympic athletes that are from your community?’ We made a touch point with each of these athletes’ hometowns and birthplaces earlier in the summer.”

“It’s 300 athletes or so, but for every athlete we’ve got between three and six media outlets listed. Multiply that out, and we have 778 different media outlets listed in the database. The bulk has certainly been newspapers, but in areas with strong TV markets we also hit local sports reporters and have had success there as well.

“I’m not working with NBC or the New York Times. It’s more about really getting those hometown community outlets to cover their athletes. That’s where we think the stories will provide the most impact, by hitting the local communities.”

Haney said his company’s work resulted in a lot of pre-games stories about Paralympic athletes. Since the games started, GreatRange has been contacting news media in its database each time an athlete wins a medal.

“We send out an email saying, ‘Here’s what happened. Here’s some flash quotes,’ so the paper can get a story up as fast as they can,'” Haney said. “If they want to link up with their medalist, we connect them with the press officer for that sport who’s on the ground in Rio.

“I’m tracking it as much as I can. In the evening after that day’s competition has finished, I’ll do a Google News search for all the medalists that day, and for every single one I’m seeing five, six, seven different stories placed earlier in that day. Some are written directly from the content we sent them. Others are getting back to me and saying, ‘I’d love to link up with this athlete,’ so we’re making those phone conversations happen from Rio.”

The local media outlets are also building on background information GreatRange provided for each athlete, interviewing their high school coaches and family members, Haney said.

Beth Bourgeois, director of communications for U.S. Paralympics, said the partnership has helped amplify the stories of the team’s athletes.

“The combination of his targeted outreach to media and the work our press officers are doing here on the ground is helping to optimize the number of stories published about these athletes across the country,” Bourgeois said in an email. “U.S. athletes are making some really amazing athletic achievements here in Rio, and we’re excited to help bring them to the forefront.”

Personally, Haney said it’s been “incredibly inspiring” to hear the stories of these athletes and their accomplishments, whether they come home with medals or not.

“I’ve watched more Paralympic sports, because it’s streaming free and live on USparalympics.com, then I’ve ever watched in my life,” he said. “It’s amazing what these athletes are capable of.”