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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Imagine sitting down at the breakfast table and pouring yourself a bowl of cereal, only to see that your own face is staring back at you.

Yellowknife athlete Michael Gilday got his face on Multi-Grain Cheerios (above and left) and Golden Grahams cereal boxes to help raise money on his quest to participate in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. - photo courtesy of General Mills

This is an experience only some of the best athletes in North America get to have, and Yellowknife's Michael Gilday is one of them.

"Seeing yourself on a cereal box isn't something that happens every day," said the 22-year-old speed skater. "It's a pretty cool feeling."

The specially marked boxes of Multi-Grain Cheerios and Golden Grahams have been on the shelves for about one month as a way to help aspiring athletes make it to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. Gilday said at this point, making it to the games is the ultimate goal, but it will take months of hard work and training to get there.

"I have been back on the ice for about six weeks, training for the Olympic trials in August," he said.

"Obviously my biggest hope is to qualify for the Olympic team, that's the first step."

In April, Gilday had a bit of a setback when he suffered a concussion while playing hockey with some friends. After running head-on into another player and getting a stick broken over his jaw, he was off the ice for two weeks.

"Missing two weeks at any time of the year is bad," he said. "It happened in a period when we were doing lots of volume, and I missed out on that, but I have been playing catch-up the last couple of weeks."

The World Championships this August will be between 16 men, and Gilday said while everyone will be really strong, he thinks he will do best in the 1,500 metre and 1,000 metre races.

"It's going to be tough, but I have beaten (all 16 competitors) at one point or another."

His father, David Gilday, said it pretty neat to see his child's face on a cereal box, but he couldn't help joking about the achievement.

"You know a Yellowknife kid is getting well up there when he is sharing the cereal boxes with such faces as Mickey Mouse and Count Chocula," he said.

To donate a dollar to Gilday, people are asked to buy specially marked boxes until Feb. 28, 2010, and go to the General Mills aspiring athletes website to enter the URL code on the inside of the box. It can be any specially marked box, and a menu will be provided on the site to choose an athlete to support.