Before the Podium: When access creates opportunity 

When Leanne Taylor first found Para triathlon, she found something she hadn’t expected: a way back to the sports she loved. But she also found a price tag. 

“The cost of equipment is absolutely wild,” Taylor says. “The bikes are over $20,000.” 

For a new athlete, that’s not an easy commitment to make. 

“To invest in a sport that you love, but you aren’t sure you are going to be good at, is really hard” 

Taylor started the sport the way many Para athletes do, with equipment that had already lived a long life. 

“I had a racing chair that had competed in the ’92 Games, which was the year I was born, so it was a great racing chair, lucky to have it, but very old.” 

Her handcycle wasn’t built for her, either. 

“It had previously belonged to a man, so it was really big and we were just making it work. Sometimes it can be so frustrating to know that you have the skill, but you can’t access the equipment.” 

Equipment isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s part of competing. Taylor’s racing chair is custom-built to her measurements, welded specifically for her body. To an outsider, it can seem surprising that equipment carries such a high cost. To athletes, it’s often the difference between participating and progressing. 

“Seeing the support that was available because of the Paralympic Foundation to get that kind of equipment I needed, is when I started to realize the support for Para athletes exists.” 

As her career grew, so did the amount of equipment she needed to move around the world. A competition trip means packing a handcycle, a racing chair, wheels for each, backup wheels, and her everyday wheelchair. Then there are the things every athlete travels with: race gear, training gear and recovery tools. And now, there’s someone else making the trip too. 

“Now that we’re travelling with our son, we also pack up a stroller and maybe a bassinet when he was smaller Everything that a baby requires, which is a crazy amount of stuff for such a tiny human.” 

Becoming a mother changed a lot about how Taylor viewed sport. Before, investing in training and competition felt straightforward. After her son was born, every decision carried a different weight. 

“I don’t think I could have continued in sport after having my son if the Adaptive Equipment Fund didn’t exist. When I wasn’t a mother, investing in sport felt reasonable and productive and like a good use of our resources. But then once you become a mother, your priorities really change.” 

The challenge wasn’t whether she still believed in her goals. It was balancing those goals with the responsibilities she happily chose as a parent. 

“It is intimidating to choose to do something that you’re pursuing so aggressively, but then you’re kind of sacrificing on the other end.” 

Support from the Paralympic Foundation of Canada helped quiet some of those concerns. 

“I think having that support with the travel and the logistics is so important, so that you can be confident betting on yourself and that you’re not sacrificing your family in order to do that.” 

For Taylor, that’s what access ultimately creates. Not just athletes. People with room to pursue more than one part of themselves. 

“I think that’s why it’s so important,” she says. “It allows Para athletes to be more than just athletes. It allows them to be the diverse humans that they are and pursue school, or pursue a career or pursue their sport wholeheartedly, or pursue family life and motherhood, if that’s what they want to do.” 

The work that leads to a podium moment often starts with something that most people can’t see. A piece of equipment that fits. A training trip that becomes possible. Support that allows someone to keep going when life changes. 

Before the Podium is when access creates opportunity.