'It's meant everything': Role of guides for Paralympic athletes goes beyond field of play

When Mac Marcoux injured his back and moved to Mont-Tremblant, Que., for two months of rehab, guide Tristan Rodgers was right there with him.

When Brian McKeever decided he wanted to do 41 hours on skis for his 40th birthday, guide Russell Kennedy was along for the ride.

At Beijing 2022, both Kennedy and Rodgers have paved paths to the podium, skiing ahead of the visually impaired Paralympic athletes.

But the role of guides goes well beyond the field of play.

"That's the name of the game in guiding is showing that commitment and being there for the athlete," Rodgers said.

Not only did Rodgers, a 23-year-old from Ottawa, join Marcoux in Quebec — he rehabbed right along with him, a task he said was "difficult."

Still, he says that's just part of the job.

"[Marcoux] doesn't have a driver's license. He's not self-sufficient to get from the hotel room to the gym every day. Being there for him in the pre-season and through the injuries has really tested our commitment towards each other and towards the sport," Rodgers said. 

"And I think that without that, we wouldn't have had the success that we had."

WATCH | Rodgers guides Marcoux to silver medal:

Marcoux, 24, competes in the least severe classification of the visually impaired category in Para alpine. He has some peripheral vision, which works as an aid during races.

The Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., native already owned five Paralympic medals over two Games heading into 2022. But Beijing represented his first working with Rodgers, who began working with Marcoux in June 2018.

Rodgers was an aspiring Olympic skier, but realized around that time it'd be difficult for him to gain enough speed to achieve that dream. Guiding, then, provided an alternate route to competing for Canada and sticking around the sport.

"It's cheesy, but it's meant everything. For the last four years, this has been my life, this has been my career, my job, my whatever you want to call it. It's been all and everything that I have and to be able to pour my heart and soul into something for four years, It's been so rewarding," Rodgers said.