CARSTAIRS - A former Carstairs-area resident will be competing for Canada in para-cycling at the next Parapan American Games.
Lowell Taylor, who now lives in Lethbridge, qualified for the Games by having strong showings throughout the season.
Earlier this year, Taylor (and his pilot Andrew Davidson of Calgary) won gold at the Canadian national time trial championships in Quebec. It was later announced that he would be one of eight para-cyclists competing for Canada at the 2019 Parapan American Games, which take place Aug. 23 - Sept. 1 in Lima, Peru.
"I'm a carded (funded) athlete; a Sport Canada elite level athlete," he said. "We represent Canada but this will be our first Games selection. We've done World Cups before. We won the national time trial last month. That got us selected for another world cup and to the Parapan Am Games in Peru," he said.
Taylor, who is 37 years old, grew up on a farm just outside of Carstairs with his parents, who still live there. He played several sports growing up in the area including hockey and swimming.
Taylor was also involved in 4-H and camp leadership. He attended Hugh Sutherland School in Grade 1, then went to Olds Koinonia Christian School near Olds and was later home-schooled.
After graduating from high school, Taylor went to the University of Lethbridge in 2000 for his post-secondary education. He is now a psychologist with his own clinic in Lethbridge specializing in treating first responders. He and wife Julie are also motivational speakers.
He was born with a genetic eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa (RP). His vision has slowly deteriorated over time.
"I was born with it," he said. "It's slowly been degenerating my whole life. My grandfather, who lives in Carstairs, had it. My mom and brother have it. I've been losing my vision since I was a little boy. It's taken away my ability to drive. I lost my licence when I was 24. I'm no longer able to do much with sight."
Taylor got involved with para-cycling as a way of coping with his blindness and everything else that was going on.
"I was having a quarter-life crisis," he said. "My life was kind of crashing around me. I was going blind. I was having to switch careers because of my vision. I had never really been involved with sports other than a little bit of hockey and swimming."
Taylor began training as a triathlete in 2004 shortly after graduating.
"I started that at the home in Carstairs," he said. "I did my first triathlon in Innisfail. It just became a passion. I found health. I started to feel better about my life. I really changed gears. I got married. I changed my career (from new media) to psychologist. So sport really found me in a dark time and I really got active. You could say I have a blind passion for sport."
After starting a family and getting his career going, Taylor started focusing on para-cycling.
"I switched to cycling around 2015," he said. "I started track and road cycling, then got selected to Cycling Canada's NextGen team, which is where they develop the Paralympians of the future. I became a carded athlete from Sport Canada. Last year we went to Emmen (Netherlands) and Baie-Comeau (Quebec) for World Cups."
This year, Taylor and his partner have competed in Oostende, Belgium and Baie-Comeau again, and will end their season with the Parapan American Games.
Taylor races on a tandem bike with his pilot-spotter against other visually impaired riders and their pilots.
"The tandem bike has a pilot on the front and a stoker on the back," he said. "I'm the stoker, the power. The guy in the front has no visual impairments or otherwise. He's fully able-bodied and he can pedal. So it's our combined strengths. So we're very, very fast. We race at pretty ridiculous speeds. Lots of power; lots of speed; lots of strategy."
Taylor is really excited about competing at the upcoming international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities in Peru.
"Our main goal is to build up Games experience heading towards the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in 2020," he said. "The other one is to win medals. This is the Pan-American Games, not the whole world, whereas most of our competition is from Europe -- they're the big cyclists. So we have a really good shot at bringing home some medals."
Taylor expects some tough competition from the racers from the United States and Colombia.
"We have a pretty strong program," he said. "Cycling Canada is on the world stage. We're doing really well. We have a pretty good shot at winning some medals."
Taylor said that taking up cycling really helped him find his way.
"For me, there are a few things that cycling brings," he said. "Cycling allows me to control things in my life that because of losing my vision, I've lost: I've lost the ability to go fast; I've lost the ability to do a lot of independent sport. So this allows me to have a sport where I can go fast and compete at an elite level even though I'm visually impaired."
Taylor said cycling at a high level allows him to really push himself.
"It allows me to push my body to try and achieve these goals," he said. "I'm actually able to compete at a world stage. It makes me feel alive. I have a massive smile on my face when I race, before and after. It's an incredible feeling to race and be alongside the team and represent Canada in sport. The pride of representing Canada."
Taylor said that it also allows him to deal with stress in a healthy way.
As if cycling on a world stage wasn't enough, Taylor and his wife competed in Season 4 of The Amazing Race Canada in 2016.
"It was a super-fun experience," he said. "We raced around the world and lasted seven out of 11 episodes. We showed that people with disabilities can do more than we think they can. (It was great) just representing marriage and people with disabilities and Albertans in a positive way."
The Taylors get back to the Carstairs area often to visit the farm.
"We come back often," he said. "It's where most of my family is and where the family gatherings are. I come back quite a bit."
Although Taylor is partially funded through the government, he is appreciative of the sponsorship of Silver Willow Pheasant Farm near Carstairs. He is also selling Live with Heart shirts and other gear to help raise money through the website livewithheart.ca.
