‘Every step hurt’: Inside Paralympian Alexa Leary’s dramatic New York Marathon finish
A horrific training accident almost killed triathlete Alexa Leary, but she fought back to become a Paralympian. Join her on her latest incredible conquest: the New York City Marathon.
Picture: Annette Dew
If you didn’t know her heart, it would be easy to be deterred by Australian Paralympic champion Alexa Leary’s headstrong snap decisions and heightened emotions that are part of her daily life with a debilitating traumatic brain injury.
But the Alexa (Lex to her family and friends) I’ve come to know is a phenomenal young person with a warrior spirit doing their best to navigate nauseating and constant head noise.
It’s no doubt much like travellers moving through the streets of New York – busy and non-stop – where I found myself recently with her incredible family for the inspiring
24-year-old’s challenge of completing the New York City Marathon.
It’s a feat that was unthinkable in 2021 when the then promising triathlete was fighting for her life in hospital after a near-fatal road cycling training smash.
After she clipped the bike in front of her at 75km/h, her head hit bitumen near the small Noosa hinterland town of Pomona. She wasn’t expected to survive the emergency flight as she was airlifted to the Royal Brisbane Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. or later, her life support being turned off.
Alexa’s head was split open, her ribs and scapula broken, her lung punctured, her right leg shattered, its knee obliterated, most of her body covered in cuts and deep bruises.
If she did survive, her family – parents Russell and Belinda Leary, sisters Madison and Ashtyn, and brothers Max and Jack – were told she would have “no quality of life”.
To date, she’s defied all medical predictions.
At the time of her accident the then Noosaville-based Alexa had won a silver medal at the Junior world triathlete titles in Switzerland in 2019, as well as numerous Queensland and Australian titles. And the ride she was undertaking was with Queensland Triathlon.
Since her recovery Alexa, who now lives on the Gold Coast, has continued to excel at sport, winning multiple medals at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, with gold in the 100m freestyle in the S9 category and the mixed medley relay, and silver in the freestyle relay.
At this year’s World Championships in Singapore she also won gold in the 100m freestyle, and mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, as well as a silver in the 50m freestyle.
One year ago when wrapping production on Alexa’s Story (see video above), an award-winning News Corp mini-documentary about her journey from death bed to Paris Paralympics swimming gold, I made a pact with the Leary family to “walk a mile in Alexa’s shoes”.
And this year the time came to walk that walk.
Pacing famed Central Park the night before tackling the 2025 New York City Marathon with them, I was nervous about the physical challenge of 42km whilst capturing photos and videos as we went.
But for Alexa, beneath surface-level smiles, daily invisible ailments she contends with are her own marathon – and perhaps that’s why the idea of taking on such an iconic endurance event isn’t daunting for her.
Life as she knows it is an assault on the senses. Indescribable internal turmoil. She likens her mind to an internet browser crowded with multiple tabs open; a place of perpetual limbo, where the slightest deviation from a plan triggers dire distress.
Beyond the physical consequences of her near-death crash, permanently dicky right side of her body and chronic fatigue, a constant mental tug-of-war rages. But the “incredible spirit inside her” (as father Russell calls it) that carried her through the darkest of times also guides her through her daily battle with traumatic brain injury.
As she said in Alexa’s Story: “I’m lost in this world at times and don’t know what I’m doing. It’s like people don’t really want to know further – (they think) it’s over, it’s all good now. No it’s not, it’s even harder for me. I would like you to have some awareness and understanding of a traumatic brain injury – something I deal with every day.”
As I’m about to discover, sharing space with Alexa Leary is not just four seasons in one day – it’s a full spectrum of emotions in an hour, even minutes.
For the most part, she is a stranger in her own body and a prisoner in her mind. Her lifelong rehabilitation will almost certainly be a marathon, not a sprint.
Unlike the New York City Marathon, it’s a race she didn’t sign up for, and can’t tap out of, but a journey she continues to embrace daily and defy the odds.
“We were worried about what sort of capacity she’d have,” recalls Amy Benjamin, the sister of Alexa’s childhood best friend Emma, just before the marathon.
“As a nurse you just understand – you see miracles but also a lot of poor outcomes. She is an absolute miracle. I don’t think she can comprehend how close she was to a very different life.”
Amy adds, like medical professionals treating her, the expectation that if Alexa lived was “she’s not going to be able to breathe on her own, she’s not going to be able to walk, talk, eat … have peg feet.
“When she started talking I was like, ‘Oh my gosh’, (then) eating on her own. Then all of a sudden she’s up walking. Who is she? It was inspiring, just how hard she fought.”
Amy says the #MoveForLex viral hashtag started by Alexa’s sister Madison to document her recovery inspired her to start running.
“Part of the training, I thought Lex and I could go swim laps once she got out of the hospital. I took her to the Noosa Aquatic Centre and thought, ‘Finally, I’m going to be able to outswim Lex, I’m going to have to be there in case she drowns.’
“She took off, finished the 100m and I was 25m in. She got to the end of 15 minutes of swimming and was like, ‘That’s the warm-up done, let’s get into the session’ and I was like ‘Darl, I’m done’.
“Clearly there’s something superhuman. It was incredible to see.”
Alexa didn’t train for the marathon as she intended to walk it, hoping her general fitness and incredible spirit would get her through.
NYC MARATHON RACE DAY DIARY
4am: Alarm goes off at The Wallace hotel near the Hudson River. I shower and get camera gear. Go to Alexa’s room. She’s ticking off snacks, medication and chatting with Emma Benjamin, who is room sharing with Alexa. I’ve been sharing with Emma’s sister Amy, who says of Alexa: “I’ve never met a more stubborn person. She is such a fighter and that’s been in her, her whole life.”
Dad Russell and mum Belinda arrive – Russell muses about potentially needing a wheelchair for Alexa if her dicky leg gives out.
4.50am: Roll call of Alexa’s 40-strong running group of friends and family by our South Australian marathon tour group Adventure Time Travel’s founder Anna Liptak, whose documentary inspired Russell’s marathon goal.
“This has been in the making for a year and a half. I went to a health retreat with Anna Liptak. Her documentary I’m Not A Runner – I watched it and said, I’m not a runner but I’m doing the New York Marathon and so is my family,” Russell says.
“With a disability, (Alexa will) struggle, she’ll have to hobble but she’ll get through with that spirit, it’s very emotional. There was no way ever in a hospital bed we thought Alexa would take on the Paralympics, let alone the New York Marathon.”
Alexa says: “Unreal, I can’t believe I’m here doing the New York Marathon for my dad. He’s one of the reasons why I’m here, so I’m doing it for my dad.”
We bus to the Hilton for breakfast and to get transfers to the New York City Marathon start line.
8.30am: Bus departs the Hilton and Alexa realises she has no sunglasses or hat, and asks her mum Belinda why she didn’t sort it, saying: “I have a four-year-old brain. I don’t know shit.”
9.33am: Exit bus and Alexa tells Aussie fans: “My right leg and hand don’t work with me. The left leg powerhouses, the right sometimes floats and just doesn’t go with me. That’s why I’m S9, from my brain damage.” She shows a woman her skull twitch. “It’s a hidden disability.”
10.59am: Start gun fires at Staten Island.
11am: Lex sights a four-hour time balloon runner: “I can run the whole thing, I reckon I could.” Ugh. As we pass the first bridge, I realise my biggest fear isn’t a blister, toilet mishap, or passing out – it’s Alexa forgetting she’s human and deciding to run. When I signed up, I expected her to walk, was told she would, and I didn’t run more than 5km in preparation but must keep up to document her journey. She begins teasing the group for not keeping up. The competitor reveals herself.
11.03am: I’m panting and swearing under my breath, chasing Alexa over the Gateway National. “You’re quick, mate,” I say, in an attempt to slow her down, but the horse keeps bolting. Alexa looks back at me: “I’ve got to know if you’re there.” I gasp: “I’m here, I’ve got you.”
11.15am: Brooklyn. She’s overtaking runners. As I eyeball her blonde hair disappearing in a sea of people 50m ahead at the 3km mark, I think surely she’ll burn out and we will walk soon.
11.30am: She admits: “My leg will give out soon.” We’ve lost the group, including Russell, with who Alexa shared a promise to complete this together. We pull into the closest rest stop. Alexa has her medicines. By chance Russell finds us despite not answering frantic calls. Russell vents: “Has she hurt herself? I knew she’d do this, she’s f..ked … and now it’s over.”
11.35am: Brooklyn Bay Ridge. Alexa is hunched over, awkward: “I have to walk like this at times otherwise this leg clocks backwards.”
11.37am: Russell: “I want you to take it easy, the idea is to finish.” Alexa: “I can run some, Dad.” Russell: “We will run some, just don’t sprint, because that fatigues your brain and then it f..ks your legs. Let’s get your leg back right now, get some lollies into you.” Alexa: “It never will get back, my leg is disabled.” Russell: “Let’s get it back to feeling a bit better.”
12.45pm: Alexa blitzes a hill before a boogie with a man playing live jazz.
1.10pm: We’re walking.
1.28pm: DJ Fisher’s World Hold On brings Alexa back to life.
1.38pm: McCarren Park. Still walking and we negotiate no more running, just finishing.
2.05pm: Long Island City – Hunters Point. The deafening shuffle of sore legs is sobering. Looking to Alexa, I can see self-doubt creeping in. Hobbling and hunched. The wheels are falling off. Russell is walking behind so no one bumps her.
2.15pm: At Hunters Point we spot Australians with inflatable kangaroos and flags. A limping Alexa puts on a brave face.
2.25pm: Her medication alarm rings and we stop for water. Alexa is shaking as we walk a hill and it dawns on us: we are only halfway.
2.34pm: 24km in, Alexa has hip pain.
3.04pm: 27km. I convince a weary Russell and Alexa we only have 5km three times. Piece of pie. Alexa expresses concern of possible permanent damage.
3.20pm: Live Today Show breakfast cross with Sarah Abo. Alexa doesn’t want to stop. “I need to finish.” But Russell insists. They speak well.
4pm: The Bronx. I’ve hit a wall. Gold Coast TV weatherman Luke Bradnam, on his 24th marathon, embraces us. “I’m going to tell you the secret to marathons. If you don’t stop, you get to the finish. It doesn’t matter what time you do. There’s no easy way, the whole nation is proud of you. You’re going to be a marathon runner, mate. We’re so bloody proud. You’re not going to stop. If you don’t stop you’ll get there.” Alexa: “I don’t want to stop. My book is Mother’s Day.”
4.20pm: Two sets of 5km and we’re done. Alexa locks on to pacer “Jim” and finds rhythm with the run-walk method.
4.30pm: I let Alexa know her sister Ashtyn passed us. Red rag to a bull. With 3km left, she speeds up, determined to beat her.
4.49pm: We approach Central Park. I’m in awe as Alexa and Russell start going for it. I fall back.
5.06pm: It’s almost dark. I feel like dead weight. Russell implores me: “P, we will get a photo of the three of us but you need to run ahead in order to film us crossing the finish together.” I grit my teeth with 400m to go and power ahead – for a moment I feel like I’m channelling Russell and Alexa and their struggles and spirit.
5.20pm: Alexa crosses and is embraced by Russell, who declares: “Buggered. Alexa and Portia what an amazing job. Incredible.” Alexa collapses. She’s placed in a wheelchair and taken to the medical tent. “I have brain damage,” she tells them.
5.30pm: A group of 30 to 40 medics are around her bed in awe. She chats about her accident and ailments, making new fans. A doctor says: “This is why we do what we do, what an incredible story, I’m so inspired.”
5.32pm: Russell: “She’s right?” Doctor: “Any major medicines she’s on?” Russell: “Oh f..k plenty.” Lex shares she “has seizures” while the medical team massage her right side, hand and foot.
6pm: We are awarded our medals in the medical tent. The shuffle home is brutal, until we sight a chariot bike and hitch a ride. Alexa gets in a colourful haggle with the driver over price. I don’t know how she has the energy.
7pm: Back to the hotel, I cry on the floor of the shower for an hour out of exhaustion.
Next day: Meet Alexa in a cafe to do a marathon photo drop – she thanks me warmly and says “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Later: Alexa posted to her Instagram: “They once told me I’d never walk again. My right side still doesn’t work the way it used to but last week I walked the New York Marathon beside my amazing dad, the man who never stopped believing in me. Every step hurt, but every step was a miracle.”
Originally published as ‘Every step hurt’: Inside Paralympian Alexa Leary’s dramatic New York Marathon finish
Join the conversation
Aussies linked to Bali arrest of porn star Bonnie Blue
Read more
Kathleen Folbigg to marry childhood friend
Read more