Yet, when Meenagh first considered becoming a biathlete and dreamed of competing at the Winter Paralympics, the reception from some quarters was lukewarm.
"When I set out on that journey and started asking questions, I was met with an 'Eddie the Eagle response'."
He is referring to Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards, the first British person to compete in the ski jump at a Winter Olympics.
Edwards finished last by some distance at the 1988 Winter Olympics and, while some there turned their noses up at the bespectacled plasterer, he captured the hearts of millions of television viewers across the world and his adventures became the subject of a movie in 2016.
Like Eddie the Eagle, though, Meenagh dared to dream and the idea hatched in coffee shops became a reality.
"I think people thought I was at it," he said. "There was a lot of 'we're not handing out a free tracksuit' chat right at the beginning.
"Very quickly, I surrounded myself with people who were well into the idea. We could see how viable a cross-country programme could be."
Meenagh had been part of the GB rowing set-up until 2016, but a visit to the winter games a couple of years earlier inspired him to make a switch.
"They sent me to Russia in 2014 to experience the Paralympic Games as part of an inspiration programme," he said. "And it was out there that I witnessed the biathlon.
"I was incredibly inspired by the fact it was one of these sports that encompasses every facet an athlete requires - the enormous aerobic capacity, the technical ability of skiing, the decision-making of shooting. You're doing it in unbelievably harsh environments on the other side of the world."