Aaron Fotheringham: Extreme Athlete Part Two

Gordon Simmons
You mention the company that makes your chair, you said Colours.

Aaron Fotheringham
Yes.

Gordon Simmons
And did you work with them in the design of the chair?

Aaron Fotheringham
Yes. I go down there and work with the guys in the back. There's a guy named Mike Box that builds them and he's let me put in all the input.  On this chair I'm riding on right now, I even welded it because I've been learning to TIG weld and stuff.

Gordon Simmons
Oh wow. It looks like the thing takes a beating.

Aaron Fotheringham
Oh yeah, it does. An intense beating. It's crazy.

Gordon Simmons
Is there a lot of repair that you end up doing on it?

Aaron Fotheringham
Lately, no. It's been holding up really good, but I've had to go through the process of breaking every part on the chair to make it stronger. 

Gordon Simmons
Sure.  Right.  And is the company then marketing chairs for other people who are interested in doing this or is it kind of focused on you right now?

Aaron Fotheringham
They don't really specialize in doing the skate park chairs, so I'm actually in the process of starting my own wheelchair company so I can build wheelchairs for people that want to do skate park. I've had a lot of people ask me: Where do I get a skate park chair?  And I send them to Colours, but not really that many - - like no wheelchair companies making a chair for it, so that’s' what I'd like to do.

Gordon Simmons
Yeah, that's great. When you're looking at the design of a chair like yours, what's the most important features that you've had to either come up with or modify? 

Aaron Fotheringham
Cross-bracing for the frame probably because I was just bending frames. A frame would last me probably a month before I bent it.

Gordon Simmons
Okay.  Can I ask what it cost to build a chair like yours?

Aaron Fotheringham
The chair I'm riding stock without all the modifications and heavy duty parts is around 3 to 4,000. And then with all the parts and things, it's probably around 6,000.

Gordon Simmons
How many sponsors do you have?

Aaron Fotheringham
I have about six or seven.

Gordon Simmons
Great.  And did people come to you or did you reach out to people for sponsorship, how'd that happen?

Aaron Fotheringham
They pretty much just came to me, which is really cool.

Gordon Simmons
Yeah, absolutely, right. I think they really saw something big in what you're doing.

Aaron Fotheringham
Yeah, it's good to have the support.

Gordon Simmons
Absolutely. I wonder: do you consider yourself really somehow different from most people your age?

Aaron Fotheringham
Not really. I don't know. I just think of myself as the same.  I just go to the skate park, hang out with kids my age and chill. 

Gordon Simmons
Sure.  And tell me about your future plans. You mentioned you're beginning your own wheelchair company. Are you going to stay competitive and keep working the parks and that kind of stuff as well?

Aaron Fotheringham
Yeah, of course.  I plan to stay doing the freestyle wheelchair professionally, but then also on the side have my wheelchair company.

Gordon Simmons
Fantastic.  I really I'm amazed. My son is a couple years old than you and was into skate parks when he was probably 16, 15/16, something like that. He did the roller blade stuff, which always amazed me, so I've always been a little bit envious of people like you who can get out there and do this kind of stuff. I'm not that coordinated myself. 

Aaron Fotheringham
It just takes practice.

Gordon Simmons
Yeah, and that's… Like I said, that's the one thing I really like about your videos and such is you show that practice in progress, and that's very interesting for somebody like me.

Aaron Fotheringham
Thanks, dude. 

Gordon Simmons
I really appreciate you taking some time for me today, and I'm sorry that it took so long to get to you.

Aaron Fotheringham
It's all good.  It was great talking to you, bro.