Wheelchair Motocross
Finally today to a sport called wheelchair motocross. It involves a wheelchair, a skate park and heaps of courage and we introduced you to it briefly in the Score a couple of weeks ago. But you wanted to know more about the young guy trying to get it to take off here in Australia. So here's Amelia with Tim's full story.
For Tim, it doesn't get better than this. The action sport of Wheelchair Motocross!
TIM: WCMX it's like skateboarding and BMX but it's on a wheelchair. It's just riding a wheelchair in a skate park, you don't have coaches you don't have to be pushed you go at your own pace. Theres no real way to describe it, it's like nothing else I've ever done, it's freedom, it's doing what you want when you want.
He first gave WCMX a go back in 2009 and instantly, he was hooked!
TIM: I just bought a hospital wheelchair and went to the skate park and that and I had dad's help to get to the top of the ramp and then eventually, I got the courage to do a wheelie and drop in by myself.
He was inspired by this American WCMX superstar Aaron 'Wheelz' Fotheringham, who's helping the extreme sport take off.
TIM: What sparked my interest, was seeing all these videos of Aaron, following him and doing all these amazing tricks and thought to myself, I want to do that because it's just freedom, the adrenaline rush. It's just fun!
Tim has a condition called Hypotonia which is why he has the wheels.
TIM: I'm not in the wheelchair fulltime, like I use it 50/50 with crutches and that's as a result of having low muscle tone, a condition I was born with that affects me from the waist down.
He says WCMX has helped him to do things he never imagined.
TIM: WCMX helps with getting up and down curbs, getting up and down stairs, I can crab walk over rocks if I have to, all sorts of things. Things you wouldn't think you could do in a chair, WCMX makes possible.
Of course, like any extreme sport, it takes a lot of safety gear and a lot of practice.
TIM: When you fall you get really annoyed, but you're like I'm not going home til I land this throwing yourself at the concrete until eventually you get it.
And Tims had some close shaves.
TIM: The largest bowl I ever dropped into would be the pizzy pipe death bowl, its about 12 foot and I did that on a hospital wheelchair. I survived it, but I broke my wheelchair clean in half!
But hes come a long way and now he's even teaching the sport he loves to others!
TIM: Josh is a little kid I teach, we met at the skate park about two years ago - there was an instant connection between me and Josh.
JOSH: When we first met up, I didn't know him and he go down the mountain and after that I copy him. He give me encouragement when I'm scared to go down it.
One day, Tim would like to run his own WCMX events and competitions, and hopefully encourage more kids just like Josh to give this unique sport a go!
TIM: My hope for WCMX is mimic what the US has done with the sport; it's really taken off there and I want that for Australia.
- Amelia Moseley | Reporter
- WCMX -Airbourne: Aaron Fotheringham | youtube
- Tim skates the 'Death Bowl' in a wheelchair: ABC Open | weblink
- Australia:QLD | Map
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