Minnesota Paralympian Aaron Pike is no stranger to the world stage

CATHY WURZER: If you're already missing the Olympic action like I am, you are in luck. The Paralympics start in just eight days. There are several Minnesotans who will be competing on the world's biggest sports stage, including Aaron Pike. The Park Rapids native has quite the resume. This will be Aaron's seventh Paralympic Games. He's qualified for every summer and winter games since 2012.

This time around, he'll be going for gold in track and in the marathon. Aaron joins us right now as he gets ready for Paris. Aaron, it is so nice to have you here. Thank you so much for taking the time.

AARON PIKE: Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for having me.

CATHY WURZER: Say, can you tell folks about your story? I know that you had a hunting accident when you were young. I think 13, is that right? How did your life change after that?

AARON PIKE: Yeah, that's right. I had a hunting accident when I was 13. It's actually the first year hunting. Just went out with my dad and happened to be some other hunters out in the area that I'd seen earlier that morning. And it seemed like those ended up being the people that heard or saw something in my direction or whatever and took a couple shots, and one of the shots ended up clipping my spinal cord and ended up being paralyzed from just waist down. And then I got some function back.

But yeah, so that was just a huge life-changing moment going into eighth grade and stuff. But I was lucky enough in the hospital. I ran into Carlos Melendez. He was a former Navy Seal, and he was the Ironman champion at the time. And he had an injury almost exactly like mine.

So in short, he kind of gave me something to see right away. He was super fit and active, and I could see that there was other pathways while I was still in the hospital.

CATHY WURZER: And you went then to compete on the collegiate level in track and field, in wheelchair track and field. Is that a passion?

AARON PIKE: Yeah. That's right. I came out to a couple of summer camps for wheelchair basketball and track and field. And after that, meeting the coaches and seeing the campus and getting a chance to train full time-- I've always loved sports, even before, so that was huge. I moved out, and then I've been here ever since. I graduated, but it's one of the official training sites for the Paralympics. Every single wheelchair racer that's going to Paris is actually training here at the University of Illinois.

CATHY WURZER: Wow. And then I know you switched to winter sports, which I think is really amazing that you've qualified in Summer and Winter Olympics. Oh, my gosh. And you're a Nordic skier?

AARON PIKE: Yes. Yeah. That one came up shortly after the London games in 2012. There was a coach that had reached out previously, earlier in the summer, and I told him I was pretty busy preparing for the Summer Games. But then there was something else that came up afterwards, and it was kind of the perfect little time to get away and do something a little different after just focusing so hard on track for a while.

And I went and tried it out in Bozeman, Montana, and fell in love with it really quickly, and I wasn't able to give it up. So that's when the dual-sport stuff started.

CATHY WURZER: Good for you.

AARON PIKE: Happening from 2013 on.

CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] I love that. I love that. So let's talk about Paris. So you're going to be running. You will be in the 1,500 and 5,000 meter races, is that right? You'll be competing in those races?

AARON PIKE: Yes. Yeah. Yep. I'll be wheelchair racing on the track in the 1,500 and the 5,000. And then those two are a little earlier. They start off really early, actually. The 5,000's on the 30th. That's like the day after it starts. So 30th, 31st for the 5,000 prelims finals, and then the 1,500 comes a couple days after that. And then the very last day is the marathon.

CATHY WURZER: Now, I understand-- I want to ask about the marathon, but also, I'm curious about the training that you have to go through in order to prepare for something like this. Like, how many miles do you train, say, in a day?

AARON PIKE: So I'd say we usually get-- these past couple weeks, we've been training twice a day every day except for Friday and Saturday. We just have one practice a day.

CATHY WURZER: OK.

AARON PIKE: But we're getting two sessions in the racing chair on Monday, Wednesdays, and then lifting for a second practice for Tuesday, Thursdays. But so through the week, we're around 100 miles a week. And that's stuff on the track and stuff out on the roads. We got plenty of roads out here, out in the cornfields and stuff, so easy to get miles out here.

CATHY WURZER: Good. I'm glad to hear that. So I also want to know about the marathon, because you qualified. You competed in New York at the marathon. And I hear that was a heck of a finish.

AARON PIKE: Yeah. They used New York City as the Paralympic qualifier this time around for Paris. So yeah, it came down to-- there was one other guy. So the first US guy was ahead of me, and he had already finished at this point. So then there was me and one other US guy. So they were taking the top two finishers.

And so now it's down to me and him. And it was within the last-- I took off with, I would say, about, I don't know, 800 meters or so to go. There was a section that was a little bit of a downhill that I took off on that. And then I was able to just keep a gap and get through to the finish and get that second spot to be an automatic qualifier for Paris.

CATHY WURZER: Wow. I can only imagine what you thought as you crossed the finish line. Good for you.

AARON PIKE: Yeah.

CATHY WURZER: Good for you. So we're talking about Paris, but I'm wondering, and you know this to be a fact, too, sadly, that Paralympic athletes often struggle with a lack of resources compared to their Olympic counterparts. What has that looked like for you and some of your fellow Team USA colleagues?

AARON PIKE: Yeah. You know, one of the hardest things is the equipment side. Instead of buying a pair of shoes for the marathon, we're getting-- like right now, I'm in a racing chair that costs close to $20,000. So the equipment side, definitely there's a ton of money to try to support that through the years.

And it's continued to get better and better, but I think it's just mostly visibility, and that's continued to grow. And I think there's going to be a lot of coverage on NBC and Peacock and stuff, which lends us to a lot more opportunities and more sponsorships and stuff.

CATHY WURZER: Exactly. What kind of sponsorships would you hope for? I know some of your colleagues are-- some of your teammates are doing a lot of work in the way of being consultants and trainers themselves and that kind of thing. Is that what you might want to do ultimately?

AARON PIKE: Yeah, it's hard to say. So right now, I'm actually the assistant coach at U of I now, already as I'm training. And I got a couple of sponsors, one being Bridgestone, which is a really cool one because they're doing a lot for helping get people equipment. And they're also helping us directly in our sport, and they're using their technology with rubber that we use on our push rings to give us something that's a little grippier and lasts longer and works better in wet conditions.

So it's been kind of a cool partnership because they're helping financially and trying to make our sport better.

CATHY WURZER: Curious-- you've been competing since 2012, I think I mentioned. What can folks who are listening, the media and just generally speaking, what can folks do to better lift up folks like yourself, Paralympians?

AARON PIKE: I think it's just educating yourself a little bit and it's getting in, watching it, and not being afraid to ask questions, because we're at all the major marathons and stuff as well. I compete in Chicago, Boston, London, New York, everywhere. And I think it's just having an eye open to what we're doing and giving us a shot.

The Olympics just happened, and it was really fun. And I really enjoyed watching it. And I equally enjoy watching the Paralympics. I kind of wish I could be a fan only sometimes so I could just watch everything. And I think that's the biggest thing. It's just watching it and learning about the sports. And you'll get to see and find a lot of respect in what we're doing.

CATHY WURZER: Right. Aaron, we all wish you the best. We hope you have a wonderful time in Paris. Thank you so much.

AARON PIKE: Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

CATHY WURZER: We've been talking. Aaron Pike is a Park Rapids, Minnesota native. He'll be competing in his seventh Paralympic Games in Paris next week. As he mentioned, you can watch it, by the way. NBC and Peacock will be streaming all the various events.