TiLite workers to race custom wheelchairs in Tri-Cities Marathon on Sunday

Only a handful of TiLite’s almost 220 employees depend on wheelchairs to navigate life — the rest use them to gain perspective.

That’s the thought behind the Pasco wheelchair manufacturer’s participation in Oct. 26’s Trios Health Tri-Cities Marathon, where more than 50 TiLite employees plan to rest their legs while they push their way toward the finish line in custom-built wheelchairs.

They’ll work in teams of four — most teams received a custom chair, but some already had them — with each person rolling about 6.5 miles. Employees also are making donations and collecting contributions from friends and family to benefit My Friend’s Place in Kennewick.

“We used to have a rule,” said TiLite founder and President David Lippes, “every time we hired an employee they were required to spend 24 hours in a wheelchair.”

The new hires had to push through doors, negotiate sidewalks and hallways and live with the sideways glances or averted eyes of onlookers, all from the seat of a wheelchair. The rule was designed to expose stereotypes and highlight challenges facing wheelchair users.

“The purpose of that is what I’m trying to accomplish with the marathon,” Lippes said.

Lippes, 47, founded TiLite in 1997 and launched the company’s first line of wheelchairs a year later. The company designs and manufactures wheelchairs at its Court Street facility in Pasco. It was sold earlier this year to Swedish power wheelchair manufacturer Permobil.

Lippes expects TiLite to build about 20,000 wheelchairs next year, costing on average about $4,000 to $5,000. The wheelchairs built for Sunday’s marathon represent the company’s investment in maintaining its philosophy.

“It is so hard for most of us to realize the bigger-picture impact of what we do everyday,” Lippes said.

The wheelchairs likely will see use as in-store demonstrations after the marathon, but Lippes said many employees are becoming attached to the chairs and might hold on to them.

“Some people have had the product for a month or more,” Lippes said of the employees. “What they’re doing is using them as chairs, rolling around the office.”

Lionel Fuentes, 23, an able-bodied assembly floor supervisor, rolled around the Pasco facility earlier this week. He described his custom chair as “kind of like a tailored suit.” The chairs feature stenciled “tattoos” and custom paint jobs that can match their owners’ personalities. They were built with averaged specifications and measurements from each team member.

“Every chair is different,” said Fuentes, who’s worked with TiLite for more than three years.

He recently rolled his wheelchair from the TiLite headquarters to a nearby gas station.

“Simple things become a hard task,” Fuentes said.

This year’s Tri-Cities Marathon is expected — not unexpectedly — to have the most wheelchair entries in its 34-year history. Race director Miguel Reyna recalled seeing just a few wheelchair competitors in recent races.

“That’s huge — the whole company is rallying,” Reyna said of TiLite.

“Yes, it’s a run,” Reyna said. “But it’s also a race.”

The course’s flat design makes it ideal for wheelchair competitors. The only elevation changes occur when racers cross the three bridges, Reyna said. The course begins at the Shilo Inn in Richland and crosses the Interstate 182 bridge to Pasco, where it continues along the riverfront, then across the blue bridge into Columbia Park before doubling back through the park and across the cable bridge from Kennewick to Pasco. It then follows the river back to the Shilo Inn.

“They call it a flat, fast course,” Reyna said.

The Trios Health Tri-Cities Marathon is expected to attract about 500 participants. The race starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m., but earlier waves of runners can start at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. if they don’t expect to complete the marathon within five hours, Reyna said.

Race packet pickup and late registration is 4 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shilo Inn in Richland.

This story was originally published October 24, 2014 at 8:39 PM with the headline "TiLite workers to race custom wheelchairs in Tri-Cities Marathon on Sunday."