Under the Gun: Alistair Whitton

For this installment of Under The Gun, we caught up with BMXer Alistair Whitton to have him explain the tattoo on his left arm that includes a clock and a rose.

“I got this right after my son was born,” Whitton explained. “The clock represents the clock in my hometown of Chester, England. It’s the East Gate clock. My dad actually repainted it one year and made it all look pretty again. It’s the most photographed clock other than Big Ben, and it’s just got a real cool, old feeling to it.

“The time on the clock is my son’s birth date. He was born at 11:44 on the 21st of February, 2009. And then I had a photo of him when he was lying in the incubator, it was one of the first photos and we turned that into a rose petal.

“And then we have ‘Stay Strong’ there for Stephen Murray’s project that he’s got going on. It’s just a good quote and something to live by.

“My friend, Brian Lee, did it. It took about 25 hours, and I still have a couple more hours left on it. The inside was real painful, everywhere else wasn’t too bad. I probably have about another four or five hours on it, just to get it touched up. I started getting it probably March of 2009, maybe April. But it took awhile over March, April, May, just going for a couple of five-hour sessions here and there.

“My right arm is my traveling arm. I’ll get a tattoo if I’m in a random country or something — like Japan or California to Greenville to Vancouver to New Orleans — but then my left arm, I wanted a big piece from one person so it looked all together. My friend Brian Lee hooked it up and drew it all up. It’s from an old painting back in the day that I found, we’re talking 1960 or something. He just made it work around my arm.”

Missed the last installment of Under the Gun with BMXer Kevin Robinson? Check it out.

Then, come back in a few weeks when Jaie Toohey goes Under the Gun.