Wheelcool was an indoor skateboard place in Dunedin. It was around during the boom times of the early 1990's. It was in a small warehouse in Willis Street, down by the wharf area. It was owned and operated by Stu Dovey, who wasn't a skater, but someone who thought it might make a good business. During the two or so years the place was open it became very central to the lives of the more dedicated Dunedin skaters. It became a focal point for all the different cliques of skaters that were out there then. It brought together the St. Clair Vert ramp skaters, the Mornington Bowl skaters and the wide group of Dunedin street skaters. During the winter it became a melting pot for all the skaters who were king in their own scenes. It saw some new skaters emerge to prominence and other good skaters disappear from the scene.
Stu Dovey
It was the place I organized my first competition and many other subsequent competitions. I got to see Ed Templeton and Justin Girard skate there. We held sleepovers and barbecues. When it was wet we spent weekends hanging out there and skating the ramps and street course. It was the center of the Dunedin skateboarding community for those two years.
The warehouse was quite compact having an area of about 10m. x 15m. When we first started going there, the only thing to skate was a 9ft. vert ramp that was recessed into the floor. The users soon created an informal street course towards the back of the venue. A 4ft. miniramp was next up, followed by a new improved street course. The floor was wooden and pretty grubby. When you used to skate there your wheels were always covered in a thick crust of brown dirt. Towards the end of the place skaters kept going through the floor with their wheels. Over summer every one complained about how the place sucked. When winter came again things changed and the place no longer sucked, but by then it was too late because the place had closed.
There were three older guys who really rocked the place. Steve Jack was originally skated the St. Clair vert ramp, Martin Lindsay was a street skater from Halfway Bush, and Steve "Shaka" Wereta was a Mornington Bowl local. At Wheelcool they were all on unfamiliar territory and friendly competition ensued. When the three of them skated mini they tore it up. Under that was a whole raft of other skaters of different age groups who were locals at the place and skated it accordingly. Other skaters like Kelvin Meyers, Phil Frost, Paul Hurley, and Matt "Elvis" Nidd ripped at vert skateboarding. Towards the end of Wheelcool when street and miniramp had progressed, and vert declined in popularity, skaters like Corey Godding, Jamie Blair, Scott James, Nick Blair and Sam Robertson emerged from the regular park goers as some of the better skaters.
