A local snowmobiling enthusiast aims to break the world record for the most distance travelled in a 24-hour period on a snowmobile.
Huntsville resident Nick Musters, 24, who has been an avid snowmobiler all his life, hopes to break the record set last year in Lake of Bays Township by Toronto resident Matt Weidinger. Over a 24-hour period, Weidinger covered 2,904.6 kilometres (1,804.9 miles) on snowmobile on Lake of Bays, beating the previous record of 2,372 kilometres.
Musters hopes to beat Weidinger’s record. He also plans to do his ride on Lake of Bays in a circular route. He said his team has carefully outlined a strategy to reach the world record-breaking goal.
As a five-year employee at Northland Recreation, a local Ski-Doo dealer in Utterson, Musters will have the latest equipment and a team of volunteers behind him. Northland Recreation and Ski-Doo have donated a snowmobile and plan to outfit him with the riding gear.
Musters’ ride will also raise awareness and funds for the Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation, a cause that recently caught Musters’ attention.
While Musters was working at Northland one winter, he got a call that one of the participants in the Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Snow Run had broken down during the run.
Musters went out to pick up the woman, Elizabeth Dill, and the machine. Musters said he had the opportunity to talk to Dill on the journey back to her cottage. He quickly realized there wasn’t anything wrong with the machine at all, but rather Dill was tired from being in her final stages of breast cancer. She died a few months later.
“This really hit home for me,” said Musters. Since then he has been wondering how he could get involved.
“I decided to help out at the 2010 (Shires) event last year and I was blown away with how well organized it was. I figured I could do my part this year and help raise some serious dollars for the charity.”
Musters’ 24-hour ride, scheduled for this coming February, will raise funds for the Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation through pledges and corporate sponsorship.
