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www.independentfreepress.com Season winding down for local golfers Special pullout section SPORTS AND LEISURE Community calendar 8 Pages Page 4 Halton Hills' Community Newspaper Pages 5-7 Circulation 21,220 Friday, September 7, 2007 In-line skater hopes to set long-distance mark Lester wants to cover more than 200 kilometres in fundraiser for Canadian Cancer Society EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer A Georgetown man has plans to establish a long-distance record next year on in-line skates for the number of kilometres traveled in one day that may land him in the Guinness Book of World Records. Tim Lester is waiting to hear back from the Guinness people in Ireland about whether his attempt to traverse more than 200 km across a yet-to-bedetermined route would be considered noteworthy amongst its list of achievements. If not, the 47-year-old Lester says that wouldn't deter him from making his attempt in July, since the inspiration to do it comes from his own family members who have battled cancer. He's also looking to break his 26year-old record achieved on roller skates alongside local native Pete Wolf when the pair wheeled their way from Brampton to Vancouver in support of Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope for cancer research in 1980. "It's a cancer thing, really. My whole family's riddled with it, the women especially," said Lester, who will begin his fund-raising for the Canadian Cancer Society in the next couple of months. "My mother's sister died at 38 and now her middle sister's been told to go back home to Moncton, because there was nothing the doctors could do to help. What a horrible thing to hear. I've been blessed with a healthy body and I can't explain exactly why I want to do this. It's just something in me." When Wolf and Lester set out in 1981 on their journey to B.C. with a police escort leaving Brampton, they had intended to eventually make it to California and break a Guinness record created in the 1960s when Newfoundlander Richard Shaw roller skated close to 8,000 km-- which included about 200 clicks in one day. The Ontario duo was able to better Shaw's mark in late June of 1981 near Winnipeg, using tungsten-tipped ski poles to reel off 209 km. They learned the next morning that the 22-year-old Fox had succumbed to cancer, just a few months after his cross-Canada run ended in Thunder Bay. "Terry Fox said he didn't want anyone to finish his Marathon of Hope, that people should go and do their own thing," noted Lester, a publisher. "We trained on the Terra Cotta hill and on some of the mountains out west we were clocked going downhill at 50 km-h. Initially we just wanted to do something for Terry Fox locally with my roller skating rink at the time, Skate Country, and then we heard about this crazy guy who went from Newfoundland to B.C. on roller skates." For his latest challenge, Lester began training around the paths at the Gellert Community Centre this summer and intends to continue during the fall and winter at the William Osler Health Centre in Brampton, where he'll use a newly developed skating treadmill at the offices of sports medicine physicians Dr. Gary Abraham and Dr. David Kazdan. Boosted by K2 in-line skates with 100-milimetre wheels, Lester can reach 30 km-h on straightaways and has surprised many cyclists along the lakeshore in Toronto with his speed. The biggest obstacle he's had to overcome is plotting out a route to take that incorporates long, straight and smooth roadway as the Ontario Provincial Police has declared the 400series highways off-limits. "It's very difficult to find somewhere wide open enough unless I fly to Winnipeg and do it on the Prairies, but I don't want to do that. We'll check with the (Canadian Automobile Association) to see if they can map out a route where I can finish somewhere close to home in front of my family, friends and everyone else who played a part in it." Local resident Tim Lester has been spinning around the Gellert Recreation Centre in Georgetown South in preparation for a record-breaking one-day test of endurance on his inline skates that is tentatively set for next summer. Photo by Eamonn Maher NO SECURITY DEPOSIT DON'T COUNT ON THEM BEING HERE FOR LONG. · 2.4 L, 158 hp engine · 5-speed automatic transmission · A/C · Power windows, locks and mirrors · Cruise control · Optitron electronic gauges · Keyless entry with trunk release PURCHASE FINANCING LEASE FOR 07 CAMRY LE 2.9 % $ APR* FOR 48 MOS. PER MONTH FOR 48 MONTHS WITH $2,499. DOWN OR TRADE EQUIVALENT. FREIGHT AND P.D.E. INCLUDED 333 $ 25,900 MSRP + TAXES *Payments are plus taxes. All leases are 24,000 km per year with an excess mileage charge of 10¢ per km. See dealer for full details. GEORGETOWN TOYOTA SALES 15 MOUNTAINVIEW RD. N., GEORGETOWN 1-888-470-2664 WEBSITE at www.georgetowntoyota.com