Pedal-powered boater sets record

At 8:05 a.m. Tuesday, a voice crackled over the radio.

"I'm toasted."

But Canadian endurance athlete Greg Kolodziejzyk, 47, still had one hour and 25 minutes of pedaling left as he strained to break the 24-hour distance record in a human-powered boat.

Doubt crept into his voice as he asked his support crew to search the Internet for the exact world record distance: 241.95 kilometers set by Carter Johnson.

Kolodziejzyk relayed to his friend and timekeeper Greg Bradley that he had some leeway left to break the record.

"It's already pretty close. Just keep going," Bradley said.

But when the clock struck 9:30 a.m., Kolodziejzyk had the world record firmly in hand. His unofficial distance was just over 245 kilometers (152 miles).

Kolodziejzyk, his friends and family celebrated on the shore of Whitefish Lake afterward.

This is the second time Kolodziejzyk has established this world record.

Pedaling his high-tech trimaran for 24 hours left Kolodziejzyk physically and mentally drained. He could barely stand after accomplishing his feat.

Kolodziejzyk's previous 24-hour world records gave him the experience to get through this event. Long hours in a boat, near exhaustion, create a mental hurdle that can capsize a record attempt.

"The record, that's what I was here to do," Kolodziejzyk said. "I just hung on for dear life."

Kolodziejzyk, who owns two world records in a human-powered vehicle (a high-tech bicycle), has plans to pedal a boat across the Atlantic Ocean. His immediate goals, however, are to sleep, eat and maybe have a few beers.

If someone breaks his 24-hour record, will he try it again?

"Right after is never the time to ask that," Kolodziejzyk said. "I always say, ?'m done.' I don't want to do it again.

"But I will. I will."

For more on this story, read Wednesday's Daily Inter Lake.