A CFL fan will be at TD Place in Ottawa on Friday night, on the final leg of his quest to set a world record for visiting all nine stadiums in the league in the shortest amount of time.
Chris Tymofichuk of Ottawa began his quest on July 12 in Winnipeg, and has three stadiums left to visit – Molson Stadium in Montreal on Thursday, TD Place on Friday and BMO Field in Toronto on Saturday.
“This has been fun. It started as just a fun attempt at a record and its’ really, really morphed into something bigger than that with the fundraising we’re doing,” Tymofichuk told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa at Work with Patricia Boal on Thursday.
Tymofichuk is looking to set the Guinness World Record for visiting all nine CFL stadiums in a span of 362.5 hours. The current record is 364 hours, set by Bobby Dudeau.
“When the idea was presented, I thought what a cool to cross the country, travel, visit some friends, watch Canadian football and, maybe, set a Guinness World Record,” Tymofichuk said.
“When the league set the schedule out this year, I took a look and there was this two-week window in July where if all the games are on time, especially the last one, I can beat Bobby’s record by 90 minutes.”
After starting in Winnipeg two weeks ago, he visited Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Hamilton and Calgary.
Tymofichuk says he is hoping for no overtime or storm delays on Saturday in Toronto to set the record.
While attempting to set the record for visiting all nine stadiums, Tymofichuk is also raising funds for CFL Fans Fight Cancer, a grassroots group of CFL fans who support the fight against cancer. This year, the funds will support the Michael Cuccione Childhood Cancer Research Program in Vancouver.
Tymofichuk grew up in Winnipeg so he’s a Blue Bombers fan, but he says he cheers for the Ottawa Redblacks if Winnipeg is not in town.
He says TD Place is his favourite stadium.
“The social atmosphere is unlikely any other stadium across the league. People want to come down, it’s the place to be on game night just for the fun of it,”Tymofichuk said.
“Other cities, the fans are into the game, but here it’s so new it’s fun to go to the games.”