Dart shooters aim for record

SAINT JOHN - Four local dart players have set their eyes on breaking a Guinness World Record this weekend for the longest doubles game, currently set at 27 hours and 22 minutes.

Nelson Landry, Peter Doiron, Bernard McKinnon and Bill Bannister, from the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes darts league, started planning for a 12-hour marathon as a fundraiser, but then decided to go for 30 hours.

"One night I was watching TV and I saw something about Guinness and I figured there must be a dart record, so I went on the web and checked," Landry said.

The record he found was set in Australia in August 2008.

"We said if we are going to break the record, we might as well break it by a couple of hours. So we are planning to play for 30 hours," he said.

In order to submit their efforts to Guinness, the group has to organize a team of official witnesses so there will be at least two on-site for the whole time, he said.

Under the rules they are also allowed to take a five-minute break every hour, but they plan to go straight through the first four hours, which will earn them a 20-minute break, and then use about 10 minutes so they can save some for later in the marathon.

The club has about 30 players who get together for darts every Saturday afternoon, Landry said.

In past years they have conducted raffles to raise money for local charities and families in need at Christmas. But this year they decided to do something different and it has blossomed into a Guinness challenge.

The four shooters have gone out to get individual sponsors, Landry said. "We also went to some businesses and asked them to donate prizes and we will be selling tickets on them."

There will be draws throughout the day on Saturday.

Part of the money raised will go to the Doranne Thibodeau Help Fund, he said,

Thibodeau is an employee of Friends Cafe in Place 400 who suffered a brain aneurism in December that has put her off work for several months. Landry, who works at Xerox, knows her because he is a regular customer at the café.

The record-breaking attempt begins Friday at 6 p.m. at 208 Union St. If all goes according to plan, the last dart will be thrown at midnight on Saturday.