WINNIPEG -- One Winnipeg grandfather has pedalled his way to a Guinness World Record.

Arvid Loewen, 63, unofficially broke the Guinness World Record for farthest distance cycled in 30 days by a male.

“Last night I finished my 30-day journey on Henderson Highway, setting a Guinness World Record for the furthest distance cycled in one month,” Loewen said.

“Of course the record is unofficial at this point until Guinness looks at the stats, the data that we collected and they have to approve it.”

He began his attempt to beat the record on July 1, completing his mission on July 30 in Narol, Man. Loewen achieved this goal by cycling a 27-kilometre circuit on the Henderson Highway.

“I think I cycled on Henderson Highway about 435 times,” he said, joking that he found every pothole on the road.

To beat the record, Loewen cycled a total of 11,616 kilometres, and is submitting his distance to the Guinness World Record for approval.

“The old record was 11, 315 kilometres. I finished that on Day 29, so I was one day ahead of the record,” he said.

“So the next day I could do whatever I wanted to, to make it a little tougher for the next person that will attempt to break that record.”

In 2011, Loewen broke the world record for cycling across Canada. He did it in 13 days, six hours, and 13 minutes.

“So this was my second record that I’ve done,” he said.

“Now of course all of it is purely for creating a platform to share my passion, to help destitute children rescued by Mully Children’s Family, a street shelter rescue mission in Kenya Africa.”

He said he’s been involved with the organization since 2005, creating awareness and raising money.

“With the event yesterday we’re already sitting somewhere around $350,000 that Manitobans and people from across Canada have donated and have committed to donate and we’re not done yet,” Loewen said.

When asked if he has plans to break a third world record, Loewen said he has an agreement with his wife that he won’t talk about another event for at least four weeks after the last one.

“At this point, there are no plans and also with COVID and the pandemic, I really don’t know what is available to us as far as doing something safely. This is something that we could do safely because it was all on Henderson Highway,” he said.