STEPHENVILLE, N.L. — Guy Styles’ professional and recreational life has involved the outdoors and its machinery for decades.
It's no surprise he’s back at Cain’s Quest 2020 for the second time with an aim to finish in the top 10.
He made his first attempt at the 3,000-plus kilometre endurance race traversing Labrador in 2018. The 49-year-old owner of GNR Recreation Inc. in Cold Brook joined another rookie racer Stephenville native Lee White, who was living in Happy Valley-Goose Bay at the time.
This year Styles teamed up with 43-year-old Gerard Brake of Noel’s Pond, a HVDC technician and owner-operator of Lewis Hills Lodge. They represent Team 49 – GNR Racing with Lewis Hills Lodge.
The two have been friends for about 30 years and share a love of snowmobiling.
In an interview from Labrador on Friday, Feb. 29, Styles and Brake said they had already been out scouting on their twin Arctic Cat 2018 High Country 8000s around on parts of the trail.
Brake said the chance to see Labrador had been on his mind a long time, but he almost turned down Styles when he first asked him to team up.
He’s glad he didn’t.
“After getting out on our first scouting run, I knew I would have regretted it,” Brake said. “We did 400 kilometres yesterday (Thursday) of wide-open snowmobiling. It was so much fun.”
He’s always had a sense for adventure and believes his involvement in this world-renowned race will bring attention to his lodge.
Brake said he and Styles also hope to put Stephenville on the map for snowmobiling, especially with its proximity to Lewis Hills.
He can’t imagine doing the race with anyone else. Styles is a small-engine master mechanic and both their snowmobiles are performing well.
Styles and his partner didn't finish in 2018 because his snowmobile — the same one he is using this year — lost an engine 2,400 kilometres into the race.
He said he’s rebuilt both engines on the two Arctic Cat machines and he’s confident they'll last the distance. He did note only 14 of the 44 teams finished the gruelling quest in 2018.
“It was an excellent experience. I loved it and that’s why I’m back,” Styles said.
The team is getting support from friends Brian Patey and Zach Hayden, along with his last teammate Lee White.
They also have the support of their families, Styles' wife Robyn and 10-year-old son Liam, and Brake's wife Jennifer and children, nine-year-old Sydney and three-year-old Kyle.
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