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Yellowknife's Terry Burns stands in the Pacific Ocean on the 100th and final day of his cross-Canada tour to celebrate the 100th anniversary of five-pin bowling in Canada on Dec. 19. - photo courtesy of Terry Burns

It's mission accomplished for Yellowknife five-pin bowler Terry Burns.

Burns finished his cross-Canada trek to bowl at 100 lanes in 100 days in honour of five-pin bowling's 100th anniversary on Dec. 19 in Duncan, B.C. Burns said it was tiring but fun.

"It was something special to do," he said. "I've always wanted to see the country and the anniversary just made me decide to get it done."

Burns began his trip on Sept. 11 in St. John's, stopping in every province on the way to B.C.

"There were all types of different centres," Burns said. "I preferred the smaller ones over the larger centres.

Even so, everywhere I went, people were very friendly."

Burns' also said his feat brought mixed attention everywhere he went.

"In some places, there was a lot of fanfare and they had some interesting stuff," he said. "I was overwhelmed in a few places, but there were other places where I was just another bowler and there were even a couple of disappointing spots."

Burns said a couple of his favourite places were Yorkton, Sask., and Rodney, Ont. On a few occasions Burns wondered if he would get to finish the tour.

"I fell ill a couple of times along the way and I thought about packing it in," he said. "I just plugged ahead and thankfully, I got everything in."

Burns didn't get the chance to bowl in any of the territories and he said it just came down to logistics.

"I'm not disappointed with that because there aren't that many bowling centres in the North," he said. "There are centres in Yellowknife and Hay River, but it wouldn't have been possible because of the schedule."

Gary Black, president of the NWT Five-pin Bowling Association, said doing something like this would take a lot of work and Burns was just the guy to do it.

"He's a bowling fanatic," he said. "Terry lives and breathes bowling. He's always coming up with new ideas and he's done plenty of work for us here."

There hasn't been any talk of a local celebration when Burns returns to Yellowknife, but Black said the Canadian Five-pin Bowling Association (C5PBA) may honour him during the organization's semi-annual general meeting in Calgary later this month.

"This was a once-in-a-lifetime thing never done before," said Black. "He did an incredible job both for himself and five-pin bowling."

Taking a trip like this isn't cheap and Burns said he looked after most of the expenses with a little assistance. "The C5PBA helped out with $2,500 as well as promotion for the event," he said.

As for a repeat of something like this in the future, such as five-pin's 125th anniversary in 2034, Black said don't count Burns out.

"I wouldn't put it past Terry to try it," he said with a laugh.