A Vancouver Island man captured the coveted Lasagna Cup and is the undisputed world champion at the video game Garfield Kart.

Andrew Panton, from Nanaimo, recently completed a sweep of the Xbox game Garfield Kart: Furious Racing, setting the world record on all 16 courses in the game.

The 25-year-old is a content creator for the gaming website Achievement Hunter and a lifelong gamer. He was formerly a high-level Halo player, setting a scoring record in Halo 3sa国际传媒檚 Grifball mode and winning the first international tournament for that category at a PAX gaming convention in the U.S.

Panton, in an e-mail interview with the News Bulletin, said he picked up Garfield Kart because he loves the comic and he wanted to get into less-violent video games.

sa国际传媒淚 was looking for something that was a little bit silly but also very approachable, and Garfield Kart fit that perfectly,sa国际传媒� he said.

Though Garfield Kart doesnsa国际传媒檛 have as competitive a gaming community as the more popular racing game Mario Kart, sa国际传媒渋tsa国际传媒檚 a good product,sa国际传媒� said Panton, with more gamers getting into it.

After working to set records on 15 out of the 16 courses, the last track to challenge Panton was Catz in the Hood, the opener in the Lasagna Cup race series.

sa国际传媒淐atz in The Hood took me weeks to get the time on because itsa国际传媒檚 so simplistic people had perfected itsa国际传媒�sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淸It] leaves zero room for error. The real pressure is maintaining that across three laps with the pressure building with each turn. It doesnsa国际传媒檛 matter if you are perfect for 98 per cent of a run if in that final two per cent, something goes wrong.sa国际传媒�

Finally, on a Monday sa国际传媒� sa国际传媒淕arfieldsa国际传媒檚 least favourite day,sa国际传媒� Panton noted sa国际传媒� he smashed the record by more than a second and a half, steering Odie around the streets with pixel-perfect turns to finish three laps in 1:10.776.

Panton said achieving his goal of having all of the worldsa国际传媒檚 fastest times for the game sa国际传媒渨as a big momentsa国际传媒� for him.

sa国际传媒淢y friends and I joke that it was like climbing a lasagna mountain. It took a lot of hard work and dedication, but after weeks of practice and many days and nights of failure, I did it,sa国际传媒� he said.

Panton will continue to defend his records in Garfield Kart, but hesa国际传媒檚 already started thinking about whatsa国际传媒檚 next and wants to challenge himself with sa国际传媒渋ncredibly difficultsa国际传媒� new gaming goals and try for new records.

sa国际传媒淢y hope with sharing this story is that it encourages others to pursue whatever dream or goal they have regardless of how big or small it is,sa国际传媒� he said.

Panton said the average person doesnsa国际传媒檛 have any idea how much time and dedication it takes to reach world-record calibre in video games, but he said that doesnsa国际传媒檛 matter sa国际传媒� whatsa国际传媒檚 most important in gaming communities is making people feel welcome and encouraged.

sa国际传媒淚t doesnsa国际传媒檛 matter if you are into competitive shooters like Rainbow Six Siege or just want to relax while building a farm in Stardew Valley, you can always find an audience or community of equally minded people,sa国际传媒� Panton said. sa国际传媒淚f someone goes onto a (video game streaming website) with a completely open mind, itsa国际传媒檚 impossible not to find something that hooks you, and the number of people willing to try increases daily.sa国际传媒�

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