| “ | This race, boy this is the meanest stretch of land God ever put together. | „ |
| ~ Borg Guillarson to Will Stoneman. |
Borg Guillarson is the main antagonist of Disney's 1994 live action film Iron Will. He is an egotistical Swedish champion who is Will Stoneman's archenemy.
He was portrayed by the late George Gerdes.
Role in the film
In Winnipeg, the organizer is reluctant to let a 17-year-old race, but an American newspaperman, Henry Kingsley, seeing Will as good copy, supports him, and reminds everyone that Will may be fighting in a war soon. Will joins the other ten racers. Borg tries to intimidate him from the start, but Joe Macpherson from Montana befriends him. In their luxury train, the sponsors of the race are betting on how long Will will survive, while Kingsley tries to find new angles for his story.
The race through the snowy wilderness is tough and gets tougher when the blizzard starts. Borg's dirty tricks put Joe and one of the Canadians out of the race, and wealthy gambler Angus McTeague tells Borg to stop Will from winning the race in order to not lose his bet. Borg later he sets his fierce wolfdog on Gus, Will's lead dog, injuring him badly. Will uses Ned's medicines to save his life, but Gus has to ride on the sled for the rest of the race. Will later attacks Borg for trying to kill his dog and Borg threatens him with a knife, but Will pulls out his gun and threatens to kill him if he ever comes near him again. As Will leaves, Borg tries to follow him, but he is stopped by other men.
On the last day of the race, Kingsley becomes genuinely concerned when he sees how bad Will's condition is, as he can barely move, and advises him to drop out of the race and see a doctor, but Will insists on finishing the race to the end. Will finds himself following Borg on a dangerous shortcut to the finish line, as it runs near a turbulent river. Will had been taking great lengths all through the race to dodge water obstacles because of what happened to his father, but he finds the courage to face this one, as Borg's dogs turn against him for using a whip. As Will passes by, he fires his pistol to scare the dogs away to save Borg's life as he yells for his dogs to come back.
