A Great Race ‘for the people’

This year’s 49th edition seemed uncertain for the past few weeks as Carib, which has been the title sponsor for the past 16 years, pulled their sponsorship, while numerous other hurdles threatened to sink the annual inter island power boat competition.

An intervention by the Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon earlier this week, ordered the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) to provide helicopters to oversee the safety of the event.

Initially, the Trinidad and Tobago Powerboat Association (TTP BA) did not receive any confirmation from the company that they will grant their services for the event.

Roger Bell, a director on the TTP BA, confirmed yesterday that divers will be on coastguard boats during the race along with patrol boats. However, he said there was no confirmation from SSA that divers will be available for the helicopters.

A new winner will be crowned and a new course will also be used this year. Last year’s champion Paramount will not compete in this year’s edition having failed to compete in any of the TTP - BA qualifying regattas this year, while the race will end in Store Bay as opposed to Scarborough which has been the finish point the past few years.

Bell, despite the setbacks, said he was always confident the race would take place this year.

“I was just asked a question if we had hurdles because of sponsorship and safety. But quite frankly our only hurdle for the race this year was the divers.

Sponsorship is business, the negotiations broke down and Carib decided to walk away from it.

We’ve moved on, it is the Trinidad and Tobago Great Race, it is a national event and it is a race for the people,” he said.

Bell said the racers know that a lot of people look forward to the Great Race – especially the people of Tobago. “The racers are excited and they don’t want to disappoint the fans. The hoteliers were very, very concerned and that is one of the reasons the racers decided they wanted the race to go on. They (hoteliers) were calling us saying they was going to be cancellations. There are five boats from Tobago in tomorrow’s (today’s) event that are already in Trinidad and they have a massive fan base in Tobago.” A-Class (130 miles per hour) boats Ironman and Cat Killer are among the favourites to take the title this year.

Driver of Cat Killer, Donald Webster, who was Paramount’s throttleman last year, said, “I don’t think there really have any boats that will prevent us from winning. The boat is super fast and it is set up for the rough,” he said. Webster said a concern for the boats is the equipment performing at a high standard throughout the race.

Guy Costa of Ironman is confident ahead of the race, declaring “Ironman is ready to go. We really confident that this year we stand a good chance, so they might have to be watching out for us.” Other boats will line up in the B Class (120 mph), C Class (110 mph), D Class (95 mph), E Class (80 mph), F Class (70 mph) and the G Class (60 mph).