First-ever Great Race winner Lennox Tang Yuk dies, hailed as pioneer

The TT Powerboat Association (TTPBA) is mourning the loss of its first-ever Great Race winner, Lennox Tang Yuk, who died of cancer on June 24.

Tang-Yuk won the inaugural inter-island race between Trinidad and Tobago in 1969. He piloted "a 21-foot wooden deep vee – Cam-Ena – to victory,” a TTPBA statement said.

Ten years later, Tang Yuk sped to Great Race victory once more, this time, in a 28-foot cutlass called Blackmax.

The TTPBA hailed Tang Yuk as a “true powerboating enthusiast” and recognised his longstanding contributions to the sport’s development.

“Tang Yuk, even after hanging up his racing helmet...has since contributed consistently to the TT Powerboat Association particularly as the finish boat in Tobago for the Great Race, with his 47th sport fisher Grand Slam,” the statement added.

The executive committee sent its “deepest condolences to his grieving family, friends and entire powerboat fraternity, as we mourn the loss of a true legend of the sport.”

TTPBA president Johnathan Tardieu called Tang Yuk’s death a “a huge loss” to the powerboat fraternity.

“Winning the Great Race once is an accomplishment, far less for winning it twice. In addition to that, he was our Great Race finish boat for quite some time, maybe up until 2022. And I think he missed last year’s edition because he was out of the country.

"Even when he stopped racing he still continued contributing to the association as best as he could. To lose pioneers like that is really is always a huge loss for us,” Tardieu said.

Tang Yuk’s funeral will be held July 1 at St Finbar’s RC Church on Morne Coco Road in Diego Martin from 10.30am, followed by a private cremation.