Targa winner raced in memory of Cortney Lake
Andrew Warren, a relative of the missing woman, finished first overall in Bambina race on the Burin Peninsula
Andrew Warren was a winner in the Targa NL Bambina, which concluded Monday on the Burin Peninsula, but the 27-year-old from Marystown would have achieved what he wanted to do even if he had finished farther down the list of competitors in the automobile road rally.
Warren, who partnered with George Gouzvaris to finish first overall in the three-day competition, competed in memory of his 24-year-old relative, Cortney Lake, who disappeared in metro St. John’s last month and whose case is now being investigated as a homicide by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.
Warren placed decals of Lake — whose mother is his father’s first cousin — on his 1990 Ford Mustang Cobra, accompanied by the words “In Loving Memory.”
For him, the Bambina win just added to his tribute.
“It was a difficult day, and a difficult weekend for sure,” Warren said in a news release. “It definitely feels good to win, especially in her memory. That’s what meant the world to me.
“At the end of the day, this wasn’t about the win. This was special for her.”
Part of the prize package for Warren and Gouzvaris, who took the overall title by just a second, is free registration to the main Targa NL event in September.
The entire Targa Bambina — billed as “A Taste of Targa” — was held in memory of Burin native Tom Hollett, a great supporter of Targa who was killed in a 2016 motorcycle accident.
Targa is assisting the Oldest Colony Trust, a registered charity created by Hollett to help maintains public amenities such as historical buildings, recreational areas, and trail systems in the Burin area.
The Bambina also brought Targa back to the southern part of the Burin Peninsula after the absence of the main race from the region over the last number of years.