Emerald Coast Sprint Triathlon Series - Race # 2
June 02, 2001
by Tony Guillen

The seas were angry that day my friends.... like an old man sending back soup in a deli.

The second race of the Emerald Coast Sprint Triathlon Series was held Saturday June 2 in Panama City Beach. Several Gulfwinds members joined approximately 200 other Triathletes for the 1/2 mile swim, 18-mile bike and 3.3 mile run. Anyone who was in Panama City Beach for the Gulf Coast Triathlon several weeks ago had been lured into a false sense of security about the water conditions. Reality hit hard when we stepped onto the beach and realized that the buoys had not been set because the jet skis were trying to figure out how to negotiate the waves. All was fine once the buoys were in place and the race director started going over the swim course. "Swim straight out to the first buoy and turn right, go to the second buoy and turn right and head back towards the beach," were his instructions. Then someone asked, " What do we aim for on the beach?" The reply was, " the flagpole, the one with the RED flag on it." Once we were all comforted by that we headed into the water. Those who survived the swim were greeted with a nice headwind for the first portion of the bike course that thankfully helped push us back in after the turn around. And not to be outdone the sun teamed up with the run course to provide the perfect finish for a challenging day.

As usual the party afterwards at the Boardwalk Beach Resort was excellent with plenty of burgers, soda and beer for the participants. Some were more determined than others to get their money's worth from the beer (Has anyone seen Geoff Likens since the party?). Best of all was the exchange of war stories after the race. More than one person could be heard talking about getting pummeled by the waves and loosing their goggles as they tried to reach the shore.

As usual Tallahassee was well represented. Check out how the locals did below:

Lucinda Thomas 		1st Age Group		1:43:57
Gina Hickey		3rd Age Group		1:54:20
Robin Safley		4th Age Group		1:57:13
Kate MacFall		2nd Age Group		1:57:40
Linda Daniel		5th Age Group		2:06:41
Guessna Dohrman         1st Age Group		2???

Jeff Bowman		3rd Overall Male	1:23:02
Geoff Likens		1st Age Group		1:25:21
Richard Baker		3rd Age Group		1:27:37
Tony Guillen		1st Age Group		1:29:30
Brian Allen		5th Age Group		1:32:28
Phillip Martin		13th Age Group		1:46:21
Philip Munoz		3rd Age Group		1:49:19
Chris Rollins		12th Age Group		1:50:42
Richard Parsons		16th Age Group		1:50:56
Tom Thomas		7th Age Group		1:52:16
Thomas Cox		11th Age Group		1:54:20
Peter Kerwin		8th Age Group		1:55:42
Paul Gorman		1st Age Group		2:25:26