The third Beaches Fine Arts race of the 2000 series was a far cry different than the race Tony Guillen and I did a year ago. First of all, last year's race had 240 athletes. This year it was 550, and unfortunately this year we had to swim (last years race was a Duathlon due to the "Gulf Coast 2000" like water conditions).

The Gulf Winds Triathlon Club was well represented in the race. Tony Guillen had a fantastic swim, finishing 2nd out of 40 in a tough age group. Those predawn sessions at Myers Park are really paying off. Bruce Lynn made it three in a row (races actually finished upright, not bent over with his head in the toilet.). Lynn Powell and Philip Munoz completed their 2nd and 3rd tri respectively and then drove down to St. Augustine for the Bridge of Lions run. . What Studs! Mike Jaynes and Kaye Herzog showed up and had great times respectively. Kay lived in Tallahassee 2 years ago and participated in races and training workouts in Tallahassee and it was good to see her again. Former Tally residents Brian Fleichmann and Danny Domingo took 1st and second in the race Danny's fiancée Clair, was first female (What a potential gene pool) Then Brian went down and took first at the Clermont Sprint Series race the next day.

Two of our own (John Hightower and Bob Smith) officiated at the race. Our TRI-BUDS got wind of a tri "Bandit" in the race. Apparently he was not hard to spot, as he was the only cyclist on the bike course not wearing a helmet. When questioned about his eligibility, he showed his race number as 599 which was interesting since only 550 numbers were given out.

After the race we then proceeded to the door prize/ awards ceremony. We sat in the blazing sun at 10:30 AM and agreed that the awards ceremony was more brutal than the race itself, so giving up the chance to win a smoothie at juice bar 250 miles away from home, we left for a pasta breakfast at Semolinas.

Area Finishers
Brian Fleismann    49:11
Danny Domingo    50:32
Clair Simmons    59:13
Mike Jaynes    1:02:05
Tony Guillen    1:03:00
Greg Kazmierski    1:04:29
Bruce Lynn    1:12:53
Kaye Herzog    1:14:06
Lynn Powell    1:14:16
Philip Munoz    1:14:18