1999 Grand Prix Recap
By: Jerry Richard
October 6, 1999

From Tinman to Gatorman. What a trip. It's been a very competitive and challenging Triathlon year. This is officially the end of the Grand Prix series. I can't think of a better way to end it than with Gatorman.  This was the seventh Gatorman. The first Gatorman was the first Triathlon I did. I haven't missed one since. Gatorman has gone through changes during the seven years because of right of way problems with Casino's, Hotel construction and highway construction. The course this year was the same as two years ago and the top three finishers had faster times than the winning time in 1997. The swim, 1000 meters, was an out and back in Lake Charles. The water temperature was 77.5 degrees and very comfortable. Isn't the wetsuit cut off 78 degrees. Who was in charge of the temperature check. Wetsuits were allowed for the squeamish that need the buoyancy. It was much better than the 68 degree or less water in Missouri the day before. The swim is well buoyed but a bit touchy on the way back if there are waves starting after yours. Many swimmers tend to drift over and usually right into me. I had to clear my goggles once after a nice slap. I don't think there were any head on problems.
The bike, 33K, was back to the three loop course that takes you down Lake Shore Drive and out to the I-10 bridge. The course had ample security and not many traffic problems. There are quite a few turns but the course is still fast. I don't think anyone flatted but there were a few bad spots that needed watching. It is also a very spectator friendly course.   The run, 6K, was a maze of walkways that took you along the Lake and through the Hotel area. It is a very interesting run and quite challenging. The walkways are wide enough to handle the cross traffic. There were a few touchy turns and blind spots, but there were a number of volunteers guiding and warning you. The only problem I saw was a couple strolling down the walkway seemingly not aware of what was going on. The overall male winner was Hattiesburg's Chris Eschbach, 1:22:51, of course but he had to run down Temple Texas Triathlete Larry Lancaster, 1:23:23, to do so. That must have been an interesting race. The female winner was Ann Smith, 1:32:20, from Houston. This was the Regional Championship and the field definitely showed it. The competition was really though. The first Louisiana male was Oscar Ramirez, 1:27:57, of Kenner followed by Lake Charles Triathlete Kevin Cart, 1:29:47. First Louisiana female, I believe this is the second year for her, was Liz Hebert Boudreaux, 1:41:42.  I have to commend Barry Laningham, Kevin Cart, Charles MacCalister, Bert Leger, Robert Forest and all the other Lake Charles Triathletes for putting on a great race in the shadow of Ken Wall's death. It must have been hard to concentrate on putting on a race with that recent tragedy on their minds. We all would have rather seen Ken smoking the bike course as he always did. We missed him at Cajunman and I'm sure all the other races feel the same. I'm sure they all felt Ken was there. The Grand Prix Series is now officially over. I hope some of you were able to do them all as I did. It was easy for me because I have no life. It was really a lot of fun and hard work. All the races were great in their own unique way. The Series was only a part of the races available to Louisiana Triathletes. Masters Mike Hutchinson, Sam Vanni and Mark Johnston took thier skills to Panama City this year and all had killer races. Mark was Grand Master's Champion with a time of just over 5 hours. Mike did Kona last year and was the first Louisiana finisher with a time around 10:30. Matt Patout is on his way to Kona for the fifth straight year. Patrick Marr has raced really well this year and is looking for a set of tires that won't flat. John Deshotel has had and excellent year considering the time he took off to support Tammy through her liver transplant in April. John also took a dive on his bike just before Gatorman and wasn't able to compete. He is healing up. The Bare Bones series of Du's and Tri's are fun and fast, great training test. If you want to race the races are there and the competition is tough. Ben Elder and I tried on hand and the National Age Group Championships in St. Joseph Missouri the Saturday before Gatorman. We both fell short of making it to World's in Australia but we had a great time and met a lot of Triathletes from all over the Country. You guys keep training and racing hard. For all who are thinking of racing, "Give It a Tri".

Jerry

*The opinions expressed on this page are solely those of Jerry Richard.