PANAMA CITY BEACH — It was a day of firsts at the Gulf Coast Triathlon on Saturday.
For the first time in the event’s 32-year history, race organizers had to scrap the 1.2-mile swim due to rip currents and whitecaps on the Gulf of Mexico. Red flags were flying on the beach throughout the day, and race director Shelley Bramblett said safety officials were unable to put their kayaks on the water to provide a first-line safety measure.
“When you get a call that they cannot safely rescue people, it makes the decision easy,” Bramblett said.
The race, not considered an official half-triathlon without the swim, began instead with a beach run and a staggered start by age group. The event’s 56-mile bike ride and the 13.1-mile run were unaffected. The GCT also included for the first time a sprint race that consisted of a 9-mile bike race and a 3-mile run.
Last year’s women’s champion, Kirsten Sass, crossed the finish line several minutes ahead of the rest of the field, which was comprised of more than 950 men and women. She said she swam in the Gulf on Friday and saw that conditions had the potential to be dangerous for the less-experienced triathletes.
“I’m very understanding,” she said. “That is a hard call for any race director to make.”
Sass, who competed in the women’s 35-39 age group, said her race was inspired by a friend suffering from tonsular cancer, as well as her sister, who is contending with a blood clot in her leg.
“They’re what I thought of every time things got tough,” she said. “I told myself to suck it up.”
Three-time GCT women’s champion Caroline Smith, who lives in Mandeville, La., contended with a flooded condo in the middle of the night early Saturday and had to pack up her things and find a hotel room just hours before the start of the race. That didn’t seem to hinder her much as she was the third woman to cross the finish line.
Smith first competed in the GCT in 2003 in the Athena division reserved for heavier triathletes and placed 209th overall. As her body trimmed down in subsequent years, her results at the GCT improved. She placed 64th in 2004, seventh in 2005 and sixth in 2006. She later would become the top women’s finisher in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and finished third last year.
“I was overweight. I smoked. I was a mess,” said Smith, 43. “This has changed my life. ... I got to race pro. I got to travel internationally and race.”
Michael Curtin is a Washington state native who is stationed at Tyndall AFB, and he was among the first men to cross the finish line. He was vying with Panama City Beach’s David Shearon for honors as the top local triathlete. With the swim portion canceled, however, he acknowledged that “they’d have to put an asterisk next to it.”
Jeffrey Shelley was the first man to finish. A resident of Birmingham, Ala., Shelley competed in the men’s 25-29 age division and said this was the second time he had raced at the GCT after first entering the race six years ago
“It’s a really good early season race,” he said. “I do a lot of bike training over the winter, and this is motivation when I’m riding the trainer. You need that carrot in front of you.”