Team Member: Jeff Lukich

Race Name: Gulf Coast Triathlon

Race Date: 5/8/10

Race Placement/Time/Qualification: 14th AG (40-44), 82 OA

Tell us about your race (limit 500 words)…: This was my first time at Gulf Coast, and my first Half Iron of the season. Like many, I arrived in Panama City Beach on Thursday and did a couple of practice swims Thursday and Friday. This was also my first ocean swim triathlon. I agree with others that the water was much, much calmer on Friday morning, but Saturday was truly an interesting swim for the moderate swimmers. Alot of wind and chop in the water. My swim time was awful getting out of the water in 44th place in my AG (116) with a time of 40:43.

Despite the unexpected difficult swim, I moved up to 20th place with the best bike split since I have been racing (at any distance). Averaged 22.4 mph in stiff winds with a split of 2:30:19.

I felt like gold coming off of the bike and probably had one of my better runs despite the heat towards the end. I finished strong with the 13th best run time in my AG. Overall a very good day, great locals, volunteers, and athletes. Congrats to everyone who pushed through a hard day!