Veteran Jenison Bicycle Racer Killed in Texas

(Rockport, TX) - Larry Walcott couldn’t stay away from the open road with his bicycle. Not age or injuries kept the 77-year-old Jenison man from competing in numerous long-distance cycling races over the years, earning honors even in his advanced years as he pedaled in excess of 100 thousand miles during his career. Family members say that Walcott was training for a 100-mile race a week ago when he veered in front of a car on a road along Texas’ Gulf Coast in Rockport, killing him upon impact. Authorities have not filed any charges against the unnamed driver of the vehicle involved, and family members disagree with police reports saying that Walcott was unhelmeted at the time of the crash.

Rockport is a few miles to the northeast of Corpus Christi, where leaders there are, ironically, considering an ordinance that would mandate a minimum distance that motor vehicles must give to cyclists and pedestrians when passing them on city streets. Walcott’s funeral service is slated for Thursday afternoon at Fellowship Reformed Church in Hudsonville.

-Gary Stevens, WHTC/WYVN News