Lucas LaMorte Makes For A Joyfully Conspicuous Gratton Run Absence
The first organized, though loosely so, go-fast boating event of 2023, the Joey Gratton Memorial New Year’s Day Fun Run in Sarasota, Fla., will be down a couple of well-known, longtime participants. For the first time in “nine or 10 years,” New Jersey’s Chris and Quinn LaMorte, who actually married on New Year’s Eve in 2015 then headed to Sarasota for the Gratton happening, are staying put in the Garden State.
For one wonderful reason, Chris and Quinn LaMorte won’t make it to the 2023 Joey Gratton Memorial New Year’s Day Fun Run. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
Their absence has nothing to do with the sale of their 36-foot Skater catamaran—they still own a 28-footer—and everything to do with seven-week-old Lucas William LaMorte who, after more than 30 days in the hospital due to post-delivery complications, is thriving.
“We had planned to go,” said Chris LaMorte. “But with what happened we are staying home with him. Lucas is doing great. He is gaining weight nicely and the doctors are happy with that and the way he looks.
“He is doing good with his bottles and starting to sleep more than two hours at a time, which we are happy with,” he added, then laughed.
Meet Lucas LaMorte.
Though light rain is forecasted for Saturday and Sunday in the Sarasota area, daytime temperatures are predicted to be 75 to 80 degrees. That’s a big change from last week’s weather in Sarasota.
“We just had three days in the 40s,” said Ryan Beckley, a veteran offshore racer who organizes the annual Gratton run. “That never happens here.”
Chris LaMorte said that he and Quinn plan to bring baby Lucas to the event in 2024.
Chances are, the weather will be just fine.
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