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SYRACUSE – For a pair of veteran triathletes, neither Clint Phares nor Maureen Kennedy thought they had a chance to win at the sixth annual Wawasee Kiwanis Triathlon Saturday morning. Both, however, left Lakeside Park with unexpected grins on their faces.

“I was the 20th out of the water, at least someone told me that, but I picked up a new bike and felt like at least I had a chance to contend,” Phares, of Albion, said as he walked his bike back to the car following the race. “I wasn’t even close to the leaders in the transition, but I started to catch people. When I caught up to my buddy Chris (Dahlberg), he said ‘four more (bikers) to go’. I was just thinking awesome, I have a chance.”

Phares would rally from his swim to emerge as the top biker, beating William Martin by a couple lengths back to the transition area and never looked back. Except once.

“I looked around, but I couldn’t spot William,” stated Phares. “So I skipped the socks, threw on a shirt and the belt and away I went. I turned and there wasn’t anyone behind me, so it was just go, go, go from there.”

Phares would win his first-ever triathlon with a time of 1:06:21, with Keith Higginbottom taking runner-up and the male Master’s winner with a time of 1:09:10. Martin would time in at 1:12:10 as fifth place overall.

Kennedy had no idea whom to search out as she ran what would be her first-ever win, a milestone she has been trying to achieve since 2004. Kennedy never led through the swim or bike portions of the race, partly because of the staggering of the heats. But as a pair of ladies – Stephanie Wilson and Cara Burris – both crossed the finish line physically ahead of Kennedy, because of the staggered starts, Kennedy’s 1:17:11 beat Wilson by an exact minute and Burris by 64 seconds.

“This is really cool, I certainly did not expect this,” said a bubbly Kennedy following the award’s ceremonies. “I started with a wave in front of me, and that really seemed to help having people ahead of me and not chasing me. I was really shocked to see my name first when I looked at the results sheet.”

Kennedy, from Osceola, mentioned she has only run two triathlon-type events this year, the Warsaw Optimist Triathlon in late June and a half Ironman in Muncie earlier in the year. Kennedy was fourth in her age division at Warsaw and cared not to mention her result at Muncie behind a wry grin. But gratified would put a bow on her performance in Syracuse Saturday morning.

“I’m not really good at any one leg, but I’m not terrible at any of them, either,” Kennedy said. “I ran this triathlon two years ago so I was prepared for parts of the course like the hills on the run. That really helped. My transitions were also really good today.”

Wilson would claim the title of female Master’s champion with her 1:18:11 time while Burris would take third overall.

The morning also had nearly a dozen individuals participate in a duathlon, won by Ron Wilkinson of Rochester with a time of 1:32:32.

Overall, the Wawasee Kiwanis Triathlon had 176 individuals post a time and several individuals competed as relay teams.

For complete results from the Wawasee Kiwanis Triathlon, visit the Runner’s Edge Race Timing Web site.

Wawasee Kiwanis Triathlon – Lakeside Park, Syracuse

Men’s Top 10
1. Clint Phares, Albion 1:06:21
2. Keith Higginbottom, Elkhart 1:09:10
3. Joel Suckow, Columbus, OH 1:09:40
4. John White, Winona Lake 1:11:46
5. William Martin, Goshen 1:12:10
6. Tim Stumph, Fort Wayne 1:12:23
7. Matthew Dudeck, Indianapolis 1:12:43
8. Eddie Drudge, Claypool 1:12:58
9. Randall Hunt, Parchment, MI 1:12:59
10. Ronald Ousley, Warsaw 1:13:38

Women’s Top 10
1. Maureen Kennedy, Osceola 1:17:11
2. Stephanie Wilson, Chicago, IL 1:18:11
3. Cara Burris, Fort Wayne 1:18:37
4. Amy Stephan, Fort Wayne 1:19:29
5. Kristen Long, Frankfort, IL 1:19:47
6. Kaitlin Abbs, Sturgis, MI 1:19:54
7. Dawn Bowers, Syracuse 1:19:57
8. Jennifer Borger, Columbus, OH 1:21:51
9. Molly Shoup, Huntertown 1:22:07
10. Whitney Oler, Churubusco 1:22:29