Phares Repeats, Burris Thrilled With Victory [VIDEO]
SYRACUSE – You could hear Clint Phares whooping it up well after the Albion native won his second consecutive Wawasee Kiwanis Triathlon. Cara Burris, however, needed to wait and make sure before she officially celebrated.
Phares, running his fifth Wawasee Tri, never led until the final leg of the race Saturday morning, but rallied in fine fashion while crossing the line officially at 1:07:35. Phares, who won last year’s race at 1:06:21 – which was his first-ever win – said this year’s race was much different, and a little more difficult.
“I remembered they chipped and sealed last year on part of the course, and this year it was all over, which sucked,” Phares said, noting “90 percent of the course” was fresh chip and seal. “But I had to keep telling myself it was the same playing field for everyone. I’ve been training all summer for the half-Ironman in Muncie, so a sprint distance like this was easy to me. I could go out and do this again, I feel great.”
Phares, who noticed the first wave of bikers leaving the transition as he was exiting Syracuse Lake’s swim portion of the event, rallied to finish second in the bike. As Nigel Bosch entered the final 3.3-mile run about 20 yards ahead of Phares as the first two out of the final transition, the two-time champ made up the ground in a hurry and caught Bosch near St. Andrews church. As Phares noted, “He started the conversation and just said, ‘Go, rock the run.’ I already knew I would do that. But I was prepared to hang out and run with him.”
Phares, who has run several of the Flotilla road races which uses the same 3.3-mile course, didn’t flinch and beat Bosch by almost 90 seconds in total.
Burris, on the other hand, was looking for a bit of redemption in her second appearance at the Wawasee Tri. After finishing first in the physical form in the 2013 race, but winding up third because of staggered starts, Burris was bound and determined to have no doubts this year.
Even after running a 1:18:10 Saturday, the Fort Wayne native was still on pins and needles waiting for more clarity. First, unsure if she was the first woman across the line, Burris was at least given the yes on that right away. However, knowing she was in the later wave of starting participants, Burris waited for the finish line clock to tick off two more minutes before breathing an unofficial sigh of relief.
“I was thinking coming in that this is just like it was a year ago,” Burris said of the late stages of the run. “I had never won a triathlon until today. I’m really excited about that.”
Burris was among the ladies’ leaders out of the water, and left no doubt on the bike ride, with no other woman within two minutes of her.
“I worked a lot on core strength and interval weight lifting,” Burris said on gearing her conditioning to master the race course. “I was kind of on a high on the last hills because I felt good and knew I didn’t have another woman right behind me. I felt really, really good on the back half of the race.”
Stephanie Wilson finished second among the ladies at 1:20:29, and ironically, was one of two racers to pass Burris in the standings despite physically crossing later. The 2013 champion was Maureen Kennedy, which beat Burris by 64 seconds.
Winning the Clydesdale was Tim Stumph at 1:13:08, a good eight minutes ahead of the next qualifier. Annette White was the Athena at 1:46:31.
Winning the duathlons were Shonn Parmeter at 1:30:16 and Mae Miller at 2:02:20.
Team Warsaw’s relay team of Anthony Debrota in the water, Justin Smith on the bike and Phil Call on foot were the triathlon relay champs at 1:17:17 while Team Miss N Sue of Melissa Rush in the runs and Susan Rush on the bike were the duathlon relay champs at 1:43:08.
In total, the seventh annual Wawasee Kiwanis Triathlon had 119 finishing competitors and 10 relay teams among all of the categories. For complete results from the Wawasee Kiwanis Triathlon, visit the Runners Edge Race Timing page.