The Wawasee Kiwanis Triathlon will take place Saturday, Aug. 12, starting at the Syracuse Community Center. (Photo provided)

SYRACUSE — August 12 may mark the 10th edition of the annual Wawasee Kiwanis Triathlon, but this year’s event represents a bit of a departure from previous iterations.

For starters, race director Lauren Warner has modified the race route, and even veteran participants may find something new along the track. Gone is the duathlon, and in its place is a 5K run. Out with the old, in with the new.

“This will be kind of a year, new courses, get some feedback from the athletes and just trying different things,” said Warner.

Warner changed the route up partly to avoid State Route 13, but other alterations were made to keep the course fresh.

“The market is kind of saturated right now because Goshen has one next weekend, and Culver has one the same day as us so we tried to freshen things up a little bit with a couple new routes,” she explained.

“The swim is awesome. The water temperature is going to be really nice just because the weather has been so nice this year. The bike route — it’s a really good race for beginners — isn’t too hilly. It’s not too intense. There’s a couple good hills in the beginning, and it’s pretty flat and fast in between. The run route, I really like. It’s the route that I run on my own usually anyways. It’s right along Northshore Drive so you’re hugging Syracuse Lake. It’s just a really nice jog.”

As an occasional triathlete herself, Warner ought to know how to make a course an enjoyable one.

The race director — in her second year as sole Wawasee Kiwanis Triathlon Chair and third year overall running the event — used to run the Syracuse triathlon herself. Even though her job duties prevent her from racing in the Wawasee Kiwanis event, she still completes a triathlon each year, and she tries to absorb some of the things she enjoys about those races into her own.

“I only do one triathlon every summer, but I kind of take things from those races and try to kind of incorporate it into our race,” Warner said. “Our race is a very well put together event, but sometimes I like to just switch up the course. I always listen to the athletes; I ask for their feedback every year. So we’ll switch it up this year and see how people like it.”

The Wawasee Kiwanis Triathlon is a sprint triathlon, meaning a quarter-mile swim, a 13.49-mile bike ride and a 3.1-mile run. The race starts at 8 a.m. at the Syracuse Community Center.

Cost to participate in the triathlon is $52 for USA Triathlon members. Cost for non-USAT members is $67 as an additional $15 is applied to a USAT daily membership fee. Cost for the 5K is $20.

All participants will receive a medal, and awards will be given for first overall male and female and first in each age category, as well as for winners in the heavier weight classes, dubbed the “Athena” class for females and “Clydesdale” class for men. Afterwards, participants can enjoy music at Lakeside Park and grab a bite to eat in the community center cafeteria.

My Team Triumph — a national, non-profit ride-along program that provides persons with disabilities a chance to experience endurance races first-hand through the use of specialized equipment called conversion chairs — will also participate a second straight year at the triathlon.

“The really cool thing that we started doing two years ago, My Team Triumph, one of their Angels reached out to me a few years ago so we started having them come up for free,” Warner said. “It’s super cool to have them participate.”

To sign up, go to Wawaseekiwanis.org and search under the “Events” tab. Print out the registration form and mail it in, or simply bring it to registration on race day. Interested parties can also go to runsignup.com and search under “Wawasee Kiwanis Triathlon”.

All proceeds go to the Wawasee Kiwanis Club, which will then be funneled right back into the community.

“They go to Kiwanis and then we basically put it right back. Our whole motto is to give it right back to the community,” said Warner. “A lot of the organizations that we donate to are Boomerang Backpacks, the Food Pantry, a couple of the local preschools around here and Teen Parents Succeeding.”