Sunday 10th June I went to Manvers Lake to race in the Dearne Valley Quadrathlon.
We got there for 7:30 so we could get the kayak, bike and other kit set up for the race. While taking the kayak down to the lake I thought I should test the water to see how cold it would be, as there was a mist over the lake, and to my surprise it was pleasantly warm.
I then had the 
usual struggle of getting into my wetsuit before the 8:30 briefing. My age group, 13-15 year old, it consisted of a 200m swim, 4km bike, 800m kayak, 2km run.
We then got into the water to let our bodies adjust to the temperature and then did a little warm up. For the swim we did two laps of a 100m circuit in a clockwise direction. I came out the swim in first place and called my number as I ran into first transition.
As I entered T1 I had a bit of a struggle getting my wetsuit off but I did it in the end and then got ready for the bike.
The bike was a 2 lap grass and gravel course, that I really enjoyed, and I managed to hold the lead.
Coming into T2 I racked up my bike and got ready for the kayak. As I was running down to my kayak I could see second place in the distance coming up to the dismount line (who I knew was very good in the kayak so I would have my work cut out). I got to my kayak a bit confused on what I had to do and so I just got in. At this point I realised the water was not deep enough for my kayak to float and had to get a little push from Kev and I was off on the 2 lap kayak route.
As I was about to start my second lap I could see 2nd place coming up behind me and he then overtook me just after the start to the second lap. As I was getting out of the kayak I got cramp in my right calf so instead of getting out my kayak normally I did a seal like roll.
Coming into T3 I saw the leader there and after having a quick transition we ran out of T3 together. We had a hard run being on each others tail but to my luck I managed to break free and go on to win the race with a time of 37.43 minutes.
I really enjoyed the event and I thank everyone involved in the race and can’t wait to do some more quads. I’m looking forward to the weekend away at Barton Sailing Club training on the Saturday and racing again Sunday.
Max Underwood-Frost