South Yorkshire Quad 2014
The first South Yorkshire Quadrathlon was held at Manvers Waterfront Boat Club on Sunday 15th June. A small but enthusiastic and very competent group of athletes took part.
The race started with a 1600m swim, divided into two laps. Phil Jumeau led the way closely followed by John Kavanagh and Nigel Leeson. Manvers Lake is a purpose built leisure lake which is a popular venue for open water swimming and the water quality was excellent.
The kayak route was eight longer laps taking competitors around the swim buoys and the two islands. Ian Smith took an impressive lead on this leg and John Kavanagh paddled well to maintain his second position. The good humoured volunteers counted laps and kept the competitors well informed and encouraged as they completed each circuit.
The 18 mile bike route took competitors out towards the A1, following signs for Doncaster. It was an undulating route with a steady climb up to the village of Hickleton. The roads were busy, but wide with a cycle lane for part of the route. The turn point was the roundabout at the A1 junction and competitors enjoyed the descent from from Hickleton on the return! Phil Holden, Nigel Leeson and Paul Belcher all put in strong bike legs, improving their overall positions.
The 10K run was off road, along limestone paths. It was two 5K laps out along the Transpennine trail and back along the lakeside. Ian Smith held his lead and was the overall winner. In spite of a change of wet suit due to a broken zip on the start line, and a puncture at the finish of the bike leg, John Kavanagh finished in a well deserved second place. Duncan Pearson had a storming run, passing several of his fellow competitors and finishing in third place.
The first lady home was Sarah Allars with a strong consistent performance across all four disciplines and Nicola Heaton, who was positive and managed to keep smiling throughout the race, was the second lady.
This was a very successful first event. The venue was excellent and the race had been well planned around a single transition point on the lake front. Congratulations and thanks go to Mark Benton for setting up the event and for his organisation on the day. Mark and his team were very welcoming and succeeded in keeping the event simple, informal and very friendly. The toilets, showers and changing facilities were first class and the café was an added bonus at the end of the race. The event attracted interest and support from locals walking round the lake and using the leisure facilities, and seemed to fit in and entertain rather than disrupting other lake users.
Mark welcomed the constructive feedback from competitors after the event and recognised the need to make a few tweeks to the signage on the bike and run course! He is hoping to run the event next year, possibly alongside a triathlon. Hopefully it will attract more competitors and become into a regular event on the quadrathlon calendar.
Ian Smith
A note from race organizer Mark Benton – He has had many emails from athletes, saying they’d had a good time and enjoyed the race and the venue. Organizer Mark quoted ‘what a great set competitors we had, even though it was a small and really friendly event’.
There were only 14 entries but that was ok, as we have tested the venue and the set up for the event and it works fine we are looking forward to putting on a great event next year One person went wrong on the bike, so he will improve the signage for next year. We may also put a triathlon at the same time, so the tri and quad swim together then do the bike together then quad splits off and does the paddling, then both do the run.
Manvers Waterfront Boat Club are a  rapidly growing multi sports club based at Manvers Lake in Wath-upon-Dearne, South Yorkshire.  Activities based at the club so far include canoeing & kayaking, triathlon, running, open water swimming, windsurfing,  sailing, fishing, model boating, sub-aqua, biking and wildlife conservation. They have organized plenty of events but this was their first Quadrathlon, the BQA feel it was an great event and well worthy of ‘Trophy Status’ we are very excited about the future of this new race at a superb venue with showers, changing rooms available, and an on site café.