competitors from taking part in the final race of the Summer Swim Series on Saturday.

The two-mile open water relay was moved from Horseshoe Bay to the more sheltered confines of Shelly Bay, but white-capped seas still presented a challenge for the 33 two-person teams.

Ronald Cowen and Nuri Latham formed the winning squad, each swimming their two half-mile splits in under nine minutes for a time of 34 minutes and 15 seconds. Stephen Troake and Elisha Miller were second in 35.29, followed by Craig Ferguson and Trevor Nelson another 16 seconds back.

Zoe Roberts and Laura Farge won the female division with a time 38.17.

The shallow waters of Shelly Bay forced particpants to wade the first 30 yards and then finish with a 20-yard dash across the beach.

"Open water swimming isn't like pool swimming. I wanted to make it tough to show the natural elements that an athlete has to compete against,'' said race director Patrick Hackenberg.

The 66 entries were the most of any of the open water swim races this summer.

Defending champion Ronald Cowen followed up his win on Saturday to once again capture honours in the annual Trunk Island swim yesterday, clocking a time of 17 minutes and 27 seconds for the approximate one mile distance.

Cowen finished comfortably ahead of second place finisher Craig Ferguson who followed in 18 minutes and 43 seconds while Trevor Nelson was a close third in 18.47. The top female finisher was Laura Farge in 19.53, edging out Abigail Madeiros (19.54) while Elisha Miller placed third in 19.57.

Top junior boy was Jimmy Pereira in 18.57 while Miller was the first junior girl. A total of 140 swimmers took part, a decrease on the number who had originally entered when the race was postponed because of bad weather on August 11.