The calm waters of Evans Bay would have been ideal for the 2.25-mile event, but the stings of "hundreds'' of jellyfish caused five of 32 entrants to drop out, race director Patrick Hackenberg said.

"I was scared but I kept going,'' said Alicia Mullan, the first female finisher and top point-getter during the six-race series.

Ronald Cowan won the race in a time of 53 minutes and 37 seconds, his first victory in the series. However, Mike Cash, who finished four seconds behind in second place, was the overall points leader for the men.

Jellyfish weren't the only problem facing swimmers: The safety boat moved after two laps which made it difficult for particpants to see the marker buoy from water level.

The swim also determined Claire Mancell as female winner of the 15-29 age group (Cowan won the male division). Winners of the 30-39 age group were Jeanne Meunier and David Cash; the 40-49 category went to Duncan Newby, while Margaret Marshall and Peter Grayston won in the over 50 division.

BOWLING BOW For the fourth time in the five years the event has been held, St.George's beat Somerset in the Bowlers Cup Match last week.

St.Georges' Steve Wales rolled his team's only "century'' and was named MVP as a total of 72 fans of the two clubs played their version of cricket at Warwick Lanes on Thursday.

In converting the real Cup Match to ten-pin bowling, a four represented two straight strikes, a six three in a row, a half-century four in a row and a century five consecutive strikes. Other terms included a duck (gutterball) and clean bowled (leaving a 7-10 split).

The 34 St.George's players won the first and third games -- or innings -- with an average of 143.9 and 149.1, while the 38 Somerset bowlers took the second with a 151.9 average. St.George's averaged 440.9 for the event, Somerset 436.0.

Carl Reid, Miles Smith and Peaches Perinchief each had half-centuries for Somerset in the second innings and Eversley Zuill rolled a full one in the third.

But leading by less than a run entering the final game, St. George's used Wales' century and William (Yummy) Easton's half to roll up 5,070 runs, including 16 fours and three sixes.

Wales finished with a total of 619 runs while Michael Lambe led Somerset with 601.