Israeli national champion Michael Demetriev flew a long way to become the 2009 Nike Swim Miami 10K champion in a blazing 2 hours and 2 minutes. The 10K race is commonly known as “the marathon of swimming.”

“That was only one of the storylines in the fifth annual open-water swimming competition at the Miami Marine Stadium Basin on Key Biscayne,” said organizer Jonathan Strauss. “The event also featured a 5K Swim, the Miami Mile and the K-9 Krawl World Championships, which is a human-dog duathlon that includes a 200-yard swim and quarter-mile run.”

The races took place in the placid waters of Biscayne Bay and featured 689 swimmers, including Olympians, Special Olympians and University of Florida swimmers. Ten countries were represented.

A portion of the event’s proceeds were donated to The H2Os Foundation, which provides financially disadvantaged children with learn-to-swim opportunities, lifeguard training and water-safety courses.

For information and complete results on the Nike Swim Miami visit MiamiSportsInternational.com. The Nike Swim Miami 2010 will take place on April 10.