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.

Board Up Miami, South Florida’s top wakeboard festival, returns to Miami Marine Stadium on Virginia Key from April 23 to 25.

The fourth annual Board Up is billed as a pro-am wakeboard competition that allows the world’s best pros to compete against some of the top amateurs looking for a chance to score their first professional contracts. This year’s purse is more than $10,000.

Board Up is the signature event of a weekend that has the IWSF Pan Am Region Wakeboard Championships on Thursday and Friday. Amateur winners of the Pan Ams automatically get a shot to ride with the pros on Saturday.

Also on Saturday is Nike Swim Miami, an open-water swimming competition in which 700 athletes compete in a 10K (the swim marathon), 5K or 1-mile swim. In previous years numerous current and former Olympians, as well as weekend warriors of all ages and both genders, swam.

Saturday’s activities also include a dragon boat competition with more than 500 paddlers. Dragon boat racing originated in China but in recent years several clubs have opened in South Florida.

Throughout the entire festival is a 4,000-square foot street course for skateboarding demos, a best trick contest and an amateur contest. Some of South Florida’s best DJs and two bands will perform live, and there will be swimsuit fashion shows with the Florida Marlins’ Mermaids (cheerleaders).

Rider registration and tickets are available at BoardUp.net. Swimmers can register at MiamiSportsInternational.com. The cost is $50. Competitors receive a participant pack and free admission to all festivities.