Courtesy of Andy Newman from Islamorada, Florida Keys, Florida.

28-year-old Maximiliano Paccot won the 12.8 km race Swim for Alligator Lighthouse in 3 hours 11 minutes while 33-year-old Kristin Ates of Gainesville, Florida finished fourth overall while winning the women’s race in 3 hours 54 minutes, finishing with 3-person relay winner .

Over 300 swimmers competed in the international event on September 7th to raise awareness to fund restoration of an aging lighthouse off the Florida Keys. They started and finished at Amara Cay Resort and swam around the 151-year-old Alligator Reef Lighthouse that is named after the USS Alligator, a U.S. Navy schooner that ran aground on the reef in 1822 and sank. Founded by Florida Keys artist “Lighthouse Larry” Herlth, the annual race aims to help preserve the Alligator Lighthouse and five other aging lighthouses off the Florida Keys as well as raises college scholarship funds for Keys students interested in competitive swimming.

Constructed to warn ships away from the Florida Keys reef tract, the lighthouses are no longer maintained as their function has been replaced by modern Global Positioning System navigation.

32-year-old Connor Signorin and his cousin 33-year-old Maggie Owens won the 2-person relay team with a time of 3 hours 58 minutes.

Defending champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Brooke Bennett continues to swim well at the age of 44 as she was on the winning 3-person relay team that finished in 3 hours 25 minutes with 41-year-old Konrad Ciolko and 41-year-old Brian Hatlelid. 

The top four-person relay team finished in 4 hours 29 minutes, including 57-year-old Natalie Heidrich, 28-year-old Karen Castaneda, 33-year-old Ana Angelov, and 68-year-old Lenny Frazer.

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