THE final hour of the 25th annual Swimathon organised by the Rotary Club of Minehead and the Quantocks ending in spectacular style as Minehead Swimming Club team Squad Team Alpha overhauled the 190 lengths recorded earlier in the event by Huish Rejects to win the Hawkes Shield for best team.

The team of Samir Abraham, Alex Attwell, Josh Lee, Joe Lintern, James Murray, and Ben Pye went on to complete 206 lengths to finish 16 clear of Huish Rejects and 19 lengths clear of third-placed West Somerset College’s Squad 101 with 187 lengths.

The event attracted entries from 105 teams from local schools, swimming clubs, sports clubs, youth clubs, businesses and surgeries.

Teams are made up of six swimmers swimming lengths of the 25-metre Butlin’s Splash pool in turn for 55 minutes, and they are booked in on a timetable spread over six evenings with a maximum of five teams able to swim in any session.

Entries are taken from first school age children and they do the same but for only 40 minutes.

Results in this week’s Free Press.