Nine-year-old becomes youngest person to complete Alcatraz swim

A nine-year-old boy has become the youngest person ever to swim to Alcatraz and back, beating out the previous record-holder, who was 10.

James Savage, whose father offered him US $100 to complete the 4km round trip across San Francisco Bay, said he almost gave up 30 minutes into the swim, but persevered when his dad doubled the cash reward.

"I wanted to turn back and they kept yelling, 'I believe I you, you can do it'," the plucky youngster from Los Banos told yourcentralvalley.com.

"We kind of pushed each other," James's coach, Josh Weinberger, told the website. "Finally got him going. Smooth sailing all the way."

It took James a little more than two hours to complete the swim yesterday, putting him slightly off the pace of the previous youngest record holder, 10-year-old Anaya Khanzode, who set a time of 1:37.02 in August last year.

James says his next goal is to swim the 2737.4m length of the Golden Gate Bridge.