Six 12-year-old Colorado swimmers became the youngest relay team in history to complete a swim of the English Channel - carrying out the vision of a swimmer's father, after his death.

The team consisted of Wyatt Oerman and Maggie Cyr, of Centennial; Erik Biernat, of Littleton; Kianna Lee, of Aurora; Tim Soderlund, of Boulder; and Sara Nash, of Broomfield.

The team completed the swim in 9 hours and 58 minutes Thursday - well ahead of their original goal of 15 to 18 hours. Water temperature in the channel was a chilly 64.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

"The English Channel is the holy grail of open water swimming," Rick Oerman, father of Wyatt Oerman and whose wife coached the team, said Friday.

The concept of creating a team of young swimmers and trying to break the world record had been the dream of team member Sara Nash's father, Kevin Nash. A swimmer in college, he joined forces with Wyatt Oerman's mother, Voni Oerman, an accomplished open water swimmer, and together they built the team.

Kevin Nash died during surgery in April. The team became determined to fulfill his dream and accomplish the goal of breaking the world record in his memory.

Each group member is a competitive swimmer. The three boys and three girls have been training since April, swimming from Alcatraz across San Francisco Bay without wet suits last month.

"The excitement and dedication of these kids is inspiring," said coach Voni Oerman, who swam the English Channel in 2002 in just under 11 hours. "It all started last August when a group of parents asked me what it would take to prepare a group of kids to undertake a channel relay, and the kids decided to go for it."

Each swimmer rotated in the relay for an hour until they reached the shores of France.

According to the BBC, hundreds of people try each year to swim the English Channel at its shortest point, the 24-mile crossing from Dover to Cap Gris Nez in France.

The success rate is less than than 10 percent.

The dangers include hypothermia, severe cramping, jellyfish and the 600 commercial ship movements and 80 to 100 ferry crossings between Dover and Calais every day.

Swim, swim, swim

The Colorado Open Water Swimmers had a vigorous training regimen:

• Swimmers practiced an average of four days a week, swimming up to 7,000 yards per day.

• Training without wet suits began in April at various Front Range reservoirs, in water temperatures of 55 to 65 degrees.

• Swimmers were led by boat captain Neil Streeter, who has more than 10 years of experience leading swimmers across the channel.