Marathon swim hopefuls dodge Serpentine swans

Open water swimming is raw, it is often cold and it is always eventful. Two hours on water, six laps and 10km and the race essentially comes down to a sprint finish and the finest of margins.

Richard Weinberger of Canada and Italy's Martina Grimaldi were the victors in the respective men and women's 10km marathons at the Olympic test event on the Serpentine on Saturday in front of a perplexed Hyde Park crowd.

As it will be in a year's time, the event was ticketless with the swimmers flanked by a grandstand on one side of the lake and unrestricted public access on the other. This meant that dog-walkers and weekend restaurant goers were within touching distance of a world-class field but so, unfortunately, were the swans and geese.

The water had been deweeded, cleaned and the fierce birds who reside on the lake tempted away from the action by a feeding post, but that did not prevent a few intrigued rebels from taking a closer gander.

"I thought of it as Swan Lake. I saw all the swans so I gave them a lot of space," said second placed Eva Fabian, of the United States, who had led for much of her six-lap race.

It is this unpredictability which makes open water swimming what it is. As Mark, who on Friday had a swim in the Serpentine himself, pointed out to us via a spectator interview blasted out across the park on a loud speaker: "It's not as cold as you'd expect but it does give you that extra rush and kick to get going when you first get in."