Swimmers plunging in at the start line
Firstly, just being here was a massive relief. The Serpentine Swimming Club had closed and stopped swimming in the weeks leading up to this event because of high levels of blue green algae. A decision on whether the swim could go ahead was due to be made on the Wednesday before the swim. Instead, the announcement came out that algae levels were going down but a final decision would need another 24 hours. Eventually, at 6pm on Thursday, we got confirmation. Algae was at a safe level and we could swim. As a bonus, the weather forecast was for blazing sunshine.