Swimming Test Event Open To Public

The public will get the chance to watch world class swimmers, including a number of World and Olympic medallists at the London 10km Marathon Swimming International in Hyde Park this Saturday, 13th August, as part of the London Prepares Series and a test event for London 2012 Olympic Games.
 
The event, free for anyone to watch, takes place in the Serpentine inside Hyde Park and will feature some of the world’s best marathon swimmers including the bronze medalist from Beijing 2008, German Thomas Lurz and the 10km gold medalist from the recent FINA World Champions in Shanghai, Spyridon Gianniotis, who was born in Liverpool.
 
In the women’s race the silver and bronze medallists from Shanghai, Martina Grimaldi and Marianna Lymperta come into the race as favourites.
 
Two British women will compete in the event, Rachel Williamson and Lucy Charles, both of whom are from the British Swimming development squad.

Kerri-Ann Payne, who has already qualified for the Marathon Swimming event at London 2012 is currently resting, along with several others from the British squad, after the World Championships.
 
David Luckes, head of Sport Competition at LOCOG said of the event: ‘The London 10km Marathon Swimming International will be used to test the Marathon Swimming course in Hyde Park as well as many of LOCOG’s operations’.

‘We are delighted to be able to run such an event with a high level of international athletes and look forward to giving the public an opportunity to witness world class sport for free this weekend’.
 
Members of the public wishing to watch the event can do so from the edge of the Serpentine, with some of the best views on the north side.

40 competitors will line up on Saturday to tackle six laps of the 1.67km course.

The women’s starts at 10am and the men’s race starts at 2pm.