Hyde Park in London stands alone among the greatest urban parks in the world.
While its city counterparts from Central Park (New York) to Park Güell (Barcelona), Wiener Prater (Vienna), Stanley Park (Vancouver), Ueno Park (Tokyo), Golden Gate Park (San Francisco), Monsanto Forest Park (Lisbon), Lumphini Park (Bangkok), Flagstaff Gardens (Melbourne), Beihai Park (Beijing), Retiro Park (Madrid) are beautifully unique, but only Hyde Park has an active open water swimming team with members who swim year-round.
Hyde Park is home to one incredibly dedicated and capable group of open water swimmers.
Even with the water temperature at 1ºC (34ºF), die-hard members of the Serpentine Swimming Club are still swimming in early March as early as 6 am with the bulk of the extraordinarily hardened swimmers training daily from 7:30 am.
Despite the water temperatures, neoprene is as welcomed as sharks.
The Serpentine Swimming Club is a fantastic group of individuals with extreme tastes framed with extreme abilities.
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.