There are SO many good things to say about this event from the very organised changing and baggage areas, the amount of friendly canoeing marshals, quality medal and goody bag and the atmosphere from the spectators. I made full use of the dunk zone to acclimatise and listened to the information briefing. My wave was let into the water in smaller groups as we were merging with the Classics wave that had gone in before us. This helped to reduce unnecessary congestion. It was also reassuring to see so many security guards and sniffer dogs around the park following the previous day's terror attack.
The only improvements could be to have more yellow buoys on the long edges and brighter coloured turning buoys as I found it really difficult to spot the purple ones. Some of the race packs and wave-time emails were also rather slow getting to some friends (only arriving 3 days before!) and I hear that there weren't enough 2 mile medals; something that they have said sorry for and will post them out with a free Swim Serpentine changing towel. The hot tubs were also incredibly small with about 3 closed off as I finished so I had to get very comfortable with a few strangers as I warmed up!
A very enjoyable event, it's just a shame they couldn't make the water a bit warmer!