What started as a chance conversation last December has quickly become one of the most characterful fixtures in the open water swimming calendar.

Kenilworth Masters Swimming Club had the audacity to challenge the world's oldest outdoor swimming club to a head to head contest, and the so called World Series was born.

The name, a tongue in cheek nod to American Baseball where only teams from the USA take part, rather suits the spirit of the thing.

A 4.30am alarm call set the tone. The Kenilworth team made the early drive to London and arrived at the Serpentine in Hyde Park in time for the first race at 7.30am. Founded in 1864, the Serpentine Swimming Club is Britain's oldest swimming club, dedicated to year round outdoor swimming and steeped in tradition.

Their famous Christmas Day race has been run since 1864, and the Peter Pan Cup, first presented by author J.M. Barrie, remains one of the great eccentricities of British sporting life. This was not a place short on history, and Kenilworth had come to add a little of their own.

With 16 swimmers on each side, eight over 50 and eight under, it was always going to be a day to remember.

It was also, it turned out, a day that would end in the most gentlemanly of fashions. The final event, a cannon relay in which every single swimmer takes a 50 metre freestyle leg, ended in controversy when a Serpentine swimmer set off a full 15 seconds early. The takeover was ruled faulty and the whole event was declared an honourable draw. Quite fitting, really.

Kenilworth brought a strong squad, but few drew as much attention as Karen Mee, one of Britain's top female ice swimmers. Just three months ago, Karen became one of the first British women to complete the 1km Baltic Ice Challenge in the Baltic Sea in Poland, an extraordinary feat in water temperatures that most people would rather not think about.

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A family lawyer by profession, Karen was in her element on the Serpentine.

"This was such a great experience and the perfect way to round off my winter season whilst also getting me ready for my solo English Channel attempt in September," she said.

"The people from the Serpentine are so experienced and knowledgeable. It was absolutely wonderful to not only compete against them but to learn so much in the process."

The whole adventure was the brainchild of Kenilworth's head coach, Roy McWhirter, who was also in the water on the day despite being only weeks away from shoulder surgery. Swimming 50 metres of butterfly in open water with limited use of one arm is, by any measure, a bold decision. He was not about to let that stop him.

"I'm always up for the club taking on a new challenge, and if you're going to challenge someone it might as well be a notable one," he said. "Swimming butterfly in open water with only one arm working properly was, let's say, an interesting experience, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything. The 4.30am alarm was absolutely worth it."

On the Serpentine side, the day was lit up by Nick Hungerford, a proud Australian now based in London and something of an enigma in ice swimming circles. In one of the more memorable races, Nick sent eight backstrokers off simultaneously in open water, no lane ropes, no black line on the bottom of a pool, no ceiling to keep them honest.

Just blue sky, clouds and the occasional aeroplane passing overhead. Swimming 50 metres before rounding a buoy and heading for the finish line, it was the kind of race that simply does not happen in an indoor pool.

And that, perhaps, is the whole point. Characters like Nick, Karen and Roy are what sets outdoor swimming apart from just about every other sport. There are no grandstands, no sponsorship boards and precious few creature comforts. What there is, in abundance, is spirit. The World Series, all one edition of it, had that in spades. One suspects it will not be the last.

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