Highlights - Payne wins open water gold
World 10km champion Keri-Anne Payne is looking forward to just having fun as she takes part in the Great East Swim at Alton Water, Suf! folk on Saturday.
Payne has taken time off since winning open water gold in Rome in July.
But she has been a regular at this series of mass-participation events, with the Windermere race involving over 6,000 swimmers of all abilities.
"This event is all about the masses participating - we're a sideline," Payne, 21, told BBC Sport.
 Payne has taken time off training since her Rome triumph |
Cassie Patten, who won Olympic 10km open-water bronze behind Stockport club-mate Payne in Beijing last year, is another star who has taken part in the four-event Great Swim series.
The event organisers are also behind the Great North Run and hope to transfer the concept of mass-participation events from running to the water.
To underline her approach to the event, after finishing fourth in the Windermere event earlier this month, Payne covered the course again, with a friend who is a non-swimmer.
"It's such a good thing to train for and there are lots of good things about it - the fitness, the fun and the beautiful locations," she said.
"It's not as far as our normal races and I would normally cover four to five miles in training."
The intensity of open water! swimming is not there either. Payne does not expect a repeat of a race in New York, when she was hit in the face, had a bloodied nose and saw stars.
Former runner Sonia O'Sullivan, 5000m Olympic silver medallist in 2000 and a double world cross-country champion is also competing.
