Ice foils London Christmas swim for first time in 30 years

One of London's oldest -- and coldest -- Christmas Day traditions fell victim to the freezing weather on Saturday when ice forced swimmers to abandon their open-air race in a lake.

About 40 hardy souls had hoped to take part in a 100-metre swim in the Serpentine lake in London's Hyde Park, but the ice forced organisers to cancel the event for the first time in nearly 30 years.

However, dozens of swimmers, some wearing Santa hats and surfing shorts, still braved the chilly water for an informal plunge in a small area where they had smashed the ice.

"We couldn't hold the normal race, but we managed to break a channel in the ice to have a quick dip," Brian Thomas, honorary secretary of the Serpentine Swimming Club, said.

"The last time it was frozen over on Christmas morning was 1981, so it's quite a rare event."

Swimmers shunned wetsuits, opting to wear normal bathing costumes. December is expected to be Britain's coldest since records began in 1910.

A Scottish piper wearing a kilt provided moral support from the side of the lake, while some swimmers sipped from hot mugs of tea perched on the ice as they paddled in the water.

The race was first held in 1864 and the Peter Pan cup was first awarded in 1904 by JM Barrie, the Scottish novelist and creator of the boy who refuses to grow up.