Perth grandmother becomes oldest woman to swim the English Channel

MELBOURNE - A Perth grandmother has become the oldest woman to swim the English Channel, completing the crossing in 17 hours and 31 minutes.

Sue Oldham, 64, from Carine in Perth’s north, who had first claimed the record in 2006 in a swim of 16 hours and three minutes, completed the swim from Dover to France on August 9.

“When you start something you have to finish it don’t you, no point in getting out when it gets a bit tough,” the Herald Sun quoted her as telling ABC Radio.

“You just don’t know what you’re going to get because you’ve got currents and tides that could take you anywhere,” she stated.

Oldham said she struggled for five to six hours to get her stroke right and her throat began causing her discomfort along with a blocked nose and a sore right shoulder.

“But I would never stop, I would never give up, ever,” she added.

Her Perth trainer Pauline Pratt and fellow Perth endurance swimmer Selwyn Jellie were on the support boat encouraging her.

She was covered in grease and vaseline for the swim and was passed food and water by a pole because once in the water she could not touch the boat or be touched by anyone until the finish.

Oldham said that after the swim she thought she would “hang up her bathers and goggles and retire gracefully”, but after a glass of champagne she thought she might still give the channel another go. (ANI)