According to Pat, the Aore swim was the shorter of the two although it was the more difficult one.
"I found it quite hard to swim against the channel and, at one point, I was swept away and had to slog back another 600 metres to get back with the group," she laughs. The motivated Whangarei local was competing in the 70-74 year age group and won silver and gold to add to her ever-expanding resume.
She completed the 3.2km race in 79 minutes and the more difficult 2.6km event in 116 minutes. Pat joined one other New Zealander, Sidney Salek, who swims for Tauranga and paid his own way to attend the event.
She said she started swimming to focus on something positive after the deaths of three family members.
"Even though it was an hour-and-a-quarter drive each way, I enjoyed it and was hooked," she smiles.
By the age of 58, she entered her first competition in Waitakere in 1997 and won bronze.
Her first national event was held in Wellington then Auckland where she won three gold medals and two silvers.
Since 1997, she has attended the Pan Pacific Championships where she came fifth in the top 10 placings and the Oceania Championships where she received four golds and one silver medal.
"I love open water swimming because you are outside in the open, there are no walls and you never know what the weather will be like," she said. "It's a good challenge."
