Oz grandma swims English Channel

File photo / Wanganui Chronicle

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

Sue Oldham, 64, from Carine in Perth's north, completed the swim from Dover on Monday morning (Australian time).

She first claimed the record in 2006 in a swim of 16 hours and three minutes.

Speaking from England on Tuesday morning (Australian time) Mrs Oldham said she loved swimming in the ocean.

"When you start something you have to finish it don't you, no point in getting out when it gets a bit tough," she told ABC Radio.

The English Channel was regarded as the most difficult open-water swim in the world, she said.

"You just don't know what you're going to get because you've got currents and tides that could take you anywhere."

Mrs 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."

Mrs Oldham's 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.

Mrs Oldham said that after the swim she thought she would "hang up my bathers and goggles and retire gracefully".

But she said that after a glass of champagne to celebrate she thought she might still give the channel another go.

Mrs Oldham said she probably swam 50km on her 2006 swim but the distance had yet to be worked out for her latest swim.

A month before her 2006 solo swim, Mrs Oldham swam as the only female member of a relay team that still holds the world record for the oldest relay team to make the channel crossing.

- AAP