IT’S usually seachangers who embrace the beach life, swapping suits for swimmers as they soak up the surf.
But for ocean swimming champion Sue Wiles, who turns 78 in April, it took a treechange to the NSW Blue Mountains to get her into the waves.
This month the Wentworth Falls resident competed in her 13th Cole Classic – the annual Manly to Shelley ocean swim she has done since 2005.
The NSW event is the world’s largest ocean swim. And as one of the oldest competitors, Sue was looking forward to bringing home a 12th Cole Classic plate – awarded to age group placegetters – adding to the 11 she already has.
“I’ve got them all up on the wall on a long bookshelf but now I’m running out of space,” she said.
Sue hasn’t always been an ocean swimmer. While she spent much of her childhood in Sydney at the beach, she never ventured past the breakers and took up pool swimming in her late 60s as a way of recovering from neck strain after years spent at a desk.
She spent almost two decades co-writing the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women and completing a PhD, after living in China for 18 months in the late 1970s.
“I was unfit, overweight and had problems with my neck after years sitting at a computer. So a friend suggested swimming,” she said. “Now it’s like a second life in a way.”
While she enjoyed masters swimming, she soon started ocean events – even though it takes nearly two hours to get to the beach from the Blue Mountains – and describes her first Cole Classic swim as delightful.
“I just took to it like a duck to water. It was just heaven. The salt water is just beautiful to be in.”
Sue trains regularly at Katoomba and Glenbrook pools and treks to the beach at weekends.
She said one of the best things about ocean swimming is the community and camaraderie – and she encourages other people, regardless of their age, to get in the water.
“I have a friend in her 70s who has just started ocean swimming. Age is no problem’ I just say ‘have a go’. To me it feels so natural and safe,” she said.
There are times, she admits, when nerves can creep in.
“I’m always a bit anxious before getting in. In the Cole Classic I sometimes do get worried about coming in if there’s a big surf, as I can’t catch waves.
“But there are always people around so safety is not an issue and as soon as I get in the water any worry falls away and I just start swimming. And afterwards you get a great sense of achievement, of course.”
The Cole Classic was on February 4 and Sue took part in the 2km swim.
“Some people say what I do is exceptional but I don’t feel it is exceptional. It’s a joy and I’m just grateful I can still do it.”