81-year-old swimmer prepares for Auckland’s ‘Swim the Shore’ event

Pat Owens, who started as a competitive swimmer at the youthful age of 58, will almost certainly be the oldest woman lining up in Auckland’s upcoming Swim the Shore event – where she’ll be seven decades more senior than the youngest swimmers in the field. At 70, she switched from the pool to the sea. And now at 81, Owens is a star of the New Zealand ocean swimming scene, who can’t see herself quitting anytime soon: “I guess I’ll just keep going.”