AT the age of 63, Elizabeth Short admits she's no water baby.

But, after six decades of swimming and the honour of being chosen as an Olympic trialist, the Nelson pensioner found it relatively easy to swim a distance equivalent to the Nelson boundary - 724 lengths or 11.25 miles.

Mrs Short, of Boulsworth Crescent, is the first person to complete the second stage of the Pendle in the Swim challenge at Pendle Wavelengths.

She has the rest of the year to complete the final stage, swimming 2,897 lengths or 45 miles, the distance around the Pendle Way footpath.

"Once I start a thing, I don't give up," she said. "I'm not going to think about the number of lengths I've got to do."

Mrs Short learned to swim when she was three. At ten, she joined Nelson Swimming Club. She is the club's competition secretary and a coach.

By the time she was 14, she was North Lancashire champion and went for an Olympic trial in 1948.

"Swimming is an excellent way of keeping fit and I hope more people will take it up," said Mrs Short. "Any movement in the water is good for you."

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