Port to pub swim on March 19

She just will not be swimming.

“No, I’ll just have to be happy running the event, and it’s going to kill me not being able to swim and I’ll be very envious of everyone else,” Mrs Roberts said.

She was the first person to do a triple crossing of Gage Roads to the island in 2013, in addition to eight other single crossings.

The first 20km Port to Pub on March 19 has been organised to provide another event for swimmers who cannot get into the increasingly popular Rottnest Channel Swim from Cottesloe earlier each year.

“The Port to Pub swim will honour the first original channel crossing by Gerd von Dincklage-Schulenburg, who left the shores of North Fremantle in 1956, followed two months later by the first amateur race on March 25,” Mrs Roberts said.

The 20km race in March will have solo entries, and double, four-member and six-member teams, in addition to a 25km open-water course to attract national and international long-distance swimmers.

About 200 swimmers have already shown interest in competing in the shorter route.

“You need something in your life, and at this age, to get off the couch and to get motivated to compete,” Cottesloe swimmer Bruce Dewar (41) said.

Expressions of interest to race can be made at www.porttopub.com.au from next month.