Guin Batten battled away for more than three hours to become the first woman to row single-handedly across the English Channel - and she did it in record time.

The Olympic medallist crossed one of the world's busiest waterways in a flimsy fibreglass boat weighing just a few a kilograms.

The 34-year-old, who was born in Cuckfield, took three hours, 14 minutes to cover the 21-mile stretch from Shakespeare Bay, near Dover, to Cap Gris Nez in France.

Her feat sliced 20 minutes off the previous cross-Channel rowing record, set by Ivor Lloyd 20 years ago.

The quick time was an added bonus for Ms Batten, who was delighted just to have successfully finished the hazardous journey.

She said: "The craft only weighs about 14kg and is just wide enough to sit in. About half the people I spoke to thought I could not do it because the boat would break up.

"But we waited all summer to make sure the weather was perfect, with hardly any wind."

Even with good conditions, negotiating a path between massive cargo ships weighing thousands of tonnes was no easy task.

Ms Batten, a former pupil at St Mary's Hall School in Brighton, said: "The main challenge was having the skill to move the boat through the wash away from danger.

"At one point I was rowing behind a huge boat and the turbulence from its propellers was scary, churning the sea into something like a white-water river.

"You can handle those conditions a few feet from shore but it's a different matter eight miles out to sea."

Ms Batten won silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the quadruple sculls and decided to attempt the Channel crossing after she retired from international rowing.

It was only after checking with historians she realised no woman had done it before.

She said: "As a kid, I dreamt about rowing the Atlantic but time has passed and lots of other women have done that.

"I was looking for something smaller to keep me occupied during the summer.

"The crossing has been one of the biggest highlights of my career alongside my time in Sydney. Last night I was at a ball with lots of other people from rowing and the respect I got from my peers was amazing and very humbling."

Despite retiring from competitions, Ms Batten wants to go back behind the paddles soon.

She said: "I have got a lot of challenges up my sleeve but I'll have to wait until I get over the blisters on my hands first."