Beryl Burton

Burton was born Beryl Charnock in the Halton area of Leeds, West Yorkshire and lived in the nearby Morley area throughout her life, racing mainly for Morley Cycling Club and later Knaresborough CC. ==Cycling==

She was introduced to cycling through her husband, Charlie Burton, whom she married in 1955. He described her development as a cyclist as follows: "First of all, she was handy but wasn’t that competent: we used to have to push her round a bit. Slowly she got better. By the second year, she was 'one of the lads' and could ride with us. By the third year, she was going out in front and leading them all. By then it was 1956 and she decided to do a bit of time trialling because I was dabbling at it." Domestic domination , West Yorkshire. In domestic time trial (TT) competition, Burton was almost unbeatable. She won the Road Time Trials Council's British Best All-Rounder Competition for 25 consecutive years from 1959 to 1983. In total, she won 72 national individual time trial titles; she won four at 10 miles (the championship was inaugurated in 1978), 26 at 25 miles, 24 at 50 miles and 18 at 100 miles. Her last national solo time trial titles were achieved in 1986 (at 25 and 50 miles; she was part of the fastest team, Knaresborough CC, in the 50 mile event in 1969). She also won a further 24 national titles in road racing and on the track: 12 road race championships, and 12 pursuit titles. Record-breaker In 1963, Burton became the first woman to break the hour barrier for the 25-mile time trial, subsequently also going below two hours for the 50-mile TT and four hours for 100 miles against the clock. – a mark that surpassed the men's record of the time by 0.73 miles and was not superseded by a man until 1969. While setting the record, she caught and passed Mike McNamara who was on his way to setting the men's record at 276.52 miles and winning that year's men's British Best All-Rounder. She is reputed to have given him a liquorice allsort as she passed him. As a women's record it wasn't beaten until 2017. She also set about 50 new national records at 10, 15, 25, 30, 50 and 100-mile distances; her final 10, 25 and 50-mile records each lasted 20 years before being broken, her 100-mile record lasted 28 years, and her 12-hour record stood for 50 years until 2017. Her prowess led to the rare distinction, for a woman, of an invitation to compete in the Grand Prix des Nations in 1967. In 1982, with her daughter Denise, Burton set a British 10-mile record for women riding a tandem bicycle: 21 minutes, 25 seconds. ==Personal life==

Despite receiving offers from sponsors, she remained an amateur throughout her career, working on a farm in the Rhubarb Triangle for much of her life. Her widower, Charlie, survived until 2023. ==Awards==

Recognition of her sporting achievements came with her appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1964 Birthday Honours, and as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1968 Birthday Honours, in both cases for services to cycling. Burton won UK cycling's top accolade, the Bidlake Memorial Prize, a record three times, in 1959, 1960 and 1967. ==Legacy==

A memorial garden, Beryl Burton Gardens, was established in her home town of Morley and includes a large mural. Morley Cycling Club donated a trophy (previously won 20 times by Burton) to the RTTC for a Champion of Champions competition for women of all ages: the Beryl Burton trophy. The Beryl Burton Cycle Way allows cyclists to travel the 2.8 km between Harrogate and Knaresborough without using the A59 road. A Leeds Civic Trust plaque was added in 2014, unveiled by Maxine Peake who wrote a play about her (see below). In 2009, she was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame. In 2018 she was named as one of the first two inductees into the Rouleur Hall of Fame, alongside Eddy Merckx. Her name is one of those featured on the sculpture Ribbons, unveiled in 2024. Broken Spoke bike co-op in Oxford runs a Beryl's Night in honour of her, a free monthly evening for women and all trans and non-binary people to learn about bikes and use the workshop. Golden Book Burton's career achievements were first celebrated in 1960 when Cycling Weekly awarded her a page in the Golden Book of Cycling. By 1991 her career had developed so far that she was accorded the unique honour of a second 'Golden Book' page. Play On 27 November 2012 a radio play, Beryl: A Love Story on Two Wheels was broadcast by BBC Radio 4, written by and starring Maxine Peake. It included interview snippets with Burton's husband and daughter. This was adapted by Peake for the stage to coincide with the start of the 2014 Tour de France in Leeds, and shown at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in June and July of that year, titled simply Beryl. The play returned for a second run at the same theatre the following summer, followed by an autumn 2015 tour around England. A production of the show is scheduled to take place at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton in September and October 2019. It was revived in September 2023 by Criterion Theatre, a members-run community venue in Coventry. Book A biography, ''Beryl: In search of Britain's greatest athlete'' by Jeremy Wilson, was published in 2022 (Pursuit Books, ). It won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award for that year. Song The English folk music duo of Belinda O'Hooley and her wife Heidi Tidow, performing as O'Hooley & Tidow, created a song about her titled "Beryl". App The trading name of cycle hire service Beryl is partly named after Burton. ==References==