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And the fact that they kept doing it, despite having the world champion in the form of Beryl Burton. Beryl Burton, an almost forgotten amateur cyclist who worked on a rhubarb farm in Yorkshire, was not simply the undisputed ruler of British women's cycling for 25 years, but also broke the men's record in a 12-hour time trial. I felt such a responsibility to tell this story – Beryl made history and delivered this incredible story and I was fortunate to tell it.
In the process, she overtook Mike McNamara who was on his way to setting the somewhat shorter men’s record of 276.Having previously also beaten the men's record while setting the women's record in a 12-hour time trial, Burton was attempting the same unparalleled feat in a 24-hour event. Beryl is a worthy winner of the award, because it charts the most incredible of sporting endeavours and gradually reveals Burton to be both admirable and troubling .
Such as when he tracks down the racer who saw Burton after losing to her daughter Denise ‘sitting on the floor of the changing room, hitting their surface with her fists – in the same state of frustration as when she dropped her ball as a child. With previously unseen material and through extensive interviews with family, friends, rivals and fellow sporting giants, Jeremy Wilson peels back the layers to reveal one of the most overlooked, yet compelling characters in cycling history. His weaving of her early years to the troubles of life in England and then in Canada is engaging and readers will find the story captivating.Joseph Delves is a former editor of Cycling Electric, former editor-at-large of BikesEtc and a regular contributor to Cyclist Magazine and Cyclist.
A wonderful biography of one of Britain's least known but most highly decorated sports stars, Yorkshire cyclist Beryl Burton. This biography stands as a powerful testament to Beryl’s transformation into a formidable activist, profoundly reshaping the landscape of disability justice. Even then, some of the rules around amateur sports were different in Europe than the UK, which put her at even a greater disadvantage. Yet having won every race going, it eventually came to seem as if Burton was competing largely against herself. Cyclist Beryl Burton – also known as BB – dominated her sport much as her male contemporary Eddy Merckx, but with a longevity that surpasses even sporting legends like Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams and Sir Steve Redgrave.Soon followed by rheumatic fever, the result was nine months in hospital away from her family, fifteen more in convalescence, and the advice from her doctors that she should avoid strenuous exercise for the rest of her life. Yet she carried on winning, beating men and – infamously – competing against her own daughter, whilst working full-time on a Yorkshire farm and running a household.
Ruthless, relentless, brilliant, belligerent - and quite possibly the greatest Olympian Britain never had. However, the feeling you’re left with is that for whatever reason, it would never have been quite enough. An important contribution to both disability studies and history, Galer painstakingly crafts a book that is both scholarly and personal. Fotheringham’s latest book does a stellar job of both laying out Burton’s achievements while also excavating her often conflicted personality.It’s an easy read in the best sense—accessible, highly informative, and enticing to find out what happened next. What was also staggering about Beryl is that she was being internationally competitive while at the same time working manual jobs (like rhubarb farming) to support her amateur status. Wilson springs a few surprises beyond that, with Geoffrey Boycott making an appearance in support of all things Yorkshire – and (presumably drawing on Wilson's main job as the chief sports reporter for the Daily Telegraph), jockey AP McCoy adds comment. Beryl was clearly one of Britain's finest athlete's at a time when women's cycling was not recognised and the industry full of misogyny.
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