Beryl Burton was a tour de force on two wheels. In a career that spanned 4 decades, she won seven cycling world titles, 96 national championships and set over 50 national records… one of which stood for 50 years. ⠀
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She was dominant on the road, against the clock and it didn’t matter to her which gender she was racing… she’d still beat you. In 1967 she passed champion men’s rider Mike McNamara on his way to a men’s record-setting distance… beating his with her own record by almost a mile. ⠀
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Famous in cycling folklore, the story goes that as she overtook McNamara she reached into her pocket, pulled out a liquorice allsort and handed it to him worrying that “the poor dear seemed to be struggling a bit”.⠀
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Beryl beats you but not before she bequeaths a Bertie Bassett to you.
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