Thanks to hard work, discipline and desire, we can achieve success in any area of life. Thus, English cyclist Beryl Burton became successful in sports. She won more than 90 national championships and seven world titles as well as set national records. In this article, we will tell you the athlete’s life story. Learn more about Beryl Burton on leedski.com.
How did she take up sports?
The future athlete was born in Leeds in 1937. She raced for Morley Cycling Club. By the way, her husband, Charlie Burton, introduced her to this type of sport. They got married in 1955.
In 1957, Beryl won her first national medal. It was silver in the 100-mile national time trial. Later, the athlete performed at the international level.
Achievements in cycling
In 1960, Beryl Burton won the world championship in road racing among women. Then she repeated this success in 1967. It should be noted that Beryl Burton was an ace in the individual races and won world championship medals almost annually for thirty years. Thus, the athlete became a five-time world champion (1959-1966) and won three silver medals (in 1961, 1964 and 1968) and a bronze (in 1967, 1970 and 1973).
In addition, Burton was undefeated in domestic competitions. From 1959 to 1983, she became the winner of each Road Time Trials Council’s British Best All-Rounder Competition. In total, she won 72 national individual time trial titles. In general, Beryl achieved many victories and all of them were well-deserved.
Beryl Burton’s records
In 1963, the athlete became the first woman to break the hour barrier for a 25-mile time trial. In five years, Burton set a new 12-hour time trial record of 277.25 miles. By the way, she beat the men’s record by 0.73 miles.
It should be noted that the athlete set about 50 new national records at distances of 10, 15, 25, 30, 50 and 100 miles. Interestingly, nobody could break the last 10, 25 and 50-mile records for 20 years. Beryl Burton’s 100-mile record stood for 28 years and the 12-hour record stood for 50 years until 2017.
Beryl Burton became a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1964 and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1968. Also, she received the highest award in British cycling, the Bidlake Memorial Prize, in 1959, 1960 and 1967.
Thanks to her achievements in sports, Burton participated in the Grand Prix des Nations in 1967.
What is known about her personal life?
Beryl Burton received many offers from sponsors throughout her career, but she remained an amateur. In addition, she worked a lot on the farm in the Rhubarb Triangle. By the way, her daughter Denise Burton followed in her mother’s footsteps and became the top cyclist. She won bronze at the 1975 world individual championships.
Beryl Burton died of heart failure on the eve of her 59th birthday. They say that sports and competitive fervour simply exhausted the athlete’s body. Her husband died in 2023.
Later, the memorial Beryl Burton Gardens was established in Morley. In addition, the Broken Spoke bicycle co-op is holding a Beryl’s Night in Oxford to honour the outstanding sportswoman. It is a free monthly evening event for women where they can learn more about bikes and use the workshop.
It was the success story of the outstanding athlete. We hope that our article was informative and useful for you.