Paul Williams <castell5@sympatico.ca> wrote:
Jerry,
It would be interesting to know how they compare - did Burton attempt all of
the events that Wilson did? What was the competition like for Wilson in the
1930s and how many women pros were there?
Here are Wilson's records as of 31 Dec. 1949:
25 miles (p.) - 1h. 6m. 16s.
50 miles (p.) - 1h. 56m. 33s
100 miles - 4h. 31m. 8s.
100 miles (a. tandem with Mrs Uren) - 4h. 20m. 48s.
1,000 miles (p.) - 3d. 11h. 44m.
12 hours. (a.) - 215 miles
12 hours (p.) - 230 miles
24 hours (p.) - 396 miles
London to York (a.) - 10h 54m.
London to York (p.) - 10h 3m
London to Birminham (p.) - 5h 45m
London to Bath and back (p.) - 10h 50 m 53s
London to Brighton and Back (p.) - 5h 20m 30s (interestingly a Mrs. S.
Farrell as an amateur was the record holder at 5h 6m 35s)
London to Portsmouth and Back (p.) - 7h 15m 14s
Land's End to London (p.) - 17h 9m
London to Liverpool (p.) - 10h 2m
Edinburgh to Glasgow and Back (p.) - 4h 33m
Liverpool to Edinburgh (p.) - 12h 10m
Land's End to John o' Groats (p.) - 2days, 22h, 52m.
Before everyone jumps straight from Wilson to Burton, remember Coventry based Eileen Sheridan, whose incredible record breaking performances as a professional rider for Hercules in the fifties were not only outstanding athletic achievements, but in capturing the public imagination at the time she helped to lead to a change in attitude to women's sport in general. In 1955 she had completed the incredible feat of holding all 21 of the WRRA records recognised at the time. She held many of those records until recent years, and always encouraged those who set out to break them.
Peter Brown, Lincolnshire, England