Plaque unveiled for record-breaking cyclist

A plaque honouring one of Britain's most dominant racing cyclists has been unveiled in Harrogate.

Beryl Burton OBE won seven world titles and was also British Time Trials Best All Rounder (BBAR) for 25 consecutive years between 1959 and 1983.

The plaque was commissioned by Harrogate Civic Society. Its chair Mark Newby said: "In 1967, she set a world record the for the 12-hour time trial, which wasn't just the women's record, she actually beat the men's record which she held for two years. For the women's record, incredibly that record stood for 50 years."

The brown heritage plaque, the 99th placed in the town, is outside Burton's former home on Mount Parade.

"She won more than 90 domestic championships, 72 national individual time trial titles," says Newby.

"Quite a lot of people have been commenting that she is the greatest cyclist full stop," he adds.

Burton's plaque was unveiled by Burton's daughter Denise Burton-Cole as well as the Mayor of Harrogate, Councillor Viv Poskitt.

Beryl and Denise also cycled alongside each other and also set a British 10-mile record for women riding a tandem bicycle with a time of 21 minutes, 25 seconds.

Despite being a dominant cyclist, Burton, who was born in Morley in Leeds, never competed in the Olympic Games because women's cycling events were not introduced until 1984.

Burton's 12-hour record of travelling 277.25 miles (446km) was finally broken in 2017 by Alice Lethbridge, half a century after Burton originally set it.

Burton died in 1996 at the age of 58.

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