Racing Is Life - The Beryl Burton Story [DVD]

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The wheels are 28 spoked, tied and soldered where the spokes cross to make them stiffer, with Airlight hubs, which were a brand made by the British Hub Company. Airlight were jewels of British engineering, and had terrific bearings. The rims are Italian, made by Fiamme. And the tubular tyres, which are too old to inflate, are the legendary Clément number 1s, known as ‘white strips’. The word ‘Seta’ refers to the silk tube, which a thin rubber tread is bonded to and can be seen in the sidewalls. She set a women’s world record for a 12 hour time trial in 1967 which has not yet been beaten at 277.25 miles. Wilson’s book, along with a play written by Maxine Peake in 2012 and William Fotheringham’s 2019 biography, aims to relocate Burton from the relative wilderness to a place among the greatest British athletes of all time.

Her first play is about the life of cycling legend Beryl Burton, which is great news for fans of underappreciated women from the north with the name Beryl who had previously only heard of Beryl Bainbridge.Peake's writing is full of funny and caring moments, which are all realised by the cast with dedication ... it is impossible to puncture the play's warmth” – BroadwayWorld UK Beryl Burton and her daughter Denise both set a record for a British 10- mile ride on a tandem bicycle which took them only 26 minutes and 25 seconds! Beryl’s bike frame is made from Reynolds 531 double-butted tubing. It has some nice curly lug-work and was resprayed at the Universal Cycle Centre in Maltby, South Yorkshire, who loaned us the bike. The 1960 paint finish has been copied quite well, the big differences being the omission of the white head-tube seen on the original in the above photo, and the use of more recent Viking decals. The seat-tube decal references the five Tours of Britain won by Viking sponsored riders. The National Cyclists' Union was formed in 1883 – in a merger of the Bicycle Union and the Tricycle Association – ­and soon after, in 1890, they banned road racing out of fear of the reaction from the upper classes to the sudden increase in working class mobility – to become law in 1896 (H G Well’s novel of that year, Wheels of Chance, indicated the danger). A new body, The Road Racing Council – later to become the Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) - promoted time trial races, done in secrecy, instead. In 1942 a leading rider of the time, Percy Stallard, defied the ban and formed the rival, and dissident, British League of Racing Cyclists (BLRC). This was to eventually merge with the NCU in 1959 to form the British Cycling Federation (BCL), who lifted the ban, although Stallard apparently remained disgruntled. Thus the ban on road racing had only recently been lifted when this was filmed in 1962; the year when Tommy Simpson became the first Briton to wear the yellow jersey on the Tour de France.

If you think the life of an obscure female cyclist from the 1960s sounds a bit niche, join the club. Forget your preconceptions; it’s an evening of relentless fun, committed to teaching its audience something, whilst simultaneously never taking itself too seriously and maintaining a fierce respect for its heroine. The Beryl Burton film is called ‘Racing is Life: The Beryl Burton Story’ and it’s available on DVD.The 130-minute film is an 88-minute documentary of unique archive film footage from the late 1950s to the 1970s with 42-minutes of bonus features, including interviews with her daughter Denise, brother Jeffrey and sister Maureen and we hear from Beryl herself, who in her spare time loved knitting, as she had no television or radio in her home. You can also watch an 8-minute documentary of Beryl Burton on YouTube. Beryl Burton Memorial Garden We all know Maxine Peake is one of our country’s best stage actresses, but can she write? Absolutely. She won her first national medal in 1957. It was a silver in the national 100- mile individual time trial championship. Burton only discovered cycling later on in life and was introduced to cycling by her husband, Charlie Burton. She took her first National medal in 1957; the start of an incredible cycling career.She dominated women’s cycle racing in the UK, across Europe and around the world, winning almost 100 domestic championships.A gloriously happy, funny and moving play ... puts the record straight and restores the legacy of this amazing woman” – Islington Gazette If we…say what would she have done, even being quite conservative with it, I’m pretty sure she would have surpassed anybody else.” She set a 12-hour time-trial record in 1967, covering 277.25 miles, beating the men’s record by 0.73 miles. Maxine Peake, a British actress, wrote and starred in ‘Beryl: a Love Story on Two Wheels’, a radio play based on her life, with contributions from her husband Charlie Burton throughout. A show full of energy and enthusiasm ... that will leave you with a smile on your face” – West End Wilma

And so to the main question. What times would Beryl have set, making the same effort, on modern kit?A normal road bike usually produces a CdA (the measure of aerodynamic drag) of around 0.30m Burton’s achievements on the bike were intimately tied to, and often indistinguishable from, her life off it. Cycling was her sport, hobby, social life and means of transport. However, in an era when professional cycling did not really exist – especially for women – it was not a job. When she was just 11 years old she had chorea and rheumatic fever and had to stay in hospital for 9 months. I spoke to a journalist called Sue Mott who interviewed Beryl in the early 80s … and she said that she had never met a sportsperson who was so driven and focused as Beryl even having known those sorts of people as well [like Steve Redgrave and Andy Murray],” he says. Burton is considered by many as the ‘best ever female cyclist’. She raced for Morley Cycling Club and later on Knaresborough CC. Despite being arguably the greatest woman cyclist ever, Beryl Burton, remains little known outside of Yorkshire and the cycling fraternity.

Xavier Disley owns the AeroCoach company, which works with elite and amateur riders on aerodynamics, and was confident that he could calculate accurate projected ‘Beryl’ times provided that a set of conditions was met. We must source an equivalent bike and clothing from Beryl’s era and a rider of comparable size and aerodynamic potential. Information on the precise courses on which Beryl set her records would also be invaluable.

It’s already charmed audiences at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and you can now catch it at the Rose Theatre in Kingston before it goes on a national tour. Beryl used to work on a rhubarb farm, even when racing, which was run by cyclist Nim Carline. She worked 12 hour shifts every day during the winter. Actress Maxine Peake wrote a play to celebrate Beryl Burton’s extraordinary achievements. Simply called ‘Beryl’, it was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the 27th of November, 2012.This humility belied a ruthless streak that marked Burton as a great competitor. The prizes and medals she won were relatively unimportant; it was the simple act of winning that seemed to motivate her. Wilson spends much of his book explaining the origins of that drive, delving into theories that link childhood trauma to exceptional athletic achievement. I don’t think people who knew her outside of cycling necessarily knew she was a great cyclist…she wasn’t showy,” Wilson says. Beryl Burton with her daughter Denise in 1963 (Image credit: Getty Images Sport) ‘She just kept going and going’