Edith Atkins (2 February 1920 – 28 August 1999) was a

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...

and a prolific breaker of long-distance recordsPENSIONER KILLED IN A45 TRAGEDY WAS A RECORD-BREAKING VETERAN
''Coventry Evening Telegraph'', 31 August 1999, Summers, Kathryn. Retrieved 22 September 2008 in the 1950s. She completed 12 different record-breaking journeys. The records included

Land's End Land's End ( or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

John o' Groats John o' Groats () is a village 2.5 mi (4 km) north-east of Canisbay, in the historic county of Caithness, Scotland. It lies on Scotland's north-eastern tip and is popular with tourists. The northernmost point of mainland Scotland is ...

; Land's End to London;

Holyhead Holyhead (; , "Cybi's fort") is a historic port town, and is the list of Anglesey towns by population, largest town and a Community (Wales), community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales. Holyhead is on Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island ...

to London; London to

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, London to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

; and London to

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

. On 12 July 1953 she covered in 24 hours, breaking the London to York; 12-hour, and London to Edinburgh records along the way. Two weeks later she also broke Land's End to John o' Groats. She died aged 79 when she was hit by a motorist while pushing her bicycle across a pedestrian road crossing.

Early life

Edie Atkins, born Sharman, in

Bilston Bilston is a market town in the City of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. It is in the Black Country, south east of Wolverhampton city centre and close to the borders of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, Sandwell ...

, Staffordshire, England, was less than tall. Her light build led her to take up

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

as a child and she excelled to champion level.Obituary, ''The Independent'', London, August 1999 Her first bicycle was one won by her mother in a

whist drive Whist is a classic English trick-taking game, trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play. History In 1674, ''The Compleat Gamester, The Co ...

. She took up cycling seriously when Roland (Ron) Atkins lent her a bicycle for a weekend ride and she discovered her ability. She moved from the Coventry Meteor Road Club to join Coventry Road Club in 1938 and the couple married two years later, Ron having acknowledged that she could ride faster than him. World War II ended thoughts of racing. One of their two children, John Atkins, was an international

cyclo-cross Cyclo-cross (cyclocross, CX, cyclo-X or cross) is a form of bicycle racing. Races typically take place in the autumn and winter (the international or "World Cup" season is October–February), and consist of many laps of a short (2.5–3.5&nb ...

rider and national champion.

Racing career

Atkins began racing in 1946, riding for Coventry Road Club. She competed at many

RTTC Cycling Time Trials is the bicycle racing organisation which supervises individual and team time trials in England and Wales. It was formed out of predecessor body the Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) in 2002. Time trialling A time trial tes ...

championship events, helping it win the team prize in the races of 1949 and 1950 as well as the championship in 1950. There was rivalry between her and another rider from the city, Eileen Sheridan. Sheridan was supported as a professional record-breaker by the Hercules bicycle company but Atkins remained an amateur, remortgaging her house to pay for her cycling. In 1952 she broke the Women's Road Records Association Land's End to London record, completing 287 miles in 17h 13m 31s. In 1953 Atkins broke several more records including Holyhead to London, 264¼ miles in 13h 31m 57s. In her London to York ride, she broke the record in 9h 56m 20s before continuing north. After 12 hours she had ridden 234¾ miles. She reached Edinburgh in 21h 37m after , going on to ride in 24 hours. She took three records in the same ride and was the first woman to go beyond in 24 hours. Six days later she rode from Edinburgh to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and back, 88 miles in 4h 38m 56s. Atkins set the first women's amateur record for Land's End to John o' Groats, eight days after her Edinburgh-Glasgow-Edinburgh record. She beat the professional record by 4h 48m. Atkins was entered in the ''

Golden Book of Cycling The ''Golden Book of Cycling'' was created in 1932 by ''Cycling'', a British cycling magazine, to celebrate "the Sport and Pastime of Cycling by recording the outstanding rides, deeds and accomplishments of cyclists, officials and administra ...

'' on 12 August 1953. 1957 saw more records broken.

Retirement and death

Atkins remained an enthusiastic cyclist after her record-breaking years. She rode more than 40 races at the age of 76 and rode a week. She died in August 1999, aged 79, while crossing the A45 with her bicycle at

Ryton-on-Dunsmore Ryton-on-Dunsmore is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is situated 6 miles (8.8 km) south-east of Coventry and 8 miles (12.1 km) west of Rugby. The 2001 census recorded a population of 1,6 ...

, near Coventry.

Palmarès

;1952 :25 September – Land's End to London, 287 miles – 17h.13m.31s. ;1953 :31 May – Holyhead to London, 264 miles – 13h.31m.53s :12 July – London to York, 196 miles – 9h.56m.20s :12 July – 12 hours* – 234.75 miles :13 July – London to Edinburgh, 385 miles – 21h.37m.00s :13 July – 24 hours* – 422.00 miles :19 July – Edinburgh to Glasgow and back, 88 miles – 4h.38m.56s :27–29 July – Land's End to John o' Groats, 871 miles – 2d.18h.4m. ;1957 :14 July – London to Gt Yarmouth, 125 miles – 6h.01m.46s :8 August – London to Bath and back, 211 miles – 11h.11m.34s :8 September – Liverpool to Edinburgh, 211 miles – 11h.02m.40s :13 October – Edinburgh to York, 196 miles – 10h.40m.24s

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, Edith 1920 births 1999 deaths Pedestrian road incident deaths Ultra-distance cyclists Sportspeople from Bilston Sportspeople from Coventry Road incident deaths in England English female cyclists British female cyclists 20th-century English sportswomen