Marguerite Wilson
RECORD BREAKER
When teenage Marguerite swapped athletics for cycling, she worried her parents would disapprove and so hid her riding kit from them. She won her first 12-hour race (the youngest entrant at 19 years old) in 1937, despite being told by male peers that ‘it takes a man to ride a 12’.
Her talent was spotted by British bicycle manufacturer Hercules, which sponsored her to take on long-distance records, making her
Frustration at the lack of medals, titles and opportunities for women competitors led Eileen to set up the Women’s Cycle Racing Association
the UK’s first professional female cyclist. In August 1939 Marguerite set out on the 870-mile Land’s End to John O’Groats. Only one woman, Lilian Dredge, had taken on the challenge before, after battling much scepticism that she could handle such a feat.
Marguerite decided she could better Lilian’s time if she only slept when absolutely necessary. It certainly paid o! – she reached John O’Groats more than 20 hours faster, in just 2 days 22 hours and 52 mins, with only 3 hours spent sleeping. After a bath and breakfast, she jumped back into the saddle to pedal another 130 miles. When she dismounted in Wick she had set an incredible record of 1000 miles –with 11,000 metres of climbing – in 3 days 11 hours and 44 minutes, a time that only two men had previously bettered. She later said she’d felt that she had the energy to do another 1000. Sadly, the war cut short her dazzling career.