Eileen Sheridan Obituary, Legendary cycling record-breaker dies at 99

Eileen Sheridan Obituary, Death – Eileen Sheridan, a legendary record-breaking cyclist, went dead at the age of 99. She passed away the weekend before she would have turned 100. She may have been the first cyclist to be hailed as “Britain’s Greatest Cyclist” on the front cover of Cycling Weekly. Sheridan became known as a cycling legend thanks to her ability to outrun the clock during attempts to break place-to-place records.

Before Pauline Strong broke it in 1990, her 1954 mark of 2 days, 11 hours, and 7 minutes from Land’s End to John o’ Groats held for 36 years. The “Britain’s Greatest Cyclist” Cycling Weekly cover, which was really a full-page commercial placed by her sponsor Hercules, was inspired by the LEJOG ride. With her place-to-place rides, the little 4ft 11in “Mighty Atom,” as she was known, had broken several records.

Sheridan began her cycling career by competing in timed competitions over set distances. In 1923, Sheridan was born in Coventry. She established a new 12-hour competition record of 237 miles and swiftly ascended to the top of the rankings at 25, 50, and 100 miles. She also triple-won the BBAR. She started setting distance records in 1950, first for the leg from London to Birmingham in 5 hours 22 and then, shortly after, for the leg from London to Oxford.

The times started to tumble like skittles since this was the “golden” post-War age for road records a year later when bike maker Hercules hired her to become a professional record breaker. Sheridan had total control of all but one of the important place-to-place records by 1954.

Sheridan wasn’t deterred from taking on the difficult LEJOG when she got back to Land’s End by the knowledge that her new Land’s End to London record had been declared illegal because she had violated the “no previous publicity” guideline. She continued riding and broke Marguerite Wilson’s professional 1,000-mile record by more than 11 hours with her 2-11-07.

She was now clearly the winner. It is hardly surprising that she continues to serve as a role model for today’s place-to-place riders. Her nomination for Cycling Weekly’s list of “130 People Who Changed Cycling” came from men’s LEJOG record holder Michael Broadwith, while Jasmijn Müller, a former BBAR champion who has twice tried to break the record, said Sheridan “is my motivation.” After her initial try in 2017, she stated, “It would be nice to celebrate it with the person I blame for driving me to think about the record in the first place.”