Beryl Burton's 1967 Otley 12-Hour Course

Breezin

Dirt Disciple
Does anyone have a map of the 1967 Otley 12-hour time trial course? Beryl Burton rode 277.285 miles here. Apparently it was a 200-mile zig-zagging loop through Yorkshire, from Wetherby to Northallerton, followed by a 15.87-mile finishing circuit south-east of Boroughbridge.

--Joe
 

Attachments

  • PastedGraphic-138.png
    PastedGraphic-138.png
    1.1 MB · Views: 12
  • PastedGraphic-140.png
    PastedGraphic-140.png
    749 KB · Views: 12
What's with all the interest in Beryl, Joe? I was a clubmate of hers in 1977 but although I saw her quite frequently at events I was never very close. 1967 was before I moved to Yorkshire so didn't know the courses that well - but I might know a man who does. But don't hold your breath. Many of the officials and riders from that era are sadly no longer with us. However, I do know the 100 course (it is painfully engrained in my memory!) that probably used many of the same roads.
 
From what I remember, in the 1980s the Otley 12 hour used a finishing circuit that used roads around Cattal, Tockwith and Long Marston. That's from 40 year old memories and following extensive re-routing of the A1 a lot of the roads between Wetherby and Boroughbridge have little resemblance to how they were back then so trying to trace it on Google Maps is a non-starter - a year or so back I rode out to the west side of the A1 to meet up with some guys from West Yorkshire and it was sometime before I clicked that one of the roads we were using actually used to be the A1 on which I rode 25 mile TTs at stupid o'clock on Sunday mornings.
 
From what I remember, in the 1980s the Otley 12 hour used a finishing circuit that used roads around Cattal, Tockwith and Long Marston. That's from 40 year old memories and following extensive re-routing of the A1 a lot of the roads between Wetherby and Boroughbridge have little resemblance to how they were back then so trying to trace it on Google Maps is a non-starter - a year or so back I rode out to the west side of the A1 to meet up with some guys from West Yorkshire and it was sometime before I clicked that one of the roads we were using actually used to be the A1 on which I rode 25 mile TTs at stupid o'clock on Sunday mornings.
Thank you, Jim. I figure there have been many "improvements" over time. Maybe 1960s-vintage Ordinance Survey maps would be helpful. I was riding in England in 1971, but my OS maps are from Stratford-upon-Avon and south. I'm surprised the Otley Cycle Club doesn't have a map online of Beryl's historic ride.
--Joe
 
the roads we were using actually used to be the A1 on which I rode 25 mile TTs at stupid o'clock on Sunday mornings.
Better at 7.00 pm on a Thursday for the Yorkshire RC 'club' events. Harder contested than some opens! People came from all over to ride but the timekeeper only allowed around 30/40 riders max as she had to do both start and finish. I remember a guy came down from Cumbria one evening and was to late to 'sign on'. He was not pleased at being refused a ride!

And Joe - a '12' on a tandem! I know it is a recognised thing to do over here but the longest tandem TT I ever did was a 50 and I could hardly walk for several days after!
 
Better at 7.00 pm on a Thursday for the Yorkshire RC 'club' events. Harder contested than some opens! People came from all over to ride but the timekeeper only allowed around 30/40 riders max as she had to do both start and finish. I remember a guy came down from Cumbria one evening and was to late to 'sign on'. He was not pleased at being refused a ride!

And Joe - a '12' on a tandem! I know it is a recognised thing to do over here but the longest tandem TT I ever did was a 50 and I could hardly walk for several days after!
Maybe you hadn't noticed your stoker's feet up on the bars. ;)
 
I'm certain that there will be a full set of 1970s/80s Yorkshire OS maps somewhere in my parent's house, I'll take a look later this week.
 
Maybe you hadn't noticed your stoker's feet up on the bars. ;)
He'd have had to be a contortionist to do that. The bike probably didn't help as it was made of 2 solo frames welded together and wan't perfectly straight. Great for going round right hand bends but left hand ones not so good :rolleyes: The next year we bought a new M&B one which was great.

Here's the original in full flight nearing the finish in a club 10 in 1984. It was still going a few years ago back in the ownership of the guy we
bought it from. It may still be on the road as I think it may have been passed on to a local blind cycling charity.

EricPaulTandem10Calder84.A.jpg

My young mate Eric on the back went on to be a very good 1st cat roadman. I went on to be an average middle aged tester:).

Photo by another clubmate Chris Witham.

BTW, we never managed to get out of the saddle together, even on the new one!
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Back
Top