Sue Fenwick tracks down … MARGARET ALLEN

Which female time triallist from Yorkshire won national championships over a 30 year period, represented her country in European and World road races, yet never got to go to the Olympics?  Yes Beryl Burton, but there’s another person too, often overlooked and always understated-the lovely Margaret Allen. Sue Fenwick caught up with our other Fast Yorkshire Lady. 
Margaret’s first national championship medal was silver in the 1964 ‘100’ won by Beryl.   From 1983-1993 she won individual and team golds at every distance: individual BAR in 87 and 88, ‘100’ in 89 and 91, ‘50’ in 88, ‘25’ in 88m ‘10’ in 90, team ‘100’ in 83, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89 and 92, team ‘50’ in 84 and 85, team ‘25’ in 89 and 93, and team ‘10’ in 83, 84, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92 and 93.  Many of her 1980s team rides were done with her sisters Maureen Pearson and Katherine Mitchell and her 1990s rides done with her daughter Katie (1998 BAR). 
Her fondest timetrialling memory though was  the day in  September 1987 on the E72 where she recorded 54.00. "I was catching the men in front of me, knew I was on a ride. Everyone in the laybys was standing, looking shocked as I went by. Just before the finish, there’s a tricky bend where you got disqualified if you crossed the white line, so I took it steady. Team mate Debbie Pearson asked what I’d done, she swore when I told her I thought I’d done a 54, then she stood by the result board waiting. When the time came up she screamed, swore again, shouted "You’ve done a 54 dead!" and threw her arms round me.  It was the second-fastest-ever 25 by a woman, done on a roadbike too, no tribars or discs." 
Born to cycling parents, and with a famous cycling uncle, Eddie Larkin, who was set to represent Britain at Olympic level until the outbreak of WWII, Margaret was destined to be a cyclist, her early years spent on clubruns and youth hostelling.  
"There was no track scene near us, only 5 or 6 road races per year and not too many time trials so it was about riding your bike, not racing. The season was much shorter and the working week longer-5.5 days and 50 hours." 
In common with Beryl, Margaret suffered a serious health setback in childhood-she unknowingly dislocated her hip in a road accident, carried on cycling but limped when walking, was eventually hospitalised and put into traction for 12 months, celebrating her 13th birthday in hospital.  
"That’s why my back is so strong - a year spent with a 16lb weight hanging off the end of each foot".  In 1964 she attended national squad selection trials at Loughborough and although she wasn’t picked, the coaches remembered her having the strongest back out of all the men and women from her session on the back strength apparatus. 
Margaret found another route to international honours - piloting for blind stokers in tandem road races and track pursuits.  Partnering Elspeth Brown, she represented Britain in European and World disabled cycling road and track championships from 1988-91. They were selected to represent Britain at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics but the events were cancelled due to too few entries.  A second chance came in 1996 with the Atlanta Paralympics but again, things didn’t work out well.  
"I was so tired. We were training at Manchester track. That style of training didn’t suit me, and the two hour journey each way on top wore me out. I was on the downhill slope of my racing career too." 
"However I’m proud that we did pioneer cycling for ladies Paralympics. One of my best memories is a 2-day international tandem blind roadrace in France, all-male, all-female and mixed tandems in one event. The atmosphere was fantastic. All the documents in French, I read them out, Elspeth translated. We won an outstanding riders award for finishing consistently high up across the three events: two 40 mile road races and a 20 mile prologue." 
"Another memory was a Belgian road race and afterwards a mixed shower block where the men took very long showers so they could see all the women. We waited and waited but still they stayed. I was embarrassed so in the end, shut my eyes and kept them closed, so neither Elspeth nor I saw anything we didn’t want to see!" 
"Spending time with Elspeth was special. When all your senses work, you take your senses for granted, but take one away and life becomes very different. Elspeth has learnt to live with her disability. It’s a shame more able-bodied people can’t see past a person’s appearance or disability to see the person underneath." 
What sort of training leads a rider to both short and long distance honours?  
"We never called it training. We just rode our bikes. An average of 250 miles a week. Now I’d be pushed to fit in 100 a week! Maureen and I ran a part-time business together. On Mondays we would do a 50 mile loop. Our parents had a caravan at Mablethorpe, 96 miles each way, they’d drive down with the children at weekends, we’d cycle. Never cycled in the dark except to club night.  When racing came, weather warmed up so we’d go faster. I always spun a 59" gear and when my four children were young, I spent years cycling with them on the back of a tandem or in a trailer. Gives you strong legs!  During winter I used to run and do circuit training too, keeps the fitness up, rests the cycling muscles and works other muscles." 
"Today I do a spinning class once a week and mainly ride tandem with my husband Graham. Maureen has a boat in Portugal so we’ve just had a month out there of riding solos. It’s good to get up a hill by my own efforts again. I even wondered briefly if I should start racing again in 2010!"   
Whether or not we ever see Margaret racing again, the Allen dynasty is far from over. Daughter Katie and her husband Chris have just celebrated the arrival of their daughter, born on Armistice Day 2009, so in about 18 years’ time, if you read a start sheet and see a rider with first name "Ella Poppy", you’ll know the Allen story continues.

1 December 2009