Beryl Burton Gardens: The relaxing gardens dedicated to Yorkshire's cycling phenomenon

He later said that to begin with she was “not that competent” but within three years she was leaving behind he and his male friends.

By the age of 20 she had won her first national medal, a silver in the 100-mile individual time trial, and before her 23rd birthday she was competing internationally.

Her achievements included winning the women’s world road race championship in 1960, coming runner-up the following year and winning it again in 1967.

At track events she specialised in the individual pursuit competition and won world championship medals almost every year for three decades.

She was world champion five times, silver medalist three times. In 1963 she became the first woman to break the one-hour barrier for the 25-mile time trial.

Domestically, she was the Road Time Trials Council’s British Best All-Rounder for 25 consecutive years from 1959 to 1983. In 1968 was awarded an OBE for sporting achievement.

However, Beryl rejected sponsorship offers and preferred to remain an amateur, working on a farm in Yorkshire’s Rhubarb Triangle between Morley, Rothwell and Wakefield. She died on 5th May 1996 while out on a cycle run delivering invasions to her 59th birthday party.

The memorial gardens include a mural of her cycling along a track with an industrial landscape in the background.

There is a Burton Cycleway between Knaresborough and Harrogate, and a play Beryl: A Love Story on Two Wheels was written by the actress Maxine Peake.