Billie Fleming

Billie Fleming

To person
Full name	Lilian Irene Fleming
Date of birth	April 13, 1914
date of death	May 12, 2014
nation	United Kingdom
discipline	Road cycling

Lilian Irene "Billie" Fleming , b. Bartram, married Dovey, (born April 13, 1914 in Camden Town , † May 12, 2014 in Bideford , Devon ) was a British cyclist. In 1938 she set an annual endurance world record for women over 47,642.5 kilometers (29,603.7 miles), which was only broken by Amanda Coker in 2016.

Personal history

Billie Fleming was born Lilian Irene Bartram, her father was a toolmaker . At 16 she left school and worked as a secretary. During the Second World War she worked in the purchasing department of an aircraft company.

In his first marriage Fleming was married to Freddie Dovey, the marriage, which resulted in a son, was divorced after the war. In 1953 she married the cyclist George Fleming, who had won the Paris – London cycle race in 1947 and set several records. George Fleming died in 1997, his widow Billie in 2015, around four weeks after her 100th birthday. Until recently, she followed cycling reports in the media with great interest.

The mile record

Billie Bartram started cycling at the age of 18 and got the idea of doing a year-long bike tour of the UK to promote the health benefits of cycling , in line with the ideas of the Women's League of Health and Beauty . Instead, she gave up her job and wrote to companies for financial support. After all, she, now married Dovey, was sponsored on her ride in 1938 by the Rudge-Whitworth bicycle company and the Cadbury chocolate maker . She drove the tour on her own, with little luggage; she supplied herself with provisions on the way.

Dovey began her journey on January 1, 1938 at Mill Hill , London. She drove an average of 130 kilometers a day, but on nice days in summer she drove up to 315 kilometers in one day. The distances she covered were recorded by a "cyclometer" on her bike. She had witnesses confirm her position on control cards and sent them to the editorial staff of Cycling magazine . According to her own statements, she had a single flat tire in the whole year . Part of their tour were lectures in the evening. She received a lot of public attention, including internationally, and the press called her the Rudge Whitworth Keep Fit Girl . At the end of December 1938 she had driven a total of 47,642.5 kilometers (29,603.7 miles). The tour ended with a reception in the Royal Horticultural Halls in London.

Then Billie Dovey had the plan to ride a bike through the United States , but this was prevented by the outbreak of World War II . In 1940 she broke three records - over 25, 50 and 100 miles - on the tricycle. She then applied to be accepted into the Tricycle Association , which was rejected by the all-male association.

In 1957 Billie and George Fleming went on a bike tour across the Pyrenees , from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean .

Record attempt in Australia

In 1942, the Australian cyclist Pat Hawkins tried to emulate Billie Fleming and set a supposedly new record of around 87,553 kilometers. However, after a review of their logbooks by the Australian Cycling Federation, this record was not recognized.

Web links

• Interview with Billie Fleming's stepson Peter Samwell and journalist Dave Barter. In: BBC . June 13, 2014, accessed October 3, 2015 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Billie Fleming-obituary. In: The Telegraph . May 30, 2014, accessed October 3, 2015 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Dave Barter: Interview with Billie Fleming on her 100th birthday. In: Cycling Weekly. May 6, 2014, accessed October 3, 2015 . 
3. ^ The Tricycle Records 1940 - Billie Fleming. (No longer available online.) In: billiefleming.com. June 14, 2020, archived from the original on October 5, 2015 ; accessed on October 3, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.