Eileen Sheridan (cyclist)

Eileen Sheridan, née Shaw (born 18 October 1923) is a retired English cyclist who specialized in time trialing and road record breaking. She broke all the records of the Women's Road Records Association during the late 1940s and 1950s. They included Land's End to John o' Groats, set by Lilian Dredge. Eileen has lived with her family in Isleworth, Middlesex since 1952.

Eileen Sheridan, 4 ft 11in tall as an adult and described by historian Bernard Thompson as "a dainty lady", was an athletic girl at school in Coventry. Cycling dominated other sports at the age of 15 and in 1944 she joined the Coventry Cycling Club. There she went touring and joined club rides without being interested in racing. She said: "It is on club runs that the club spirit is found, if they have a spirit at all, and retained for all time. Coventry club runs number among the happiest moments in my life." She rode her first race, an informal 10-mile time trial, in mid-1940 and finished in 28m 30s "to the great amazement of the club as well as myself." She intended to race formally that summer but the event she entered was cancelled. She began racing instead in 1945 Her first race was a 25-mile time trial run by the Birmingham Time Trial Association and she was seeded to start first. She hoped to ride 1h 15m and finished in 1h 13m 34s, breaking her club's record and winning the event.

She then won the national time trial championship at 25 miles, saying she "rode as never before." She married Ken Sheridan and gave birth to their son, Clive, in April 1946. She started cycling again seven weeks later and within five months won a club time trial.

She reduced her 50-mile time to 2h 22m 53s in 1947 and rode 25 miles in 1h 7m 35s. She won the Birmingham and Midland track championship. She moved to a conventional racing bike on her 21st birthday in 1948 and, in the words of The Bicycle, "rocked the racing world, setting up completely new standards for women's records."

She won the women's British Best All-Rounder time trial competition in 1949 and 1950. Her ride in the Yorkshire Cycling Federation 12-hour race in September 1949 set a national record with 237.32 miles. Only four men bettered her distance, the winner of the men's event, Des Robinson, by only six miles. She also took national championships at 50 and 100 miles in 1950. She broke records at 30 miles (1948: 1h 19m 28s), 50 miles (1949 and 1950: 2h 14m 16s), 100 miles (1950: 4h 37m 53s) and 12 hours (1949: 237.62 miles). But her time for 25 miles never fell below 1h 5m; she said it took her at least that far to get warmed up.

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