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Beryl Randle
British racewalker (1928–2023) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Beryl E. M. Randle née Beryl Day (16 December 1928 – 28 November 2023) was a British race walker and an athletics administrator.[1][2][3]
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Biography
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Day took up competitive walking in 1946, after coming last in a 100-metre sprint,[1] and was coached by Doris Nelson Neal.[4] To train, she would walk from her home in Walsall to her workplace in Digbeth, Birmingham, and back - 18 miles (29 km) each day.[3]
Day became the national 1 mile walk champion after winning the British WAAA Championships title at the 1952 WAAA Championships.[5] Beryl Day married Ronald Randle in Birmingham during the latter part of 1952 and would compete under her married name of Randle thereafter.
Randle retained her 1 mile walk title at the 1953 WAAA Championships.[6]
On 29 May 1954, she broke the world record for the one-mile walk, with a time of 7 minutes 49 seconds.[4] On 19 June 1954, she shaved over ten seconds from her own record, at the White City Stadium, with a time of 7 minutes 38.4 seconds.[4] In doing so, she became the Women's Amateur Athletic Association Champion.[3] She was honoured for this achievement with a brooch depicting the stag logo of Birchfield Harriers in solid gold, commissioned by G.H. Alexander, then president of the club.[4] She later said:[4]
I remember finishing the walk with a last gasp supreme effort. I had no idea I was going to break the world record because Nelson our coach was the sort of person who would not give away any times in training which meant that I had no idea what sort of shape that I was in that day... I just went for it from the start.
Randle won her third and fourth 1 mile national titles, after winning the WAAA title at both the 1954 WAAA Championships and the 1955 WAAA Championships.[7][8]
Randle was a six-time Midland mile track champion, and three-time Midland road-walking champion.[3]
After winning £1,000 for coming in second in a 1960 John O'Groats–Land's End walk sponsored by Billy Butlin – she lost the lead to Wendy Lewis after twisting her ankle – she had to relinquish her amateur status, though it was later restored, and she resumed competing.[1][3] During the 1980s, she coached Birchfield Harriers' girls' teams.[1]
At the age of 71, she broke the over-70s age group world record for the 3000-metres walk.[1]
Randle was Honorary General Secretary of the Race Walking Association from 1988 to 1991, and its president from 1996 to 1998.[9] She was subsequently made an Honorary Life Member,[9] and was given their lifetime achievement award in 2014.[1]
In 2009, she was elected President of the Midland Counties Athletics Association.[10]
Randle died on 28 November 2023, at the age of 94.[11]
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