Eileen Gray

Edna Eileen Mary Gray CBE, (25 April 1920 – 20 May 2015) was an international bicycle racer who founded the Women's Cycle Racing Association, and was president of the British Cycling Federation. She was also mayor of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and Olympic torchbearer for the 2012 London Olympics. Early life Gray was born in Bermondsey, London, on 25 April 1920. As a youngster she lived in Dulwich, near Herne Hill Velodrome. During World War II she was an engineer, a protected occupation which allowed her to look after her hospitalised mother. While a quality controller in an engine factory on the Harrow Road, a rail strike disrupted her travel from Herne Hill and she took up cycling, commuting through bomb-damaged streets. She joined the Apollo cycling club; other nearby clubs would not admit women. Cycling career In 1946 Gray competed in a women's race at Ordrup, Copenhagen, Denmark, in Britain's first women's international team. In the Women's Cycle Racing Association, she promoted the cause of women's cycle racing. In 1976 Gray became president of the British Cycling Federation, (now known as British Cycling).