Cycling legend Isobel receives the BEM

Isabel, from Lisnoe Road, is now in her 80’s but has a series of unbroken cycling records to her credit and has taken the award in her stride.

“I can’t get too excited about it when my name is among others who have raised money for charity or have accomplished many things,” she said. “People have done a lot more to merit their award and I feel that I don’t deserve it.”

Isabel recently wrote her autobiography Wheels of Change and helped compile another book, Recycling Memories.

Many of the records that Isabel (nee Clements) set have never been broken.

In 2007 a Zimbabwean cyclist broke one of her eight records from Mizen Head to Fair Head, albeit a shorter route than the local cyclist followed. Isabel, in true sporting spirit, went to greet her at the finish line.

In recognition of her feats the Ulster Transport Museum in Cultra set up an exhibition showing off her bike and her list of records.

Among them are Belfast to Dublin in 1953 (103 miles) in four hours 56 minutes; in 1954 Belfast to Dublin and back (206 miles) in 11 hours 47 minutes; and Dublin to Derry in 1956 in seven hours 24 minutes (147.5miles).

Isabel began cycling as it was the only real means of transport when she started working for JP Corry’s in the 1950s. As a child she had longed for a bicycle and when 18 had saved up enough money for a Raleigh bike that she eyed in a shop in York Street.

Isabel and her sister would often go hostelling and it was while on a return trip from France that friends persuaded her to take part in place to place records. It wasn’t long before she broke the Enniskillen to Belfast record covering 86 miles in four hours 2 minutes and before the end of the year she also did the Dublin to Belfast in four hours 56 minutes.

For years people tried to persuade her to turn professional but she refused, believing that by doing so would lose her love for the sport.At the ripe young age of 83, Isabel still keeps herself fit by taking part in traditional set dancing at the Crescent Arts Centre.