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September 04, 2023
Lola Tartaglia-Baker
Who is Pat Kirkham? From this picture, you can probably guess… However, Pat Kirkham is more than a roller skating legend. She is a woman with boundless resilience and a determined outlook on life. She is a little girl with a dream who has grown up to become a feminist icon. She is an astounding woman who repeatedly defies people’s expectations, and this is her story…
Pat was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, 1932. The early years of her childhood were spent rationing and listening out for air raid sirens. Once the war had ended, an interest in recreational activities began to re-emerge. Roller rinks, previously being used for storage in the war, were cleared out and reopened, buildings destroyed in the Birmingham Blitz began to be rebuilt, and life in Birmingham slowly returned to normal.
Pat had always wanted to ice skate. The war prevented this in the earlier years of her life and her friends didn't want to go with her. Around the age of 11, Pat worked up the courage to ask her father to take her ice skating. Because he couldn't ice skate, as a compromise, he took her to the local Edgbaston roller rink, the Tower ballroom. Her father then arranged lessons for her with a local dance skater, who she trained with for about 4 years - and she was good!
She passed her exams with flying colours, but it was around this point that Pat met a boy at the rink. His name was Barrie, and he was more interested, as 15-year-old boys often are, in skating around the rink extremely fast. As she began spending time with Barrie, Pat began to realise that she preferred the ‘fast stuff’ to dance skating as well. This decision, as she would come to learn, was the right one. If she’d never met Barrie and switched to speed skating, the landscape of speedskating would have looked very different today.
Pat and Barrie would often visit Wolverhampton to skate together. But, with the opening of the speed skating club in the Embassy rink in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, Pat and Barrie decided they had to join. Attitudes towards women were beginning to change after WW2, however it was still highly unusual to see girls speeding round the rink. This didn't phase Pat in the slightest. Back in the earlier days of the club, the Birmingham Eagles men and Birmingham Eagles women used to train separately until members Bunny and Jack suggested that they train altogether around 1950.
Pat speaks very fondly of these years, and even though the team was rather large with 20 members, they trained alot together, three times a week and all became really close friends.
Not only was the social side of the sport great, but Pat’s skating took her all over England. She skated in Bradford, Manchester, Rochester and London. In early 1951, the Eagles realised they were good enough to compete for records. The team gathered at the Embassy rink on April 14th 1951. The air was thick with anticipation as the team watched Anne Humphreys strap on her skates and compete to be the world record holder for the Ladies’ half-mile. Luckily they only had to wait 1 minute and 39.6 seconds for Anne to zip around the rink, smashing the previous record and being the new world record holder for the ladies’ half-mile. Anne basked in this glory for all of 4 minutes before 19-year-old Pat shot around the rink, beating Anne’s time by 0.4 seconds. Not only was this extraordinary because Pat was now a world record holder, but it was extraordinary because Pat was now the youngest world record holder in history!
A year later, Maureen Stewart, another speed skater based in London, beat Pat’s record. With newfound determination and self-belief, Pat dialled up the training in order to reclaim her world record. On July 20th 1952, Maureen Stewarts’ record was broken by Pats teammate, Pat Harris, by 1.2 seconds. It was a shock when Pat Kirkham took the track and smashed the record by an astonishing 6 seconds, rightfully reclaiming her world record title. Everyone was astounded by her impossibly fast time, even the timekeepers rechecked their figures. On the same day, Pat set two more world records for the quarter mile and the one mile, which she beat by a staggering 15 seconds! She held the record for seven years.
This was just the start of her speed skating career. Pat went on to win the British Championship silver medal in the Quarter Mile at Alexandra Palace Rink on November 22nd 1952. Shortly after she won a Bronze medal for the half-mile at Granby Halls, Leicester, February 7th 1953.
Her success in these races and her astounding world record times meant she was selected to be part of the team for the World Championships. This would be hosted at Venice-lido, Italy, on the 19th and 20th September 1953. She was one of three skaters from Birmingham. It was the first time in history that the world team had had such a high percentage of speed skaters from Birmingham.
Over a very intense 2-day period, Pat competed in multiple races. She almost placed in 2 races coming in 4th place in the 500 m and 5th place in the 10,000 m, having led for much of it. Her leading in this race was really astounding, especially in front of the Italian skaters who received far greater funding and as a result had a far more professional team. In this race she proved herself to be a major player on the international scene.
Just 2 months later, on a chilly November day in 1953, Pat arrived in Leicester to compete in the half-mile championship. For Pat, this competition is remembered as the one that got away. Kirkham was against an up-and-coming teenage skater Pauline Hoyle from Bradford. In a previous competition, Hoyle crossed the finish line neck and neck with Pat, proving herself to be a worthy opponent. Pat was close to winning this race but lost to Hoyle in the last second after she received a knock that took her wide. She’s always looked back on this race with a pang of regret as she believed it was her chance to win a British Championship medal and puts her loss down to circumstance more than anything else.
The following year in 1954 Pat competed for the Quarter-mile in Bradford. The Bradford skaters were notorious for being unbeatable on their own turf and Pat ended up not placing in this race.
Nevertheless, in the subsequent 2-mile British Relay Championship for the Tufnell Bowl, Pat and her team emerged victorious. Pat's remarkable resilience was always evident after a loss; she bounced back in full force after any setback she faced and reclaimed her place in the speedskating scene.
Soon after her victory, Kirkham set off for her second world championship competition. This time in Bari, Italy. She was the only skater to be asked back to the team. Unfortunately, Kirkham struggled with this rink because the track was tilled, making the rink bumpy. This roughness of the track meant that Kirkham’s feet became badly blistered. However, despite her being in pain, she still came 5th in 2 competitions and the 6th on a very technically advanced track.
In 1955 Kirkham continued to win medals She won bronze in the quarter-mile and the half-mile at Bradford. In 1955 Kirkham’s skating career began to slow down as she began to be eclipsed by fellow Birmingham skater Pat Harris. Despite Kirkham her success at Bradford, Harris was chosen over Kirkham for the competition in Barcelona. Britain didn’t attend the 1955 World Championships, and so Pat was unable to compete.
In 1957 Pat won her final few medals, the half-mile on her home track, and gold in the 2-mile relay.
In 1958 she married her childhood friend and longtime finance Barrie Brown. With her marriage and recent gold medal, Pat felt her time had come and said goodbye to competitive speed skating. With life and family taking up more of her time, Pat felt that the rigorous and intense lifestyle that comes with being an athlete or even the travelling that comes with being a judge was too much. She and Barrie decided to try archery together, which was much more low maintenance. It was clear that her competitive spark hadn’t been fully put out because, despite taking archery up as a hobby, she competed for a number of years and won several medals.
During her skating career, Pat came closer than anyone else in the world to beating the Italians at the world championships. She broke 4 world records and won over 7 British championship medals.
Above all, Pat Kirkham stands as a powerful inspiration for women across the globe. With an unwavering determination to chase her dreams, she proved that no obstacle could deter her. Rising even stronger after every adversity, she shattered the constraints of societal expectations, refusing to let them dictate her path. Her indomitable spirit and groundbreaking achievements have not only left an indelible mark on female speed skaters but have also paved the way for women from all walks of life to embrace their true potential and rewrite their destinies. Pat Kirkham's legacy resonates as a beacon of empowerment, reminding us all that barriers are meant to be broken, and dreams are meant to be chased – no matter who you are or where you come from.
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