Olga Kevelos – The First Lady of British Motorcycle Racing
Olga Kevelos, the only woman to win two gold medals in Six Days Trials Motorcycle Events, lead a remarkable life, working 18 to 20 hour days as a canal boat-woman during the second World WAR, amongst a long list of other accomplishments.
Finding that her then boyfriend, Phil Heath, was slipping off at weekends to race motorcycles, Olga decided that the best way to stay with her man was to join him at the races. She borrowed a bike from an artist friend, took a few basic lessons in how to ride it, and embarked on a career that would last for over twenty years.
Olga Kevelos soon impressed everyone with her natural aptitude. She did so well at her first race meeting that she was offered a bike and sponsorship there and then by the James Motorcycle Company.
Her first of two Gold medals, came at the following year’s International Six Day Trials in Wales, riding a 500cc Norton.
… Olga drove her Italian Parilla motorcycle over a cliff during the International Six Day Trial at Lake Como in northern Italy. She lost two teeth as a result… The headline in one of Italy’s leading newspaper the following morning read: “Olga has lost her smile.”
She was to ride in every Scottish and International Six Days Trial event until she finally retired from the sport in 1970.
During that time, she won many silver and bronze medals, earning the backing of virtually every major British motorcycle manufacturer, and the Italian and Czech manufacturers Parilla and Jawa/CZ respectively.
It was the imposition by the Czechs of a strict fitness regime lasting some six weeks, to which Olga later attributed her second gold medal in 1953.
During her days as a professional motorcycle racer, Olga also turned her hand to competing on four wheels. She regularly drove Kieft Formula III cars at Brands Hatch and Thruxton.
Olga Kevelos, was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, on 6 November 1923. She lived to the age of 85, when she died in 2009.
Sourced from the David Bridson eulogy for Olga Kevelos
Further reading
“Playing With The Boys – Olga Kevelos”, by Scots author and motorcycle enthusiast Colin Turbett
Olga Kevelos’s Daily Telegraph obituary
Olga Kevelos’s Independent obituary
Profile of Olga Kevelos by Tim Coghlan for Canals & Rivers magazine: Part 1 and Part 2.
Barbour’s tribute to local hero Olga Kevelos
Video:
British Pathé film of one of Olga’s races on four wheels, in which she led all the way until the final few seconds, when she was pipped to the post by another driver after being signalled to slow down by her team in case her engine blew up! .
Obituary of Olga Kevelos from BBC Radio 4’s “Last Word” programme.
Olga Kevelos #37, on the start line with her 150cc CZ, 1953.
