‘A remarkable woman you almost certainly haven’t heard of’

Florence Ilott and the fun of just going for it

Have you ever had a moment in your life when you doubted yourself, when you weren’t sure you could do something? And then you just said to yourself, “screw it, let’s do it.”

That’s what I imagine ran through the mind of a woman named Florence Ilott, whom you almost certainly have never heard of — or at least I hadn’t, until I stumbled across a news item about her recently.

(Occasionally I’ll go down rabbit holes in search of interesting stories to share with you; once I found this one, I knew I had to share it.)

Her story begins just over 90 years ago on a chilly April day in London, just a few months after then-19-year-old Florence had taken a job on the catering staff in England’s House of Commons.

Working in the tearoom each day, she must have fallen into conversations with members of Parliament, because they apparently knew of her talent and enthusiasm for running — she had already collected baskets of awards as an amateur sprinter.

Back then, though, race organizers didn’t have much in the way to give out for prizes, so they awarded her “clocks, crockery and canteens of cutlery instead of money,” her grandson Scott Pack shared on social media a few years ago.

No one knows exactly how or when, but a tradition started around running the Westminster Bridge, which crosses the River Thames just outside the Parliament building, where the famed Big Ben clock tower also stands.

The challenge? To start at the stroke of noon when Big Ben clanged its first chime, and make it across the bridge before its twelfth and final chime.

Before April 14, 1934, however, no one had been able to do it. Until Florence Ilott, that is.

Shortly before noon that day, she changed out of the uniform she wore in the House of Commons tearoom every day and into a short-sleeved shirt and shorts. Word must have gotten around, because reporters and photographers from the Associated Press and London’s Daily Sketch and Evening Standard newspapers were on hand to record it.

There’s even film from that day, believe it or not — just 27 seconds of it, but film nonetheless:

In the video, you can see the challenge she faced — the bridge was filled with people walking and cars driving by, which she weaved in and out of! And yet, she still made it to the other side before Big Ben chimed a twelfth time.

“Look at that traffic! That traffic was certainly not getting out of her way,” Pack told the Times of London in an interview a few years ago, just after he’d discovered the footage.

There are differing accounts on exactly the distance she covered; Westminster Bridge is about 250 meters (or 820 feet) long, though the newsreel footage from that day reports that she ran just over 1,100 feet, or about 350 meters.

Whatever the true distance was, the feat made her a minor celebrity in London at the time, as many of the staff and members of Parliament had apparently tried the run, but none could make it across in time to beat Big Ben.

We only know the barest outline of Florence’s story — her grandson Pack shared in interviews that she died in 2002 at age 88, with a home filled with memorabilia from her running days and after a long, full life that included getting to meet her great-grandchildren.

What coverage of Florence’s run looked like the next day in a London newspaper.

But maybe that’s what I love about it, because it gives me the chance to imagine what she must have been like, and the impact the run across Westminster Bridge might have had on her life — what was she like before?

Was she like Kate Winslet’s Rose in the movie Titanic, suffering in silence until her moment finally arrived, changing the direction of her life? Or was she always like this, a ball of fire just waiting her turn at bat and didn’t hesitate at all when it fell in her lap?

We’ll never know for sure; I don’t think even Pack, who brought her story to the world, even knew until shortly before he published his since-deleted thread on Twitter, which sparked all the interest we saw a few years ago.

I think what I love too about this, especially now that the Olympics is in full swing, is watching the athletes in Paris has been so much fun for me and my family. And yet, there’s something otherworldly about them, because they’re the absolute best of the best.

What Florence Ilott shows me is that amazing, life-altering moments can happen to ordinary people too — maybe those you’d least expect. And that’s just as amazing, don’t you think?

As always, I hope you’ve had a great week and that your running has been going well — keep in touch and let me know how your running/life is going.

Your friend,

— Terrell