Rosamund Margaret Dashwood (13 January 1924, Devonshire, England – 3 April 2007, Squamish, BC) was one of the top female masters (i.e. over 35) runners in Canadian history.

Life

Rosamund was born in 1924 to Major Arthur ''Paul'' Dashwood (younger son of Sir George Dashwood, 6th Baronet), an engineer who built the massive docks in

Hong Kong Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental ...

, and his wife Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture, who was a celebrated author. Many of her mother's novels, under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

E. M. Delafield Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture (9 June 1890 – 2 December 1943), commonly known as E. M. Delafield, was a prolific English literature, English author. She is best known for her largely autobiographical ''Diary of a Pr ...

, are semi-autobiographical, and so the young daughter who appears can be taken to be based on Rosamund. Rosamund's only sibling, Lionel, died in 1940. Her mother died in 1943. During World War II, she joined the

Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...

and worked with the newly invented and still top secret radar. After the war, she attended

Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

and met Leslie Truelove, whom she married. He became team manager for

Amateur Athletic Association of England The Amateur Athletic Association of England or AAA (pronounced 'three As') is the oldest national governing body for athletics in the world, having been established on 24 April 1880. Historically it effectively oversaw athletics throughout Britai ...

and supported

Roger Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and ...

, the first man to break the

four-minute mile A four-minute mile is the completion of a mile run (1609 m) in four minutes or less. It was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister, at age 25, in 3:59.4. As of April 2021, the "four-minute barrier" has been broken by 1,663 athletes, and is n ...

. The couple had four sons: Paul, Simon, Patrick, and Michael. In 1960, the family emigrated to Canada and she lived the rest of her life there. Leslie became Associate Director of The Canadian Arthritis Society. Rosamund died on April 3, 2007, at the age of 83, in Squamish, British Columbia.

Provincial Daughter

In 1961, Dashwood published ''Provincial Daughter'', a light-hearted continuation of her mother's most famous work. Stylistically similar to ''Diary of a Provincial Lady'', it is a semi-autobiographical account of domestic life in the 1950s. In the foreword, Dashwood wrote:

It seemed natural to write it in the same idiom, but if the result seems to any reader too imitative, or even plagiaristic, I can only ask their forgiveness, as the original Provincial Lady would, I am sure, most warmly have given hers.

The novel was a success and was re-issued in 2002 by

Virago Press Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on Feminism, feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several Briti ...

Running

Dashwood took up long-distance running at middle age, partly as a way to deal with the death of her husband, who had died of a heart attack while running the 1976

Vancouver Marathon The BMO Vancouver Marathon is an annual race held on the first Sunday of May each year in Vancouver, British Columbia. As the second largest international marathon in Canada, it has a certified running distance of 26 miles and 385 yards long. The ...

. Despite her late start, she went on to have a remarkable career in which she set numerous age-class world records and Canadian records. Highlights of her career include setting the world record for the fastest 10K by a woman aged 65 or older at 46:18, and winning four gold medals at the World Seniors' Games (see

World Masters Games The World Masters Games is an international multi-sport event held every four years which, in terms of competitor numbers, has developed into the largest of its kind. Governed by the International Masters Games Association (IMGA), the World Mast ...

). A talented cyclist and swimmer as well, she completed several triathlons. She also competed in relay triathlons, often with teammates who were many years younger. She continued to run into her seventies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dashwood, Rosamund 1924 births 2007 deaths 20th-century English novelists Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford British emigrants to Canada Canadian female long-distance runners