Eileen (Whalley) Richards got her first taste of speed skating competition in 1938, winning the city championship in the grade 9 relay.

On the provincial scene, Richards won the intermediate 3 mile women’s speed skating competition in an impressive time of 10 minutes 10 2/5 seconds. During the Second World War, this race was run in place of the men’s 10 mile race. Despite American participation in 1942, she was co-champion in the Senior Ladies Manitoba Open competition; from 1943-1946 Richards won the Senior Ladies Manitoba Open four more times.

On the larger stage of international competition, she placed third in the North American Championships in 1942 in St. Paul, Minnesota. From 1943-45 she reigned as the 10,000 Lakes Champion in Minneapolis. In 1945, Richards was the only Canadian to win the Detroit Times 25th Annual Gold Skates Derby and the Harry Carl Trophy, emblematic of the women’s open mile championship for the state of Michigan. She also captured the Wyandotte Michigan Gold Cup Senior Women’s Championship that same year.

In her final year of competition in 1946, Richards went out with a bang. She was the Canadian Outdoor Senior Women’s Champion in Sudbury, Ontario. She was also the winner of the 880 yard run-off at that championship. She set two new Canadian records that year; 41 4/5 seconds in the 440 yard event and 1 minute and 38 seconds in the 880 yard event. At the North American Championships for amateur speed skating in Schenectady, New York, Richards continued her winning ways. She set a New York Northern Association record in the 440 yard event with a time of 43 seconds and the mile record at 2:32.7.

Eileen (Whalley) Richards, Provincial, National and North American Champion, was runner-up for the Lou Marsh Trophy in 1946.