Gee And Rachel Atherton Win Euro Titles

Brother and sister Gee and Rachel Atherton won their respective European Championships in Elite Downhill at the weekend, while elder brother Dan finished top 5. The 2006 European Championships were held in Vale di Sole, Italy, where they were held last year, and where the World Mountain Bike Championships will be hosted in 2008, as recently confirmed by the UCI. The course was extremely tricky, as it was last year, with many riders crashing. In fact it was almost a matter of who could up from the ground quickest that qualified well. In the Men's qualifying, Gee qualified first, and Dan in the lower part of the top 10. In the women's qualifying Rachel crashed and came in 2nd behind Emmeline Ragot of France. In the final Gee stomped down the hill on his Giant and won by more than 3 seconds over compatriot Marc Beaumont and 2 time World Champion, Fabien Barel (FRA). Dan crashed but still managed a creditable 5th place. Rachel had more difficulty with her win: "Pretty much everyone crashed in their race runs, you just had to be good at getting up! I had such a bad run, crashed then made loads of mistakes, I nearly gave up, but you can't do that! It was a pretty mad weekend," said Rachel on her return to the UK. This coming weekend Gee and Dan are competing in the Red Bull District Ride in Catania, Italy, and Rachel will race a round of the British National Points Series. Final Results: 1. Gee Atherton (GBR) - 3m 50.19secs 2. Marc Beaumont (GBR) - 3m 53.29secs 3. Fabien Barel (FRA) - 3m 55.21secs 4. Mickael Pascal (FRA) - 3m 58.96secs 5. Dan Atherton (GBR) - 4m 05.05secs 1. Rachel Atherton (GBR) - 4m 50secs 2. Marielle Saner (SUI) - 4m 51secs 3. Helen Gaskell (GBR) - 5m 05secs www.athertonracing.co.uk www.23degrees-sports.com