In conjunction with www.descent-world.co.uk in the UK, the Atherton Racing Team went in search of a Road Manager to join them on the 2006 World Cup tour with their pro race team, Animal/Giant. More than 50 quality applications flooded in to the Athertons, and subsequently these applicants went through a lengthy selection process. Eventually the group was refined down to 3 finalists.

The 3 finalists traveled to Wales for their face-to-face interviews, and all three impressed the Athertons greatly but after much deliberation, 24-year-old Dan Brown of Shrewsbury was chosen as the new Road Manager for Team Animal Giant.

Dan has experience from his days managing the Dave Mellor Cycles/Fox race team back in 2002. The team included Pro rider Stu Hughes who, during the time Dan managed the team, was selected to ride at both World Champs and the Euro Champs, as well coming 2nd to Steve Peat in the National Champs.

After confirming Dan for the job, the other Dan, Atherton, was excited about the whole process.

"It`s amazing the quality of applicants we received. It`s been a totally new experience for us, but it was about time we officially appointed a Road manager, and Dan is super enthusiastic. We didn`t really know him before the interview, but it was clear during the process that he seemed really excited about the role and has loads of ideas of how to improve the set-up we currently have at the races. He has a good level of experience and he will find his way into the job easily. Having been a rider himself he also has a wide knowledge of mechanics, nutrition etc, so we’re pretty stoked to have him on board."

On hearing the news, Dan Brown was equally happy:

"I`m super stoked. It`s my dream job! Hopefully I can do them proud and help them towards some silverware this season! I`ll also be posting some diary entries on www.descent-world.co.uk that they will be setting up specifically for the team, as well as keeping www.athertonracing.co.uk up to date with all the news of the World Cup season."

Dan`s first World Cup with Team Animal/Giant will be Vigo, Spain, May 6/7.

www.23degrees-sports.com

In conjuction with the British web site www.Descent-World.co.uk the Atherton Racing crew are hosting a unique competition to find a 2006 Road Manager for their Animal/Giant Mountain Bike Team.

Gee Atherton: "We`ve decided we really need to step up this year and have someone help us as a real road manager, especially at the bigger events. We`re often too busy riding and training to make sure everything gets done, so having someone help us manage things on the road, and make sure that all of our sponsors are well looked after, that sort of thing, will really help. So we thought it would be pretty cool to open up the hunt for this person through the internet. It`ll be interesting to see how it goes".

Go to www.Descent-World.co.uk to find out more.

Hi guys... Just got back from Tignes it was rad, got some good skiing in. Not sure if everyone has seen the crash but Tony has put it here for you all to view...


http://www.winterandsummer.com/gee.mov

Why did you I do it?
We were going to spend the whole afternoon doin a photoshoot on the jump as we could have got some really nice shots.

Did anyone else try it?
Dan was at the top all ready to go but i had done a practice run so i shot gunned the first jump. He wanted to try it after I had crashed but the official guys from the ski resort wouldn`t let him.

It surely has to be the longest un-assisted jump ?
Im not sure about this, but if we setup a bigger jump with a better landing we could easily get this far, I was just free-wheeling at that one.

How did you get up to the start?
There was a guy giving us uplifts on a snow mobile
.
What did it feel like?
When i was in the air I knew I was in for a bit of a beating. I just thought "you c***, how can you over jump something by 40ft"... then it all went blank!

Did you think you would go that far?
No, i was just cruising and was going to back side on the double, but because there was nothing for me to judge my speed against it was hard to tell if i was going too fast or too slow, there were no trees or rocks going past to help gauge my speed, it was just white, plain snow..

Could you slow down?
I slowed down when my wheels collapsed and my face dug into the ice...

Gee

20 year old Gee Atherton will appear on the highly popular TV program, Top Gear, next Sunday December 4. The talented Animal/Giant rider was invited to race down the streets of Lisbon, on the now famous racecourse used for the annual Lisbon Downtown, against a new model Renault Clio. The car used a separate by similar length course (without stairs etc.), to see which would be faster through downtown.

Gee took to the streets on his Giant Reign, and spent one and a half days filming for the segment. We can’t of course reveal the results of the head-to-head, but all UK residents can view the race next Sunday on BBC2 (check your local listings). Top Gear is seen by 5.8 million viewers in the UK and more than 200 million world wide on BBC World. We don’t have any notice on the BBC World airing, but an edited version is usually shown some weeks later.

Gee was pretty stoked to be a part of the program. “I’m a fan of the show and their sense of humour, and they come up with pretty creative ways to test their cars, and this was no exception! I did quite a few runs to get different shots, and they had cameras attached to different parts of my Giant, and my Red Bull helmet, so we got some awesome shots. I can’t wait to see how it turns out”.

For more information on Gee Atherton and his sponsors:

www.athertonracing.co.uk

Gee Atherton of Team Animal Giant found himself on 4 out of 4 podiums at the finals of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup held in Fort William, Scotland last weekend. The 20 year old from Oswestry had a 5th place in the Downhill, a 3rd place in the 4X after qualifying 1st, and both of these results meant podium appearances for the overall season results finishing 5th overall in both the Downhill and the 4X.

Gee�s sister Rachel also made two appearances with a career equal best 2nd place in the Downhill, and a 3rd overall for the 2005 Downhill season.

Having these six podiums at the end of the season is a great result for Team Animal Giant, which was formed at the beginning of the year, and augurs well for an even stronger season in 2006.

In the 4X on Saturday evening, Gee had an impressive night after surprising many of the favourites with his fastest qualifying time of 24.52secs, thus giving Gee the first gate choice for all of his heats. Brother Dan qualified 8th only half a second behind and looked set for a strong showing. Both got through easily to the quarter finals where they met each other, but unfortunately only Gee went through as Dan finished 3rd behind his brother and Guido Tschugg (GER). Gee then proceeded through his semi final with Tschugg to make the final with the already crowned World Cup Champion Brian Lopes (USA) and Norwegian Leiv Ove Nordmark who as 18th qualifier was not considered the favourite. All eyes were on the other three. Unfortunately Gee broke his chain out of the start and could only roll the race. Tschugg went down and so 3rd place was Gee�s behind Nordmark and Lopes, but there was no hiding the disappointment.

�After qualifying first I really wanted to take it to the guys in the final and go for the win. I was feeling great on that course but that�s the way it goes. I�ve had a much better 4X season this year, my Giant was brilliant, so to have 5th overall is a good way to end up.�

Dan�s 9th place gave him 11 World Cup points giving him a final overall ranking of 12th place.

Making her first appearance in the 4X World Cup this season, Rachel qualified 5th but in her semi final crashed into a fallen Joey Gough (GBR). After cutting her wrist quite deeply, Rachel went to first aid to have it bandaged up before her consolation final, but before she could head back, she was taken by a British Drug Agency official who told her she had to go for a random drug test. This was before her race was over, but unsure of the regulations and not given a chance to check, Rachel complied. By the time someone found her, it was too late to make the start and the officials scratched her from the race, which was a huge disappointment as there was a chance to win the consolation final and take the podium in 5th place.

In the Downhill though it was a much better story with Rachel mixing it up with the World Cup leaders Tracy Moseley (GBR) and Sabrina Jonnier (FRA). In the semi final Rachel rode close to her maximum and recorded a 5m 01.18secs for a third place behind the aforementioned contenders. In the break between the semi final and final, Rachel gave her run a lot of thought and looked for time to be made up. In the final later that day, the times slowed, as the course got rougher and the winds picked up. Tracy Moseley was 7 seconds slower and Sabrina Jonnier was 5 seconds slower, but Rachel managed to beat her semi final time by half a second to ultimately finish 2nd only 0.92sec off the win.

�Tracy was a little sneaky and wore a skin suit and I reckon that�s my 1 second right there. The wind picked up and it was definitely tricky in some parts. I�m still happy to have not lost time from this morning and to be 3rd overall in my first full season is great for me and also my main sponsors, Animal, Giant and Adidas Eyewear.�

In the men�s Downhill, Gee and Dan had been quick all week in training. For the timed training sessions, both had times in the top 10 and were ready to do well in the semis and final. Unfortunately Dan made a couple of mistakes in his semi and finished out of the points in 23rd but Gee had a solid run coming in 4th only 1.88sec off Steve Peat (GBR) who took the win.

For the final Gee pinned it and looked super fast on all sections but despite being back in 8th place at the half way mark, put in a scorching lower half where the course is flatter and fitness really counts. His lower course split was 4th fastest and enough to get him back up to 5th by the line, and this pushed Gee from 7th to 5th in the overall standings, earning him number 5 for season �06. Dan improved on his semi to finish 16th in the final and ended up with a series overall standing of 15.

For more information www.athertonracing.co.uk