‘I was willing to risk it all and hurt myself to win’
Mountain biker won her fifth world title and is still spreading the downhill gospel, writes Tom Cary
WBBC Sports Personality of the Year show, saying she was one of the athletes she was most looking forward to watching in retirement, there were, no doubt, one or two members of the audience left scratching their heads.
Atherton may be one of the biggest names in mountain biking but, with mainstream media remaining stubbornly immune to downhill’s charms, she remains a peripheral figure in British sport as a whole.
The 31-year-old’s extraordinary achievement this year, winning a fifth downhill world title at Lenzerheide in Switzerland in September (in addition to a record sixth World Cup series title in August), making her the most decorated world champion in downhill mountain bike history, was not even deemed worthy of a mention by the SPOTY producers, let alone a nomination for the main award.
Shameful. If downhill was an Olympic sport, I suggest, Atherton would have won SPOTY about five times by now. “It is what it is,” she says, laughing. “It’s getting there. There has been a lot of coverage over the last few years, to be fair. I just have to keep talking about it and try to keep winning so that it stays in the limelight.
“But we are really lucky that mountain biking is a huge sport in and of itself. And a huge industry. It stands on its own two feet, regardless of the mainstream media interest.”
Atherton has long since stopped getting too hung up on it. For many years she was desperate to see downhill become an Olympic sport, so that she and her fellow riders could experience what so many of their cross-country MTB cousins get to experience in competing on the biggest stage of all. She campaigned, she petitioned the sport’s governing body in vain.
The end of 2018 finds her in a more Zen-like state. The fire has not gone out. Rather, she focuses her energies on things which she can affect.
When I ask when she made her peace with the whole Olympic thing, she says: “I think when you wake up in the morning and your body feels about 150! When I was younger I used to think I had limitless energy but it definitely takes its toll having a career in mountain biking. I’m satisfied just riding my bike now. I think the Olympic dream is going to have to remain an Olympic dream.”
Atherton is being modest of course. She does a lot more than just ride her bike. She is like a one-woman recruitment campaign. If the government had any sense, it would appoint her mountain bike tsar or some such. She and her brothers Gee and Dan – both former champions themselves – do an incredible amount to promote downhill.
From Hardline, the most extreme men’s downhill mountain bike race in the world which takes place annually on a course built by Dan, to Foxhunt, in which Rachel chases hundreds of women down a (different) mountain each year, they take their responsibility to spread the gospel extremely seriously.
The Atherton trio grew up in Devon, before moving to Powys in their 20s to live near a quarry where Dan started to indulge his passion for creating downhill runs. Now Rachel has moved to Dyfi in mid-Wales with her boyfriend but she and her brothers still work together. Through the Atherton Academy, which they set up when they signed to race for Trek Bicycles in 2016, they mentor some of the world’s best young talent.
Mille Johnset, a rider Atherton first met when the Norwegian was 11 and a flower girl at Hafjell when Atherton won her 15th World Cup race, finished third in the junior world championship this year.
“She’s an amazing rider,” Atherton says. “Really impressive. I learn a lot from her. It works both ways. I’ve been on the scene for so long, whereas she is coming in fresh as a junior. So it’s kind of seeing that excitement, you know? Remembering to have fun. Kick back and go to all these YouTube videos which are trending now, and go, ‘Crikey, I’m really old’.
“It’s just amazing to see them [their junior riders] coming through the ranks. My brothers and I are also about to open a bike park in North Wales, which will be cool. It feels great to be able to give back to the sport, if you like. To give people somewhere to train. Help to bring on the next generation of racers from around the world, really. And then carry on doing stuff like Hardline and the Red Bull Foxhunt.”
On interacting with fans, she says: “Downhill mountain biking is slowly growing and more people are getting into it. It’s never going to overtake football [in popularity] but I do think it’s a shame that it’s not a televised sport, because it’s such an exciting sport to watch. The drama of race day. I think people are missing out by not watching it.”
You are certainly missing out if you have not yet seen Atherton win this year’s world title. Blasting out of the start gate as if her life depended on it, she ended up going nearly 10 seconds faster than compatriot Tahnee Seagrave, who was second. It was a staggering run.
“I remember thinking to myself at the top, ‘I don’t mind if I get hurt’,” recalls Atherton, for whom victory felt all the sweeter after the previous year had been a write-off because of injury. “I thought, ‘I don’t mind if I hurt my collarbone like last year or if I crash and hurt myself. Because I want that win’.
“I was willing to risk it all and ride on the edge and hurt myself. And you could see that in the time gap at the end, why it was so big to second place. That commitment to riding on the edge, at full speed, and not holding back, being prepared to hurt yourself... That’s what the world champs is all about. “
The question is how long Atherton can continue to ride so fearlessly. Will there come a point where she derives more pleasure from seeing her proteges win than she can get from winning herself?
“It’s definitely a question everyone is asking me,” Atherton says. “I’m one of the oldest, if not the oldest, competitor out there.
“I think it’s really just how long you can stay enjoying it for. I’m definitely still enjoying it. I still love racing. It’s what I live for. It’s what gets me up in the morning. There is no feeling like a race run – that full commitment.
“When it goes well, it’s hard to describe... it’s like you feel high on life. That would be hard to give up. I think I’ll be racing for a while yet.”
If she carries on at this rate, maybe even SPOTY will not be able to ignore her forever.
‘I’m one of the oldest, if not the oldest, out there. But I still love racing, it’s what I live for’