Current National Champion and World Cup overall leader Rachel Atherton won’t be racing at this weekend’s British National Downhill Championships at Glencoe.
Rachel has confirmed that she won’t race this weekend having picked up a cold and is instead resting up in North Wales and getting ready for the next World Cup at Mt. St. Anne, Canada.
Atherton team manager Dan Brown told us that “Rach has learnt to listen to her body, especially mid-season and right now she needs to rest up and recuperate”.
Rachel won the National title in 2017 at Rhyd-y-Felin, beating 2nd place Tahnee Seagrave by 5 seconds. Her 2017 win was her 6th British National title in a row, having raced and won every championship title since 2012.
With Rachel out of the the running, Katy Curd is the only World Cup rider on the list.
Rachel isn’t alone in her decision to sit the race out with a number of other pros missing from the entry list. Rachel’s main competition Tahnee Seagrave isn’t down to race.
Over in the men’s field, Gee Atherton is also sitting out, recovering from an injured wrist that was picked up at Val di Sole.
Charlie Hatton and Mike Jones are also recovering from injury and there will be no Reece Wilson, Phil Atwill, Joe Smith, Brendan Fairclough, Bernard Kerr and more on Sunday. Despite that, there’s 50+ senior men on the start sheet.
This weekend’s National Champs comes at the end of a busy period for international racing, with Crankworx, Val di Sole and Vallnord World Cups leading up to it. Many racers have chosen to sit National Champs out and get some rest before the racing kicks off again at Mt. St. Anne.
We asked the Atherton’s for a comment and Team Manager Dan Brown told us:
“Unfortunately our National Champs team willbe far from full strength.
Gee and Charlie Hatton are both nursing injured wrists in need of further rehab and Rachel has picked up a heavy cold on the back of two brutal weeks of World Cup racing. Rach has learnt to listen to her body, especially mid-season and right now she needs to rest up and recuperate.
With Mt St Anne looming we need to ensure the team are at 100%, but we’re gutted that we won’t be able to compete for the National titles this time round.
It’s a good job that we have two strong contenders in the age categories in Kade Edwards and Atherton Academy’s Luke Williamson, we hope they both smash it this weekend.”
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