Daniel Simon Atherton, known as Dan Atherton (born 25 January 1982, near

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

), is a professional

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...

specialising in downhill, four cross and enduro-downhill

mountain bike racing Mountain bike racing (shortened MTB or ATB racing) is the competitive cycle sport discipline of mountain biking held on off-road terrain. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised the discipline relatively late in 1990, when it sanctione ...

, and is a former national champion of Great Britain. He began riding

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the ea ...

at the age of 15 and mountain biking a year later. From 2007 till 2011, Atherton was one third of the Animal Commençal racing team, alongside brother Gee Atherton and sister Rachel Atherton.''An interview with the Athertons'', Steve Thomas, ''Cycling News'', 6 September 2007
/ref> He is now part of the Trek Factory Racing team with brother Gee, sister Rachel and old friend Marc Beaumont (Global Mountain Bike Network), and is primarily racing Enduro-downhill and occasional downhill races. Dan Atherton, along with Rachel and Gee, was the star of the web series ''The Atherton Project'', which followed their day-to-day lives. In 2010 Atherton broke a

vertebra Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spina ...

in his neck whilst dirt jumping and has missed half of the season including the World Championships. After the 2012 season's end, Atherton won the Asia Pacific Downhill Challenge in Indonesia.http://dirt.mpora.com/news/dan-atherton-wins-the-asia-pacific-challenge.html .

Palmarès

;2004 :1st 4X, British National Mountain Biking Championships ;2003 :2nd DH,

UCI Mountain Bike World Cup The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup is a multi-round mountain bike racing series that is sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees int ...

, Round 3 ;2006 :4th 4X,

UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships The UCI Mountain Bike World Championships are the world championship events for mountain bike racing in the disciplines of cross country, downhill, and four-cross. They are organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing ...

:4th DH, European Mountain Bike Championships :4th 4X,

, Round 6 ;2007 :10th DH,

, Fort William :9th 4X,

, Round 3, St Anne :3rd 4X,

, Round 5,

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

:2nd Irish National Championships, Rostrevor :2nd NPS DH, Round 3, Moelfre :6th NPS DH, Round 4,

Caersws Caersws (; ) is a village and community (Wales), community on the River Severn, in the Wales, Welsh county of Powys; it was formerly in Montgomeryshire. It is located west of Newtown, Powys, Newtown, halfway between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury. ...

:6th NPS DH, Round 5, Innerliethan :4th Fat Face Night Race :4th Red Bull Metro Ride :3rd Urban Pro,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

;2008 :1st 4X,

, Vallnord,

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

:2nd Maxxis Cup, Gouveia,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

References

External links

*
Silverfish Atherton Racing profiles
* * 1982 births Living people English male cyclists British male cyclists English mountain bikers British mountain bikers British BMX riders Four-cross mountain bikers Downhill mountain bikers Sportspeople from Salisbury 21st-century English sportsmen {{England-cycling-bio-stub