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Rachel wins top BBC prize
Tuesday 9th December 2008, 11:50AM GMT.
Shropshire mountain bike ace Rachel Atherton beat off stiff competition to win the BBC Midlands Sportswoman of the Year award, writes Sean Wozencroft.
Atherton, originally from Oswestry, claimed the award on Sunday night in front of a 400-strong, star-studded audience in Birmingham.
“I was really surprised at winning as it was such tough competition, but delighted and honoured,” said Atherton, who now lives in Llangynog.
Atherton was honoured after becoming the first British woman to win the World Downhill championships.
She was also first in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Andorra, the Maxxis Cup in Portugal and the Alpine Bikes Winter series up in Scotland.
Remarkably older brother Gee was also crowned world champion in the men’s division, but he was not nominated for the Sportsman of the Year accolade.
“It’s a goal of my sister and me to get our sport more into the public eye,” said a proud Gee. “We’d love to see it in the Olympics one day.”
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