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Greg Minnaar

Personal information
Full name	Greg Minnaar
Nickname	GM
Born	(1981-11-13) November 13, 1981 (age 30)  South Africa
Height	190 cm
Weight	87 kg
Team information
Current team	Santa Cruz Syndicate
Discipline	MTB
Role	Rider
Rider type	DH & 4X
Professional team(s)
1999 2000 2001–2002 2003 2004–2007 2008–	Local bike shop Animal Orange Global Racing Haro Lee Dungarees Team G Cross Honda Santa Cruz Syndicate
Major wins
NORBA Champion (2 Wins) UCI DH World Champion (1 Wins) UCI DH World Cup Overall (3 Wins)
Medal record Competitor for  South Africa Mountain Bike World Championships Gold 2003 Lugano Downhill Silver 2004 Les Gets Downhill Silver 2006 Rotorua Downhill Bronze 2001 Vail Downhill Bronze 2005 Livigno Downhill Bronze 2010 Mont-Sainte-Anne Downhill
Infobox last updated on 07 Sept 2009

Greg Minnaar (born November 13, 1981 in Pietermaritzburg) is a South African World Champion mountain bike racer competing in downhill cycling. Greg first started to get noticed as a world class downhill racer at the age of 17, in 1999, racing select World Cups (including one in his home country of South Africa, in Stellenbosch) on a local shop team, aboard a Kona Stab Dee-Lux bike with a Marzocchi Monster T. fork. The following year, still a junior, he was picked up by British international team Animal Orange, which used Orange frames (222 for downhill and Ms. Isle for dual slalom) and RockShox suspension. That year (2000) Greg podiumed at a World Cup points series race for the first time. The following two years Greg rode for the mighty Global Racing team, aboard similar bikes to the previous years', and on this team, at the age of 19, he won the overall World Cup points series in the Elite downhill. In 2003 Greg switched to the Haro Lee Dungarees team, which used Intense designed and built DHR frames for the dowhill and their own short travel Werx trailbike frames for Four Cross, with Manitou suspension. It was aboard this team that, at the age of 21, Greg became World Champion of downhill. Following this, Greg was offered a spot on the infamous Team G Cross Honda, which used one-off internally geared framesmade by Honda, and Showa suspension. He accepted, and stayed on that team for four years, which included his second World Cup points series overall victory in 2005. After the sudden pulling out of the sport by Honda after the 2007 season, which ended on a bittersweet note with a dislocated and fractured shoulder early in his winning World Championship final run (Greg got back on the bike to salvage a painful 4th place finish), Greg was forced to switch teams yet again. He recently chose the Santa Cruz Syndicate team, alongside riders Steve Peat, Nathan Rennie, and Josh Bryceland for the 2008 season. He competes in the NORBA and Mountain Bike World Cup points series races, in the Elite Downhill and Four Cross events.

Championships[link]

Downhill World Cup[link]

Minnaar has been crowned Downhill World Cup champion three times (2001, 2005, and the recently concluded 2008 series) for winning the Mountain Bike World Cup points series. He was also crowned Downhill World Champion in 2003 for winning the season ending event. He has also done well in the Four Cross event, with one win in the 2003 World Cup points series, in Fort William, Scotland, and a fourth place finish at the 2005 World Championships.

In the 2008 World Cup, Minnaar podiumed at every one of the seven events in the series, taking the win at Fort William, Mont-Sainte-Anne and Canberra. This gave him a comfortable lead going into the finals at Schladming, Austria, where he placed fifth and clenched his overall lead to take the well-deserved title.

In 2009 World Cup series, Minnaar took first place at Pietermaritzburg South Africa, Fort William Scotland and Bromont Canada. He also came 6th at La Bresse in France, 3rd at Vallnord in Andorra, Maribor in Slovenia and in Schladming Austria. Greg also came 22nd in Mont-Sainte-Anne leaving him with a 2nd place overall. In the World Championships at Canberra Australia he lost 1st place to his team mate Steve Peat by 0.05seconds

NORBA[link]

Minnaar has twice (2003, 2004) been crowned the champion of the NORBA points series.

Palmarès[link]

2009

1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa; Fort William, Scotland; Bromont, Canada

2010

2nd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Series Overall

3rd DH, UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada

2011

2nd DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Fort William, Scotland

1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, La Bresse, France

^[1]

2012

1st DH, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa ^[2]

See also[link]

• Steve Peat, Minnaar's team mate on the Syndicate Team.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Team Santa Cruz Syndicate Official site

Cross-country mountain biking: Competitor in the under 23 men's division at the 2009 UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships held at Mount Stromlo, near Canberra, Australia. Burry Stander wins the under 23 men's XC title

Burry Stander (16 September 1987), a South African mountain biker, is the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup under-23 men's cross-country 2009 world champion. He is third overall in the World Cup standings behind multiple Olympic and World Champion, Julien Absalon (FRA) and José Hermida (ESP).^[1]

In the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, held in Beijing, Stander finished 15th in the cross-country mountain bike race.^[2]

Career Highlights[link]

2006 to 2007[link]

• 3 time U/19 SA XC and Marathon champion
• 10th Commonwealth Games 2006
• 17th U/23 World Championships 2006
• South African Pro XC champion 2006/2007
• 6th U/23 world championships 2007
• African XC MTB champion 2007

Highlights 2008[link]

• Mazda Drifter Barberton SA marathon series opener 1st
• 14th Giro del Capo Road Tour and second u/26 rider
• Cape Epic stage win and leader for three stages (did not finish due to itb injury while leading the leading)
• South Africa Cross Country champion
• 3rd U/23 SA Road Championships
• World Cup round 1 Houffalize Belgium 58th
• World Cup round 2 Offenburg Germany 7th
• World Cup round 3 Madrid, Spain 13th
• World Cup round 4 Vallnord,Andorra 2nd
• World Cup round 5 Fort William Scotland 5th
• World Cup round 6 Mont St Anne, Canada 3rd
• World Cup round 7 Bromont Canada 24th
• World Cup round 8 Canberra Australia 6th
• World Cup round 9 Schladming Austria 10th
• World Cup overall standings 5th
• World Cup u/23 champion
• U/23 World Championships 2nd
• Jeep Hill2Hill Marathon champion
• Summer Olympic Games in Beijing 15th
• 2009 sponsors: Specialized Bikes, Mr Price, Oakley, Fever publications-weekly mountainbike column, Fast Fuel Nutrition, Crank Brothers Pedals, Garmin, Songo.info-charity involved in building BMX tracks for disadvantaged communities.

In 2010 Stander rode across the line in third place at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada.

Stander hails from Port Shepstone in KwaZulu-Natal and is a team partner of Christoph Sauser.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• on the road with burry stander

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Steve Peat

Steve Peat at Fort William World Cup 2004
Personal information
Full name	Steve Peat
Nickname	Peaty, Sheffield Steel
Born	(1974-06-17) June 17, 1974 (age 38) England  United Kingdom
Height	6'3"
Weight	14 stone
Team information
Current team	Steve Peat Syndicate
Discipline	MTB
Role	Rider
Rider type	DH and 4X
Professional team(s)
1995 Mid 1990s Late 1990s 2002–2005 2006 –	Saracen Team MBUK GT Bikes Orange Bikes Santa Cruz Syndicate
Major wins
GBR DH National Champion (8 Wins) EUR DH European Champion (3 Wins) UCI DH World Cup (17 Wins) UCI DH World Cup Overall (3 Wins) UCI DH World Champion (1 Win)
Medal record Competitor for  United Kingdom Mountain Bike World Championships Silver 2000 Sierra Nevada Downhill Silver 2001 Vail Downhill Silver 2002 Kaprun Downhill Silver 2008 Val Di Sol Downhill
Infobox last updated on 19 May 2009

Steve Peat (born 17 June 1974 in Chapeltown, South Yorkshire), nicknamed "Sheffield Steel" or more commonly just plain "Peaty", is a professional downhill mountain biker who was born and lives in Chapeltown, Sheffield, England. Prior to his career as a professional downhill cyclist Peat was employed as a plumber by James Lamb. He is married to Adele Croxon and has two sons, Jake and George Peat.

Peat began his career with little success riding for the Saracen team alongside Rob Warner, before moving in the mid 90s to Team MBUK. He rode for GT Bicycles in the late 90s and for the Orange team between 2002 and 2005, winning the Fort William downhill world cup round in 2005. He then joined the Santa Cruz Syndicate team for the 2006 season, which saw him finish 1st overall, and has continued with it since.

As last man down the hill, Peat won^[1] the La Bresse downhill world cup round 2 on May 10, 2009 with a time of 02:07.14 knocking Sam Hill out of the hot seat for his 16th world cup round win, tying at the top of the all-time leader-board with Nicolas Vouilloz. Just one week later on May 17, 2009, at the third round of the UCI World Cup in Vallnord, Peat won again^[2] (besting compatriot Gee Atherton by just 0.02 seconds) making him the most successful downhill mountain bike racer ever by number of wins.

Other successes include placing second in the Mountain Bike World Championships in 2000, 2001, 2002 and again in 2008 and becoming World Cup champion in 2002, 2004 and 2006. He has also won the Lisboa Downhill, held in Lisbon, Portugal, eight times. On September 6, 2009, Peat won the World Championships in Canberra for the first time in his career, with a winning time of 2:30.33, just 0.05 seconds ahead of his Santa Cruz team mate Greg Minnaar.

Aside from his professional riding career, Peat has other involvements with the sport, including contributing to the design and manufacture of specialist riding clothing made by Royal Racing of which he is part owner.^[3] Peat also has involvements with young cyclist academies, and is a proponent of youth involvement in the sport.

Following his recent world champ status he has released his own game 'Steve Peat - Downhill Mountain Biking' for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Palmarès (Incomplete)[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Steve Peat - official site
• Steve Peat profile at Cycling Archives
• Twitter
• TwitPic (photos)

Rachel Atherton

Personal information
Full name	Rachel Laura Atherton
Nickname	Waynehead
Born	(1987-12-06) December 6, 1987 (age 24)  England  United Kingdom
Height	170 cm
Weight	65 kg
Team information
Current team	GT
Discipline	BMX & MTB
Role	Rider
Rider type	DH
Professional team(s)
2011-	GT
Major wins
GBR DH National Champion (2 Wins) EUR DH European Champion (2 Wins) UCI DH World Champion (1 Wins) UCI DH Junior World Champion (1 Wins) UCI DH World Cup (8 Wins) UCI DH World Cup Overall (1 Wins)
Medal record Competitor for  United Kingdom Mountain Bike Junior World Championships Gold 2005 Livigno Downhill Silver 2004 Les Gets Downhill World Championships Gold 2008 Val Di Sol Downhill Silver 2007 Fort William Downhill Silver 2011 Champery Downhill Bronze 2006 Rotorua Downhill
Infobox last updated on 4 September 2011

Rachel Laura Atherton (born 6 December 1987, near Salisbury) is a professional racing cyclist specialising in downhill mountain bike racing, and is a multiple national champion. She began riding BMX at the age of 8 and mountain biking at the age of 11.^[1] She was both Sunday Times' Sportswoman of the Year^[2] and BBC Midlands Junior Sportswoman of the Year^[3] in 2005, and then BBC Midlands Sportswoman of the Year in 2008.^[4]

Since 2007 Rachel Atherton has been part of the Animal Commençal race team along with brothers Dan Atherton and Gee Atherton.

In June 2008 Rachel Atherton became the first British woman to win the Elite UCI Downhill World Championship, defeating second placed Sabrina Jonnier by 11.99 seconds in the final.^[5]

Rachel Atherton was involved in an accident^[6] with a pickup truck whilst on a time trial training ride with brothers Dan and Gee in Santa Cruz, California, on January 18, 2009. She sustained a dislocated shoulder which, after later needing a nerve graft,^[7] ruled her out of the 2009 racing season, including the September World Championships in Canberra.^[8]

Palmarès[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• athertonracing.co.uk
• animalcommencal.com
• Interview: Rachel Atherton, Douglas Cook, Descent World, 2004
• An interview with the Athertons, Steve Thomas, Cycling News, 6 September 2007
• Silverfish Atherton Racing Profiles
• Rachel Atherton's bio