Gee Atherton

Gee Atherton tells us how he recovered from a near-fatal crash on 'The Knife Edge' with a little help from Red Bull Hardline

- By Jamie Darlow

I’m eating an apple and waiting for Gee Atherton to turn up. My laptop pings and GeeMan’s face blinks into life in front of me, five minutes earlier than our scheduled Google Meet. “Sorry, I’m still eating lunch,” I splutter. “No worries, I’ve just had physio, a crumpet and a cup of tea.”

He’s just back from a session at the gym with his long-time strength coach Alan Millway, so I’m guessing he’s had more than a couple of fluffy cakes to keep him going. Gee’s keen to dive straight in and talk about the crash three years ago that almost killed him, though. He rattles off the injuries like most people talk about their shopping. Pints of blood lost, five ribs snapped, two punctured lungs, one broken femur and one compound wrist fracture. “Oh and I fractured my eye socket and blew my face apart,” he says with a grin.

I grin too, and it seems fine today with Gee sitting in his kitchen in Wales, sun coming in the window and dazzling the screen, me tapping away from my bedroom in Sussex. It really wasn’t at the time though? I ask Gee.