Marcus Christie is back racing competitively again just six months after walking away from the sport. The 25-year-old Derry man said he missed the bike too much and is currently training for the AmberGreen Energy Tour of Ulster over the May Bank Holiday weekend (Picture: Toby Watson)
By Brian Canty
Former international Marcus Christie is to return to the domestic peloton less than six months after walking away from the sport.
The 25-year-old Derry man previously rode for An Post Chainreaction and following that he had a spell in the US with the Bissell-ABG-Giant Team.
The latter deal was signed at the end of 2014 but Christie raced very little with them and decided he’d had enough in the middle of last year, the national championships in June being one of his final races.
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Following his decision to retire last year he spoke about how the sport no longer appealed to him as he sought to return to education and seek employment while for recreation he turned to rowing to sate his competitive appetite.
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But it appears the lure of the bike has proven too much for him and he is back in the domestic peloton this year.
Though he has only a few weeks training under his belt he is due to take part in the upcoming AmberGreen Energy Tour of Ulster with the Tyrone Image Express team.
2014 was perhaps the pinnacle of his career where he raced a full season with An Post Chain Reaction and managed a career-best result when he finished sixth in the opening stage and wore the white jersey in the L’Etoile Des Besseges, the UCI 2.1 professional stage race in France.
Later in the year he was 13th in the men’s time trial at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow but that was as good as it got for him.
A year earlier in 2013 he was part of the two-man Irish team (alongside Ryan Mullen) for the World U23 time-trial championships in Florence where he finished an excellent 28th out of 74 starters.
We’ll have a chat with Christie ahead of the Tour of Ulster.
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