Marcus Christie has said he was disappointed he couldn’t
have ridden a bit better in the elite TT at the World Championships in
Flanders, though being selected represented a major turnaround in his life.
“I went from being in complete disarray to being selected
for the World Championships six months later; it was a big achievement for me,”
he said.
“Belgium was buzzing,” he said of his ride in the elite
TT last Sunday. “Even on the recon ride the night before, there was more
atmosphere than in any time trial I had ever done in my life. And on the day it
was tens time better.
“You were riding through a tunnel of noise, with so many
people on the roadside. The main thing you could take in was the smell of the
Belgian beer from the fans,” he laughed.
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The 30-year-old from Derry is no stranger to international competition as he rode the Worlds as an U23 and has also competed for Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games.
However, his sporting story is no ordinary tale. His
selection for Ireland to race on such a big stage in Flanders last weekend adds
an extraordinary chapter to a whirlwind career – and one that is far from over.
Christie set out in athletics while still in school. However,
after showing significant talent he sustained a foot injury. Medical examinations
on his injured foot showed three of his metatarsal bones
were fused; a rare condition which instantly ended his days on the running
track.
He switched to cycling, partly to recuperate. Again, once
he got stuck in his big engine was immediately clear to see. He was a
successful junior and soon progressed through the ranks.
That included a stint at the UCI Cycling Centre in
Switzerland as a teenager. He also spent a period as part of the Irish team
pursuit set-up as it tried, unsuccessfully, to qualify for the 2012 Olympics.
And in 2014 he spent the season with the An Post-Sean Kelly team.
In Switzerland he focused too much on trying to lose
weight after a coach – since embroiled in a bully scandal over years –
repeatedly commented on his weight. Crash dieting resulted in rapid weight
loss, with a drop in performance hot on its heels; costing him his place in the
UCI programme for world class talent.
In the Irish team pursuit set-up, Christie said he had
issues with pre race nerves. That resulted in his starts, at times, being below
par and that opportunity eventually came to an end.
At An Post, he began the 2014 season brilliantly, with a
breakaway ride at Etoile de Bessèges that saw him hold the young riders’
classification jersey for several stages. However, he ultimately burned out
that year and was not extended into 2015.
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More recently, he has won TT after TT since returning from
abroad at the start of the summer and it was clear he was back to his best.
And though one of the top TT riders in the country, he is
open about the fact race-related confidence has been an issue for him,
especially on the big stage. But he has persisted and now, with what he feels
is coaching that really suits him, he has been selected for his biggest ever
race.
He is very thankful to Cycling Ireland for giving him a
chance again, and mentions two men in particular in the federation who were
very open to his approaches this year.
Christie said he had been in contact with Aaron Buggle
and Tommy Evans – Cycling Ireland high performance manager and coach
respectively – and they shared a lot of information about what would be
expected of him to make the team for the Worlds.
“In fairness to Aaron, he was really transparent with me;
telling me what I needed to do. So I was banging out the rides consistently on
the domestic scene and then I went to England to race last week.
“But, you know, you don’t expect to get called up for the
Worlds when you’ve got our WorldTour guys always religiously going and doing
well. So to hear I was going; it was amazing. I just wished I’d been able to do
myself more justice. But to get the opportunity was great and nobody can take
that away from me.”
He said he lacked about five per cent at the top end of
his performance; though he settled in shortly after the start. And in the
second half of the race he lost his ear piece, meaning he had no race radio; a
real handicap given the limited recon opportunities before the race.
Stepping back from his ride – finishing 39th in the TT
won by Filippo Ganna of Italy – he said that six months ago he was “coaching a
few riders and doing some steady endurance rides with them for a few hours”.
“But if I’d ridden a proper road race I wouldn’t have
gotten around,” he said of his condition at the start of the year. “And in a
long TT, I just wouldn’t have had the power or endurance. I was still relative
fit; not couch potato. I was probably six kilos too heavy.”
He went to Majorca at the end of last year, as part of his coaching duties, for several weeks and went back again early this year, staying for five months.
On the island he met former Team GB coach Shane Sutton
and has been training under him ever since. He credits Sutton with helping him
to achieve the results he has in Ireland in recent months and ultimately
reaching the Worlds.
“I’m going to give the National Championships a go next week,” he said of his immediate plans. “And then hopefully the Commonwealth Games could be a big opportunity next year. I have to sit down and recalibrate. But I think if I can be in good shape around the Commonwealths, I honestly think I could get a medal, we’ll see.”
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