Mike Christie, from X Factor finalists G4, has launched the official song for the climatic final stage of the AJ Tour of Britain Cycle race, which is heading to the Isle of Wight on Sunday 11th September.
Titled ‘Ride The Isle’, the song is a celebration of the nearly 150km, fast-paced race between Ryde and The Needles Battery.
A multi-award winning singer/songwriter, Mike now lives on the Island. He was approached to write the anthem by Visit Isle of Wight:
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“I was asked by Visit Isle of Wight to write this, as the official song for the Tour of Britain cycling race, to help bring awareness to the race and showcase it to a new audience.
“I had recently released a song I wrote for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee called ‘The Heartbeat of Our Nation’, which I performed in various places across the island over the bank holiday weekend in June, so I’ve now got a reputation for writing songs for occasions shall we say!”
AJ Bell Tour of Britain organizers say that the song is a first for the cycle race. Peter Hodges, PR and Marketing Director, says:
“It is definitely the first time that the modern Tour of Britain has enjoyed an official song and music video for one of our stages, which goes to show the lengths to which the whole community on the Isle of Wight is embracing the event. It is fantastic to have someone like Mike writing and performing the song, and we are now looking forward to hearing it in person in Ryde before the final stage gets underway!”
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Mike explains how ‘Ride The Isle’ came together:
“I started by researching the Tour of Britain race; what it consists of, who and how many take part, as well as the specific route on the Isle of Wight among other things. I wanted the song to be informative, as many people coming across it won’t know what the race is all about, as I didn’t. But when people hear their hometown in the lyrics, it may well inspire them to follow the riders as they whizz past their doorstep at high speed on 11th September!
“I was also aware that there will be riders and cycling experts listening to the song, so everything needed to be 100% accurate, but beyond that I wanted it to really resonate with them. To my knowledge, there has never been a song like this released before, certainly not one listing the names of the jerseys that are awarded to the cyclists, and what they signify”.
The video was filmed by Michael Dangerfield of Wight Productions at The Needles, the finishing post of the day’s racing, and will mark the end of 8 days of cycling, which sees 18 teams make their way from Aberdeenshire to Island, via the Scottish Borders, Sunderland, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Gloucestershire and Dorset.
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