Ian O'Riordan On Athletics:There is nothing more common in sport than the disappearance of young, exciting talent, and running is not immune to the syndrome.

Being labelled a star of the future can be both a blessing and a curse; just as with young actors or musicians, it can bring impossible pressures to bear on the young athlete.

That pressure is something Mark Christie can easily testify to. Three years ago he was regarded as the most exciting distance-running talent in Ireland, and for good reason.

As a schoolboy in Mullingar he won a succession of junior titles on track and country, and in 2004 he was Europe's top-ranked junior over 3,000 metres, the same year his fifth-place finish at the European cross-country led the Irish team to silver medals.

Inevitably, Christie was the target of several US colleges,

but he decided on the new scholarship scheme at Dublin City University (DCU), believing it would serve him better in the long run (in both senses of the term), especially given he took his academics as seriously as his running and was equally determined to succeed in both.

Staying at home also allowed him to continue working with his Mullingar coach, David Burke, and his exciting potential was maintained when in 2005 he ran his first sub-four-minute mile, clocking 3:58.99 at Crystal Palace.

And so he entered the senior ranks with big expectations of his own, and of course of many others. Still, there were those who wondered if he'd ever make it as a senior, some predicting sudden burn-out or inevitable loss of enthusiasm.

Irish athletics, like most other sports, suffers massive drop-out in the transition from junior to senior ranks, for several reasons, from an increasingly lively social life to financial pressures, which make it difficult to maintain the necessary dedication.

It's easier in team sports, which offer wider back-up support and encouragement. Running is all the more difficult when you're on your own.

This time last year, however, Christie, still just 21, won the senior title at the National Intercounties cross-country in Dungarvan, destroying the rest of the field with his brilliantly confident front-running.

He had demonstrated his arrival as a senior athlete of quality, proving all the doubters wrong. Or, at least, so he was entitled to believe.

A year on, he'll start tomorrow's Intercounties race at the Curragh Camp as favourite to defend his title. But in the 12 months since his first Intercounties win, the whispers of the doubters were magnified to the extent he could hear them in his own head, and Christie found himself questioning his own self-belief and commitment.

A few weeks after his win in Dungarvan he ran well below expectations at the European cross-country, finishing 19th in the under-23 race he had been quietly thinking about winning.

He rebounded to run a quick 7:58.12 indoors over 3,000 metres, but then disintegrated at the European Indoors in Birmingham.

He battled on for the outdoor track season, but managed only a couple of races before being wiped out with a virus that eventually prevented him from doing any running.

At that point it looked like he might become another drop-out statistic. Having just completed an MA in finance at DCU he found plenty of job offers coming his way, the security of a steady income and a safe career the obvious attractions. Even those closest to Christie were wondering if he'd be wise to continue to focus on his running.

But Christie is made of strong stuff, and anyone who predicted his terminal decline over the past year underestimated his resolve.

He looked back over his diaries and realised he was doing too much, not in terms of training, but in trying to combine his sporting and academic ambitions at such a high level.

In hindsight, it was inevitable he would break down.

He was still young, enthusiastic, and loved running. The rat race could wait.

He put off the job interviews and secured a room at an apartment at DCU shared by two other young athletes, David Campbell and Liam Reale, and funded by Athletics Ireland.

He gets a 5,000 development grant from the Sports Council, his only income. He said he would give himself a year or two to live the life of a full-time athlete, and if it did not work out after that he at least would have no regrets.

He is now advised by the multiple Irish record holder Mark Carroll and has pushed up his training mileage to between 115 and 120 per week.

A few weeks ago it was graduation day at DCU, and Christie met up with his old classmates from the MA in finance. Most of them have jobs and appeared to be making good money, yet he sensed they were not all particularly satisfied.

Christie realised he was flat broke, but was doing exactly what he wanted to do, and the feeling was just right - the happiness of the long-distance runner.