Trek Factory Racing Downhill star, Charlie Harrison, has announced his retirement from professional downhill racing. The Trabuco, California native has had a tough couple of years with stellar results being tempered by tough battles with injuries.
Harrison’s highest UCI World Cup finish was a superb third place at the 2019 UCI World Cup finals in Snowshoe, West Virginia. A badly broken arm suffered in practice for the 2021 Leogang round was the latest in a string of tricky injuries. It required surgery and came on the back of a wrist injury suffered at the same venue, on the same limb in 2019.
Now the 25 year-old has decided to take a step away from racing stating that his time spent on the injury sidelines have given him renewed focus on family and that it has rekindled his love for riding.
A statement on his social media accounts read:
Hey guys. I’m announcing my retirement from professional racing. Over the last few seasons, my priorities have slowly shifted from being a World Cup racer to wanting to focus on family, life at home, and my next career. The last few seasons have been the toughest thing I’ve gone through mentally, and to be totally transparent, completely jaded my view of bikes. I became resentful, bitter, and fell out of love with the sport that means so much to me. Due to my retirement however, I’ve been able to fully reconnect to bikes, and completely rediscover the reasons why as a thirteen-year-old kid, I was completely gripped by this sport.
I’m super excited to be able to share this complete story with you guys in the future. It was an absolute blessing to be able to race World Cups full time for six years, and the last four years onboard Trek Factory Racing was a once in a lifetime opportunity. They gave me everything that I could ever need to push my upper limit of possibilities. As a result of this amazing team, I was able to accomplish things on a bicycle that I never thought possible. It was a true honor to work alongside such professional and motivated individuals, and I was able to make some truly beautiful relationships from that. I’m forever grateful to have my name associated with such a world class team, and I’m beyond appreciative for their endless support over the last four years.
I’m able to look back on my short career and just have such an appreciation for everything it included. Racing has taught me so many lessons to bring forward in life. It taught me to chase the heck out of your dreams, because you never know what they’ll turn into. It taught me how to deal with bad times, and how to get through them. It also taught me the importance of relying on other people to help get you through those times. This sport gave the world to me, and I’m so thankful for the friends, experiences, and moments that came from that. It’s hard to summarize seven seasons of elite World Cup racing into one caption, but to be able to live through that opportunity is something that I will forever cherish. Thank you to everyone that’s been a part of this beautiful journey.
Charlie Harrison
