Neil Fachie's extraordinary Commonwealth Games career ended where it began, in Glasgow, with gold. The 19-time world champion and his pilot Aaron Pope recovered from a heavy crash in the deciding race of the men's tandem B sprint to beat Wales' James Ball and Matt Rotherham, handing Scotland's most decorated Para-cyclist a second gold of these Games.
Fachie, whose Thursday victory in the tandem B 1,000m made him Scotland's record holder with six Commonwealth titles, had said he would ride one last time on Saturday but was unlikely to win. What followed was anything but routine.
After storming to the final, Fachie and Pope took the first race of the best-of-three showdown against Ball and Rotherham, Fachie's former pilot, before losing the second to force a decider. Then, with the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome holding its breath, the pair clipped wheels and came down in a heap, tearing Fachie's skinsuit and leaving his knees bleeding. A helmet was hurled; the silence was deafening.
"I said to Aaron before we went up, 'the story's written here, let's finish it off', and we were so determined to do that," Fachie said. "Adrenaline is a wonderful thing. You don't really feel a lot of pain at the time, but it created a lot of anger."
Back on the track, the little-and-large duo edged a neck-and-neck decider, Fachie forcing his way to the line just ahead of Ball before pumping his chest and raising his arms. "There was no way they were getting past," he said. "It was almost like they poked a bear, inspired something in us, and once you get this crowd roaring, you know you're winning."
Pope described the fairytale finish: "You've got one race to try and win, give him the fairytale ending and live happily ever after. So you're on the floor, pretty upset, and then you've got all this stuff saying just keep your head up, go have a scrap and have a scrap for your best mate."
Fachie, who wiped away tears as Flower of Scotland played and whose wife Lora appeared on the big screen, insisted this really is the end. "I'm not a fan of those athletes who say they're out and then they come back," he said. "I don't think I've got anything more to give... how could you ever top this?"
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