Fachie survives painful crash to take another gold after Wales 'poke bear'

When Neil Fachie reappeared in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, he said to pilot Aaron Pope: “The story is written here, let’s finish it off.”

The last chapter of Scotland’s record-breaking Para-cyclist was always going to be chronicled here. It just so happens no one drafted up the version that unfolded.

Fachie finished his Commonwealth Games career where he started it, here in Glasgow, with gold medals in the men’s tandem B 1,000m and tandem B sprint.

But that doesn’t tell half the story.

There were hopes, tears and fears. Thighs burning, knees bleeding and lungs bursting. Nerves jangling, fingers crossing and hearts pounding.

But it ended the way it was always supposed to. With Scotland’s greatest having a wee greet to Flower of Scotland atop the podium.

Just before Fachie ducked his head to receive his final medal, his wife Lora appeared on the big screen, expressing her emotion at what she’d just witnessed.

“It’s just a relief its over,” she said, exhaling.

She wasn’t alone.

Retirement is something Fachie has thought about, spoken about, and actually done before. He’s pictured it. He’s lived it, even, post Paris Olympics.

But he couldn’t have envisaged this.

‘It was almost like they poked a bear’

After Thursday’s “dramatic enough” gold, he said he’d get on his bike one last time on Saturday, but was unlikely to win.

Having stormed to the final, he and Pope took the first race in the best of three final against Wales’ James Ball and Matt Rotherham – Fachie’s former pilot – but lost the second to force the decider.

Dramatic enough, right?

Fachie, who now plans to sink a few whiskys, said ‘hold my beer’.

After a tense first half-lap of the final race, Scotland went to accelerate and collapsed in a heap following a clip of the wheels before a helmet was hurled.

The thud thundered around the funny-shaped bowl. The silence which followed was equally deafening.

Even from the far side of the velodrome, Fachie’s rage was visible. Palpable, even. A wee word in the ear from his big pal Pope, though, calmed him down.

As he exited the track, the crowd were puzzled. And panicking.

Was this it? Was this the way the Scottish athlete with the most Games golds was bowing out? With a torn suit, bleeding legs and the tang of injustice?

There was no communication, no confirmation. But then, the little and large duo reemerged.

“Adrenaline is a wonderful thing,” a battered, bruised, but buoyant Fachie said, speaking to BBC Sport Scotland about their “little slide”.

“You don’t really feel a lot of pain at the time, but it created a lot of anger. I think Aaron casually walked me away before I said something I shouldn’t say, but we were so fired up to go and prove a point there.

“You can’t really describe it,” Pope agreed. “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.”

“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 added.

And do that they did. It was less about tactics and more about tenacity. And there was only one winner there.

Fachie forced his way to the finish line just before Bell in a neck-and-neck encounter, but his tight grip on the bars was swiftly released, raising them in the air before pounding his chest.

“There was no way they were getting past,” Fachie 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. There’s no way they’re coming back in a million years.”

In similar vein, Fachie assures us this is it for him. For sure.

There’s no more room on the mantelpiece for his medals. In fairness, there hasn’t been for a while. But with a couple more slabs of metal from a home Games, he’s not sure what more could pull him back.

“I’m not a fan of those athletes who say they’re out and then they come back,” the 19-time world champion added. “I just see no way that it’s going to happen.

“I don’t think I’ve got anything more to give. I could hang on, maybe pick up the odd medal, but how could you ever top this? There’s no way.”

Fachie smiled his way through his post-race media duties, though there were a few grimaces as the burns intensified and the blood dribbled down his leg.

His bum – though he used the Scottish word for it – hurt a bit, too. But he was hell-bent on ending a “brutal” day – and his glittering career – on his terms.

“There is an element of, ‘this actually hurts a bit, I’d rather sit out for a half hour’ but, we had to go and get up on that starting line with our cuts and scrapes.

“That Scottish fighting spirit comes out and you just think to yourself ‘you’re gonna regret it if you don’t go big here, so give it everything you’ve got’.

“We pretty much emptied anything we had in our tank, which wasn’t much, and we both went out the biggest roars possible as we crossed the line. I don’t think either of us will forget today, there’s no way.”

And so it’s the end of the road for Fachie. So he says.

He’s ensured no one in Glasgow’s east end and beyond will ever forget what he did, whisking around this treacherous track.