Neil Fachie and pilot Aaron Pope bounced back from a crash in the final of the men’s tandem sprint to claim a brilliant gold medal.
Having won the Kilometre on Thursday evening alongside new pilot Aaron Pope, the duo wanted to further write the Aberdonian’s name in the history books and that they did.
The Men’s Tandem B Sprint is a long day with multiple head-to-head sprints, Fachie admitting afterwards it was one of the hardest days racing he’s ever done.
Having progressed to the gold medal ride without missing a beat, the Scottish pairing would take on Wales, James Ball’s tandem spearheaded by Fachie’s former pilot Matt Rotherham.
In the first sprint, the Scottish pair looked in a league of their own, winning from the front by a full bike length. It was role reversal at the second time of asking however, Fachie and Pope not quite having the speed to come round their rivals on the final lap.
That sent it to a decider, which was packed full of drama.
With Fachie and Pope in the lead, the Welsh tandem started to make the pass, before cutting down and colliding with the home team, send them sliding down the track. Picking themselves up, with holes in their skinsuits, Fachie and Pope meant business.
With the third sprint re-started, and adrenalin coursing through their veins after the crash, the Scots lead out the sprint. As they hit the backstraight the Welsh started to charge, coming up alongside them, but they couldn’t get through.
Fachie and Pope dug deeper than they have all week to edge clear to pandemonium at the Glasgow International Arena. Soaking up the adoration on their victory laps, this was a sweet, sweet ending for Fachie who is sitting pretty at the top of the most decorated Team Scotland athlete leaderboard with seven golds.
“It’s so amazing to be able to come full circle back to glasgow and do it again. But more importantly it’s been amazing to showcase tandem riding again and how exciting it is, and I think we made it pretty exciting today.”
A frantic men’s scratch race closed off the evening’s proceedings with the Scottish team ready to attack straight from the gun.
Logan Maclean and Mark Stewart ensured there was no détente in the bunch, with a move on the opening lap that put the whole field under pressure.
Maclean attacked again with 25 laps remaining, in a move of four that gained half a lap, but a lack of interested allies ensured that the move would not succeed. Stewart would be the first of the Scots in sixth place, with Lewis Askey finishing 11th and importantly all three riders avoiding incident in the sizeable crash in the final lap.
The first ever Commonwealth Kilometre for women saw Lauren Bell, Maddy Silcock and Ellie Stone in action.
Ellie Stone would be in the medal spots with six riders to go her ride of 1:06.877 provisionally sent her into bronze medal position when Lauren Bell would go half a second better with a 1:06.368.
The pair would fall to sixth and seventh as the final riders came in and Maddy Silcock rode to twelfth with a time of 1:12.810.
The men’s sprinters faced the sprint competition with Lyall Craig and Peter Mitchell bowing out in the Round of 16, with Niall Monks narrowly missing out in a very brutal qualifying session.
Erin Boothman couldn’t quite repeat her double bronze medal winning heroics in the women’s 25km points race, as despite a lap gain early in the race, she would finish in sixth place.
Unfortunately Neah Evans was taken down in a crash, whilst Kate Richardson finished 14th.