Paul McStay sent me a boomerang to prove I’d come back stronger ..I won’t let him down
Hawkins targets gold again with support of wellwishers including Celtic’s maestro
CALLUM HAWKINS has vowed he’ll be back – just like the boomerang he was sent in the post by Celtic legend Paul McStay. For a moment the marathon man was dazed and confused again when he opened the strangest of many gifts he has received from concerned wellwishers since he collapsed during the Commonwealth Games. Distressing images, beamed live around the globe, horrified viewers as the Glasgow athlete succumbed to heat stroke just over a mile short of the finish line. Amid the anger directed at organisers of the Games for the delay in getting a disorientated Hawkins the medical attention
he needed the biggest emotional outpouring was of sympathy for the 25-year-old.
A special medal presented by the Mayor of Australia’s Gold Coast was a prestigious honour among the sack of mail and sea of messages that flooded in.
But Hawkins admits the best of the lot was the gesture from football hero McStay, who now lives in Sydney and whose family was at the Gold Coast cheering on Team Scotland.
In his first major interview since his collapse two weeks ago, Hawkins said: “Paul McStay is out there and his son used to run in our running club so he sent me a nice letter and a boomerang to show I’ll come back stronger.
“I need to find a place on the wall for that. It means a lot.
“Everyone and his dog messaged me. The mayor of the Gold Coast sent me a letter and a medal which was a nice touch.
“And when I got out of hospital I got a really nice welcome at the athletes’ village. Most of them were just coming in from the night before so I looked in better shape than a lot of them!
“I’ve had a lot of attention but it is not the way I would have wanted to be the story of the Games. I would rather have won the gold.
“Hopefully I won’t detract too
much from the people who won medals. But the best way to get rid of that tag once and for all would be to come back and win gold in Birmingham four years from now.”
The man who did strike gold, Aussie Michael Shelley, endured a torrent of abuse from people who branded him callous for running past Hawkins as he lay flat out.
But the Scot bears no ill will towards his rival and admits there’s every chance he might have done the same.
He added: “It’s a really tough one. It’s a split-second decision and I couldn’t tell you what I would do in that situation.
“I had medical attention and, at the end of the day, it’s a race. What could he have done?
“He messaged me that night or the next morning to say it’s not the way he wanted to win.”
Hawkins is equally understanding about the time it took for help to arrive as the TV pictures showed bystanders simply watching – and one even videoing his plight on her mobile phone.
Scottishathletics have submitted an official request for answers from the organising committee about what went wrong.
But the biggest worry for Hawkins was what his family and friends went through as they had to endure seeing the drama unfold live on TV.
He said: “My mum couldn’t watch. She had to leave the room, especially seeing me there helpless.
“My dad was at 35k and he had to rush to the hospital by tram not knowing what condition I was in. My girlfriend was pretty shook up as well. You never want to put them through something like that.
“The response time is a tough one because TV makes it look a lot longer. It was about 90 seconds by the time somebody got to me. For 500 metres away, that’s about right.
“It is an extreme sport. It can happen. It seldom happens but it is the nature of the sport.
“I remember reaching 35k then between that and when my legs went I can’t remember much. And then I felt my legs almost like switching off on me, turning to jelly. I remember trying to stay up and then falling over.
“When I fell I was like ‘f***ing get up’. I knew I only had about a mile to go and so if I could get up and finish I could get a medal.
“I’ve watched it back on replays – it kept popping up on Twitter – and it’s not something I find traumatic.
“It is more just annoying because it feels like an opportunity missed to win the gold medal.
“Now I have to wait another four years to right the wrong but I still can’t wait to get back running, hopefully in the next few weeks.”