EXTERMINATE
Cyclist Fachie out to topple old partner as he eyes Team Scotland gold medal record
HE’S happily married to a fellow international paracyclist but Neil Fachie feels like he’s gone through a messy split as he builds up to Birmingham 2022.
It’s nothing to do with Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth Games cyclist’s relationship with English track star Lora, above, which, thankfully, remains as strong as ever as the couple prepare to welcome their first baby.
But Fachie is gunning to hit top spot in the all-time Games gold list for Team Scotland in the coming week without his tandem pilot Matt Rotherham.
That he’s lost the partner who helped guide the Aberdonian to gold in last year’s Tokyo Paralympics and double gold in the 2018 Commonwealths could be seen as difficult.
Now the 38-year-old goes into the ferociously competitive Tandem B kilo and Tandem B sprint events knowing Rotherham will be there too... only on the bike of his arch-rival, Welshman James Ball.
Just as well Fachie has every faith in his new pilot Lewis Stewart then, even if they used to be fierce opponents.
Fachie knows another double gold would see him leapfrog bowls icon Alex Marshall at the top of Team Scotland’s ultimate gold medal table with six, even just for a few days.
Now, as he prepares to return to the Lee Valley VeloPark where he won Paralympic gold a decade ago, he’s up for the challenge of doing it all again with a new pilot on board.
Fachie said: “I’m married but this almost has the same feel about it. When you see a pilot away competing with someone else a bit of you is thinking ‘ah that’s strange, what’s going on here now?!’
“I wouldn’t get on a tandem with just anyone. You really have to trust that person with the speed we are travelling. However, Lewis and I get on really well.”
Fachie suffers from congenital eye condition retinitis pigmentosa and has amassed a remarkable 20 gold medals between Paralympics, Commonwealth Games and World Championships.
Two more on Sunday would see him jump above Marshall who currently sits on five Games’ gold medals in the all-time table – even if the bowler has the chance to build on his impressive haul later in the week.
He said: “I’m well aware that if I get two golds then I can go to the top. I’m also aware he is doing three events and I could win two golds and he will still be able to jump back above me.
“I’m so hungry to win all the time. As is Lewis.
“Before Covid I probably would have walked away from cycling. I wasn’t enjoying it and I had done everything I wanted to do.
“But I changed the way I worked during lockdown and got the love for it again.
“Tokyo was fantastic last year and I’m so excited about these Games with Team Scotland.”
Fachie will be the only member of the family competing as wife Lora rests with their first baby on the way.
He added: “The beauty of baby coming along is that if things don’t go well on the track then the bigger picture, the biggest prize, is still to come.”