The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games are now underway after a spectacular and uplifting opening ceremony in the Carrara Stadium. The biggest event in Gold Coast history has commenced heralding 11 amazing days of world-class sporting competition.
The long wait has come to an end for the 18 Para Athletes within Team Scotland and there was much to celebrate on day one of the Gold Coast Games.
Cycling
Aberdeen’s Neil Fachie MBE travelled to the Gold Coast as the reigning Commonwealth Games champion in the B 1,000m Time Trial, having taken the gold medal at Glasgow 2014. On this occasion he took to the track with a new pilot is the shape of Englishman Matthew Rotherham, fresh from their World Record and gold medal in the Time Trial event at the Para-cycling Track World Championships in Brazil.
The pair were last to ride in the final and had been set a time of 1:00.900 to beat by Welsh riders James Ball and Pete Mitchell. After a shaky start the Scots turned on the power and took the gold medal with a Commonwealth Games record time of 1:00.065. Their time was almost two seconds faster than the previous Games record set by Fachie and Craig MacLean to win gold at Glasgow 2014.
After his race Neil said:
“Winning at a home Games was really immense and I’m just delighted to have had the opportunity to come and defend it here and to actually do it. We had to bring our A game today but we got it done and I’m so, so happy with that. We got to see the Triathlon earlier, where we picked up our first medal. We were cheering that on back in the village, so that was great motivation.”
Aileen McGlynn OBE was also in action on day one of the Games and was in confident mood for her B Tandem Sprint event. Aileen and her pilot Louise Haston had taken the silver medal in this event at the Glasgow Games in 2014 and hoped to be back in the medals at the Gold Coast Games.
However, it wasn’t to be for Aileen and Louise on this occasion as their new personal best time of 11.157 left them behind their English and Australian counterparts and missing out on the final.
Lawn Bowls
Scotland’s Para Lawn Bowlers both faced difficult matches on the opening day of competition at the Games. Irene Edgar, Robert Barr, Sarah Jane Ewing and David Thomas were up against England in the B2/B3 Mixed Pair event while Michael Simpson, Garry Brown and Mike Nicoll were drawn against Australia in the B6/B7/B8 Triples encounter.
It was a great start to the Games for the Scottish B2/B3 Mixed Pair who initially fell behind to their English opponents. However, the Scots rallied to run out comfortable winners by 16-6 in this opening round robin match.
The Scottish B6/B7/B8 Triple faced a difficult opening fixture against the host nation. The Scots lost four in the opening end and despite rallying in the middle section of the match, the Australians proved too strong winning by 18-6.
The Gold Coast action continues tomorrow with 14 year old Toni Shaw in the pool for the S9 100m Backstroke. Scotland’s Para Lawn Bowlers are back in action with the B6/B7/B8 Open Triple and B2/B3 Mixed Pair both facing Welsh opponents.
For a comprehensive overview of the Gold Coast Games go to;
https://scottishdisabilitysport.com/2018-gold-coast-commonwealth-games/
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