20/02/2011 - Cycling Southland's Eddie Dawkins picked himself off the track and ran to the finish line after a major crash brought down all but two of the field in the Men's Keirin final at the Manchester World Cup this morning.
After winning both of his qualifying rides, Dawkins lined up in the final alongside Sir Chris Hoy (Great Britain), Jason Niblett (Australia), Kamil Kuczynski (Poland), Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) and Gascon Peralta (Spain).
As the riders turned into the final straight all hell broke loose. Dawkins had the hammer down, powering to the finish and looking good for the silver medal, behind the legendary Sir Chris Hoy when some carnage behind him brought down all but two of the final field.
Despite fighting hard, Dawkins couldn’t stay upright after having his rear wheel clipped and he hit the track hard at 70kph. Somehow he picked himself up and ran (or perhaps more accurately limped), dragging his bike, down the straight to the finish line. Ultimately he was given fifth place, but there is no doubt that in terms of guts and determination, it was a gold-medal winning performance.
For the record Hoy and Jason Niblett were the only two to stay on their bikes and took gold and silver repsectively while Awang was awarded bronze, after which the extent of his injuries became clear - a splinter of wood through his left calf.
The day was also notable for Shane Archbold's near total domination of the Men's Omnium which he won comfortably, following his earlier victories in the Flying lap and Points Race yesterday by winning the Individual Pursuit and finishing 3rd in the 500m Time Trial and 5th in the Scratch race on day two. His final winning margin was a whopping 16 points from Cho of Korea.
VIDEO: MEN'S KEIRIN FINAL - FULL RACE
VIDEO: MENS KEIRIN FINAL - AFTER THE CRASH