KEY POINTS:
New Zealand Paralympic team captain Tim Prendergast finished his campaign at the Beijing Paralympics without a medal after coming sixth in the T13 800m.
Although sixth, Prendergast was in a group of five runners who all crossed within under a second of each other to fill places second through sixth.
The London-based 28-year-old completed the glamour event in a time of 1min 56.28sec with the winner, Abdelilah Mame of Morocco out in front of the bunch in a time of 1min 54.78sec.
"It was a tough race," Prendergast said. "I went out quite quick and was feeling good at the bell, confident I could drag in the US guy but it wasn't to be and the other guys just pulled right over me in the home straight which is a shame."
Prendergast, who collapsed during the 5000m a few days earlier with heat exhaustion and then crawled across the line, had been struggling to fully recover.
He admitted he would have liked more time to get his body back into a better shape but didn't want to dwell on the 5000m.
"Still, at the end of the day it would have been nice to have a some metal in my luggage back home. I gave it all I could and perhaps that 5km took out more of me than I thought. I'm not going to make excuses."
Meanwhile, the Wheelblacks won their latest match in wheelchair rugby by beating hosts China 47-34. They next face Germany for a fifth place playoff.
- NZPA
