4am start. What is that about?!

Posted 12:04 13 November 2006 in Danish Open 06

Tuesday 31st October

4am start.  What is that about?!  Jo Nicholas and I set off for Stansted airport to catch our flight to Aarhus for the Danish Open.  It's all very well these cheap flights but they leave at terrible times and it kills you for the whole day!!  The rest of the day was spent in a tired blur!

Wednesday 1st November  (Clarky's Birthday!)

Woke up to a blizzard! It was snowing.  Yep, here in Aarhus in November, it was snowing!  And pretty heavily too!  Donna and I tried to brave it to do a little bit off shopping but it was too much!  What is going on with the weather?!!  We made it back to the hotel and waited for it to stop. 

Eventually it did, and instead of it blizzarding, it was bloody freezing!  I think it showed -3 degrees!

The shopping in Demark is really good (unfortunately for the purse) and so Donna and I ended up in a few of the shops.  And ended up buying the same pair of jeans!!  We both had picked up the same style - different sizes of course as she is 7 inches taller than me - and we both really liked them so we bought them! Mine had to be taken up a bit though.... So embarrassing!

We had to play ladies doubles in the evening.  A good Indonesian pair so we were pretty nervous but did not want to lose it at all. We played pretty well and won 21-13, 21-15.  So all good except for the fact that I hit a backhand drive in the match and the momentum somehow made me fall over smack on my arse much to everyone’s amusement! I'm sure that will end up on a video replay somewhere.  Great.

Thursday 2nd November

Mixed today!  2 games.  First off was the Singapore pair we beat in the Commonwealth Games semi-final. Not the nicest draw ever! Sometimes draws like this make you really up for it and we were awesome!  We absolutely thrashed them 21-11, 21-13.  Very satisfying indeed!  Next up was Danish pair Paaske and Nielsen.  Another tricky pair and they had just beaten Rob Blair and Jenny Wallwork so again, not an easy one!  We played very well and won 21-16, 21-14.  Yippee!  Quarter-final!

Doubles was played late and after a very long day, Donna and I won against some young Danish girls. At least I can have a lie in.  And I am in the money with 2 quarter-fianls - can fund more shopping!

Friday 3rd November

Scraped through the mixed quarter-final!  My god, it was terrible!  But we did enough to get through against the Polish pair 21-13, 22-20.

Well the ladies doubles was a different story!!  Wow, what a match!  Even though Donna and I were the number 1 seeds we were not the favourite in the match against the Singapore girls.  We had lost to them in the semi-finals of the Commonwealths so maybe we had a bit of revenge in us?!  Both Donna and I had a cold and so every other point I was blowing my nose, but it didn't stop us!  We lost the first game 22-20, but managed to win the second 21-19!  Game on!

The third was a thriller! Yes, even ladies doubles can be a thriller!!  At one point, Donna had dived for a shot, rolled over and clattered into the baskets with our kit in, leaving me on my own to get 3 shots back before she came back on the court to help!  The rally went on for a good few minutes but even after another brave Kellogg dive, we didn't win the rally and Donna was left sprawled out on the floor!  Ha ha ha!  Had to control myself laughing!  It was a nervous finish but we won 26-24! 

Yippeee!!

Ok, body is hurting!! That ladies game lasted nearly an hour and a half so we both needed a massage before we fell asleep! By the time we got to sleep it was nearly 1am and the semi-finals were starting at 12pm. Hmmm....could do with more sleep!