2011 Cup of China Blog #3 – Final Blog!

Hi Everybody,

Saturday was the day of the free dance; and after a dream of a breakfast, we went to the rink for the morning practice. Morning practice went really well, and it was followed by the ritual of many of the skaters on competition day — returning to the hotel for a sleep. With the jet lag, many of us have been getting up early in the mornings, so any chance to get a good rest is welcomed, and between practice and competition is a great chance!

We then went to the rink 1.5 hours before we were due on. This seems to be the usual amount of time that many of the skaters leave before the competition, as most of us get the same bus into the rink. The competition itself was not the best skate for us as we had a fall right at the end of the programme that cost us the bronze medal! However, we have to try to take away the positives from the competition. We made a strong start to the season and have a lot of things to work on, but things are moving in the right direction!

On Sunday, our fourth-place final result meant we have to skate the exhibition! Exhibition day begins with trying to force yourself out of bed after the adrenaline-filled day you had yesterday!

We went into the exhibition practice at 2 p.m., which was actually nice and late giving us all time to relax during the morning after the free dance. For everybody the exhibition practice is a time to remember exhibitions from the past or step through new routines. Each performance has one chance on the music, so you only have one try to get it right before the real performance!

The gala in the evening all went to plan, then Penny and I spent the evening booking flights back to the UK for Nationals in two weeks and also speaking to family.

We fly home in the morning. Once we’ve packed, we plan to head to a market that we heard was really good for all kinds of things!! Overall, we have really enjoyed our time in China and have made lots of new friends. It has been a very valuable experience for us in our skating, and we also had a really fun time too!

Thanks for reading everybody!!!

Nick xx