Day Sixteen - The Competition

Finally the day had arrived that had prompted this whole trip. Day one of Champion of Champions.  The morning started with a big breakfast to give us all the energy to get through the day. With hair done, we were on our way. Over the last couple of days we have been trying different routes into the city (mostly by accident) so had a pretty good idea which would be the best for today. Twenty minutes after leaving the van, we were at the venue. We left Peter and Tim to find seats while we headed downstairs to get Emily dressed. 
Sarah wasn't dancing until the afternoon so she spent the morning in the company of her dancing studio friends, Abbie and Lara. I hardly saw her!

Emily almost missed one of her dances because she didn't hear her section called to marshalling. The announcements are made in the competition hall and the costume/warm up area. If you're anywhere else, you can't hear them. Emily happened to be in the stairwell between the two. I noticed her missing from the order when it was her turn to dance so I raced down to the warm up area to find her and told her to run out to the hall. She made it just in time to join the last three dancers of her section. Unfortunately, the marshall told her to move from the correct judge to the incorrect judge so she ended up not being judged. The dance was one of the premiership dances so it meant she had no chance of being placed in the premiership. It was very disappointing but she seemed to take it well. I love her attitude, resilience and how she has really matured over time. In the end, Emily came home with a 4th placing in the Village Maid, which made us proud.

They ran the afternoon slightly differently to the morning and Sarah didn't have a chance to return to us or even have a run through before each dance. They went straight from the competition hall back to the marshalling area.
She had five dances in total and placed in all of them! Unfortunately, she had higher expectations of herself, mostly likely borne from  placing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in everything at home competitions. She was disappointed in the three sixth placings she achieved even when we pointed out that these were the best in the country she was competing against. The third and fourth placings were, thankfully, satisfactory to her. 

It was, as usual, a long and emotionally draining day. We finally made it to bed just before 10pm after showers and sorting out the costumes ready for another day tomorrow. We are not subjecting Tim to another whole day watching kids dance so he and Peter are dropping us off and going exploring. It will be interesting to see what they get up to.