Malaga !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Aftermath of Malaga…

Well, 2 years in a row the Millennium Series has been cursed with bad weather in Spain. But this year as I’m sure you already know was even worse with the Volcano in Iceland erupting. Must teams managed to make it by hook or by crook with the UK being affected the most, with teams struggling to get over the water and across Europe. A special mention must go out to Disruption for making such a mammoth effort to get to Malaga hiring a mini bus and driving none stop for 27 Hours to get to their games in time.

The Millennium series did pretty much everything they could to get the event up and running. I was there on the Monday before the event and at this point there were re-building the beach for the 4th time in 10 days !!!

The weather forecast wasn’t the best for the time during the event but you can only hope and pray that nothing else goes wrong.. Right???



Well, the Friday started off OK with a delay in games starting, so the fields could be sorted out. The Millennium rushed in flood lights so the games could catch up. The Fridays games played until after 11:00pm.

Saturday the heavens opened up. At 7:00am I was watching a lightning show over the hills rolling towards the beach. The Rain was pouring down and the Millennium series had no choice but to postpone the games until it passed.. Which unfortunately for them didn’t happen so at 1:00 (ish) the days play was cancelled… In another cruel twist about 45 minutes after that call was made the skies turned blue and a beautiful day began… Just a little too late for the event to continue that day.

This did give me the chance to go and watch the Manchester Football Derby down at the London Pub… Being a Manchester City fan we will not talk about the Score.... (In Fergie Time).

Sunday. The Millennium had the task of getting things back on track. There was no way at this point that the event was ever going to get finished but they re-scheduled and did what they could.. The games started and some fine paintball was being played. But the atmosphere had all but vanished and the event felt dead on its feet at this point. The lower division managed to play all their games but the Div 1, SPL and CPL teams only played a couple of matches (CPL only one)…

Now, everyone’s attention changed focus on how the hell were we going to get home. All flights to Europe had been cancelled. Spain airspace was still open so a lot of the Yanks managed to get home. The lobby of our hotel was full of people on laptops, phones, anything that they could connect to the internet trying to find a way home. The stories of people’s adventures and planned trips were immense. But I’d just tell you about the Planet Crews trip and stay.



Spike from Dark sports was our initial saviour as his father drove a coach so Spike arrange for that to be in Spain on Tuesday, pretty much rescuing all of the brits stranded (About 50). We got a text on Tuesday letting us know that it had broken down and would not be able to make it until Friday.. So a new frantic search looking for another route home started…

We also managed to get a bit of R&R in with Nicky T and me (Ledz) representing the UK taking on Billy Bernacchia and Tom Buckley from the USA at a couple of mini tournaments..

First up was mini golf. The UK wiped the floor with USA on this one, with cries of ‘This is the hardest mini golf I have ever played’ coming from the yank camp !!



Later that night they asked for a re-match at Paddle Ball… (a cross between tennis and Racket Ball)… The Yanks had youth and athleticism on their side and pretty much stuffed it up the UK. But not without a fight !!

(Stoney in this picture didn’t really get to grips with the game)



So the score was now 1 – 1. We didn’t manage to get a decider tourney in before we left… So it a draw, until next time.

Back to the journey… We managed to get booked on a coach trip back to Gatwick Airport that set off from Malaga airport at 7:30am on Wednesday. We passed the info on to the rest of the stranded brits and most booked on…

Well, our journey started Wednesday morning at 6:00 with a taxi to Malaga airport then waiting for the Coach at 7:30. At 7:30 we were told to go to where the coach will arrive. At 7:35 we were told the coach was delayed until 4:40pm... Which means it would be a 40 Hour trip and us not getting back until Thursday night !!! So we went into the airport and hit all the airlines, which were either offering us flights on the 29th APRIL !!!! or a$$ raping us for a flight... We hung around the Monarch desk (who we flew with) and low and behold, without any warning or info they decide to put on 3 flights 1 each to Manchester, Birmingham and London. Just first come first served, no cost (if you had a flight with Monarch). We were right at the front of the queue so.... Bingo. 3 1/2 Hours later we are back in Blighty.

Some of the other Brits were not so lucky.. I don’t know about everyone. But I heard that Spikes crews managed to get home the next day via Dublin and I’ve also heard that the Dye crew bought an old mini bug and went on a road trips.. I don’t even know if they are back now !! I guess that’s a story for them to tell…

I hope everyone made it home safe and sound. I’m going to chalk this up to experience and hope to never have to do this again… I think everyone there will have a story to tell and I’m sure the Millennium will be thinking about a different venue for 2011… We can’t blame them for the weather or a natural disaster, but we all like to point fingers and they are the ones in the cross hairs…

Now I’m going to celebrate my 40th birthday in style !!! Wasn’t the best place to have my 40th in Malaga… Thanks to everyone with the Birthday Wishes…

And lastly thanks to all my staff for being wonderful....

LEDZ