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AFTER a week of travel chaos, days of frustrating delays and endless hours wondering if his fight against Mikkel Kessler would be on, Carl Froch made it to Denmark yesterday with SunSport aboard his private plane.
The WBC world super-middleweight champion initially thought he would be heading for Herning last Sunday — before volcanic ash caused British airspace to be locked down.
Froch, 32, was then forced to cancel his emergency flight on Tuesday for personal reasons but finally made it with the help of the nation's favourite paper.
While most of the world was still caught up in mammoth delays, the Cobra arrived at yesterday's head-to-head media call with Kessler by the skin of his teeth.
Robert McCracken, Carl Froch, Rachel Cordingley and Sun man Pat Sheehan
THE GANG'S ALL HERE ... Pat Sheehan (far right) with Froch and Co
But to get there he had to endure a ride in a six-seater plane, followed by a crazy two-hour car dash from Flensburg in Germany to Herning in Denmark with ME at his side all the way.
Froch said: "There was no way I could delay the flight to Denmark any longer. I couldn't rely on commercial flights getting me there so a private plane was the only option.
"The airport looked like a ghost town, there was simply no one around. I think we were the only people to catch a flight from East Midlands on Wednesday.
"There was no way I could take a 21-hour train and road journey to Herning like the rest of my team as I wouldn't have arrived in a proper state to fight on Saturday night.
"The flight was fine until we came to land and my trainer Robert McCracken went as white as his T-shirt — he was convinced the plane was going to flip because it was so windy.
Carl Froch and John Nielsen
REVVING UP ... Froch listens to John Nielsen's advice
"I didn't feel too good myself and my girlfriend Rachael [Cordingley] was really affected by all the bumps and buffeting the plane took on the way down."
Froch's bid to beat the air traffic chaos began at East Midlands Airport, where he was meet by captain Sebastiaan Wooning and co-pilot Suzanne Zwart.
Captain Wooning ran through the normal routine baggage checks that any passenger would undergo before leading us all out on to the runway to the waiting Beech King Air 90 aircraft.
What little luggage we had was loaded behind the seats in the very cramped passenger cabin — and we were delighted to finally get off the ground.
The turboprop plane cruised at 27,000 feet after reports the volcanic ash cloud had dispersed enough to fly at a calm, high altitude.
But as soon as we dipped below the clouds to land at Flensburg, the mood aboard changed as the plane was caught in the high winds.
Carl Froch behind the wheel with girlfriend Rachael Cordingley looking on
CAREFUL NOW ... Rachael wishes the Cobra well
Once down safely, a luxury car whisked Froch to Herning. And his chauffeur happened to be none other than Danish racing car driver John Nielsen, who won the 1990 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Nielsen insisted on a short detour to the Padborg race track and Froch was eager to get behind the wheel of a powerful racing Mercedes.
Back home in Nottingham, the undefeated star rides a powerful Yamaha motorbike and is used to high speeds.
But on the final bend he almost lost control and the skid before he managed to straighten up sent shivers through the onlooking Rachael.
After emerging from the race paddock, Froch admitted: "That was abrilliant experience but I think after losing the car a bit on that hairpin bend, I'd better stick to boxing!"
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...#ixzz0lmPMi7E7
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