Auld Reekie Roller Girls are Oregon-bound
Edinburgh’s Auld Reekie Roller Girls’ (AARG) All Stars will travel to America to take on some of the most talented roller derby teams on the planet this week.
The Edinburgh team, currently ranked 48th in the world, are the only UK team to have secured a coveted place in the three-day Big O tournament in Oregon.
This will be a whole weekend of the big hits and speedy whips loved by fans of this fast-growing sport played at the very highest skill level.
All Stars co-captain Crazylegs (Lianne Parry) said the team needed to travel across the Atlantic to play top tier games, which will be among the hardest ARRG has ever played.
She said: “We’ll be playing really experienced, well-practiced teams of a level we’ve probably not come against for a wee while. It will be a huge challenge to hold our focus when things maybe don’t go our way and to keep calm and together enough to get a good result from the games and to meet our team targets.
“We’re facing teams like original WFTDA member league Windy City from Chicago, who have been playing at the highest tournament levels since before our team existed. Whatever happens, we’re stoked to be there and we are bringing everything we’ve got.”
The Big O tournament runs from Friday 29 April to Sunday 1 May. Forty teams will compete, including Team USA and six of the top ten women’s teams in the world.
The Edinburgh girls will face Windy City Rollers (Chicago) on Friday, Sacred (Sacramento) on Saturday then Santa Cruz on Sunday.
Games can be streamed live online via: http://ecrg.com/bigo/