Fernie’s Avalanche City Roller Girls (ACRG) All Star team headed down to Spokane, Washington over the weekend to compete in Spokarnage, ‘a killer roller derby tournament’.
The tournament brought together 20 teams from Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Canada to compete on two tracks in the Spokane Convention Center.
The Roller Girls spent the previous weekend at Camp PivotStar in Creston, hosted by three of Team Canada’s coaches and players, and their training certainly paid off. The team’s ability to utilize high-level strategy brought them two big wins on the first day of the tournament.
The first game found the ACRG pitted against the Rossland Trail Roller Girls, and ended with Fernie winning with a whopping score of 141 to 45. Their second game saw a hard fought win in the last seconds of the game against the third ranked team, the Spokannibals, with a 98 to 93 win.
On Saturday, ACRG lost 68 to 134 to the Kootenay Cannibelles, who later went on to win the tournament. They bowed out after their second loss to S.S. Rodeo, with a score of 62 to 118.
“The weekend was an incredible experience for ACRG in their first U.S. tournament.” said co-captain Abby Lewtas, aka Flash Fury. “Other teams were impressed with our high caliber skating and strategy, considering we only have one season under our skates.”
The Avalanche City Roller Girls will begin their official season in the Mountain Meltdown at the Fernie Memorial Arena on May 11. The triple-header event will see Fernie facing off against Cranbrook’s Mountaintown Maulers, and the Creston Black Eyed Cherries taking on Kimberley’s Barvarian Barbarians. The Fernie junior team, the Avalanche City BombsQUAD, will also be playing their first bout against Central Alberta’s Misfit Toys.
Tickets for Mountain Meltdown are available at Frejya, GearHub, and online at www.brownpapertickets.com.