For anyone not familiar with the sport, roller derby is a full contact sport played on roller skates.
A game is made up of two 30 minute halves, which are broken down into ‘jams’ lasting up to two minutes. For each jam, each team fields five skaters – four ‘blockers’ and one ‘jammer’.
Players skate around an oval track and the jammer scores a point each time they pass a blocker from the opposing team. Blockers use their bodies to prevent the jammer from passing and scoring points.
Each year we take part in the Five Nations Roller Derby championships against other teams from around the UK.
This year, Durham Roller Derby, a women’s roller derby team based in Ushaw Moor, are competing in Tier 3 Women’s North after moving up a tier following their gold medal win in Tier 4 last year.
“We will be hosting the final games of our tier on Sunday 7th July 2024 at Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre,” said the club’s head of Social Media, Toni Davies.
“This will be a double header featuring Durham Roller Derby vs Auld Reekie Braw Stars and Dublin Be Grands vs Newcastle Whippin’ Hinnies.
“This is a hugely important event for us within the sport, Five Nations is one of the largest roller derby tournaments in Europe, featuring over 50 leagues from across the UK, and the outcome of these games will determine which teams will make it to playoffs in September to face off against Tier 3 teams from other regions.
“Our team has grown a lot since returning to play after Covid and we now have over 50 members, but we would love to drive up some further interest in our sport, and hopefully get some spectators there on the day who aren’t already involved in roller derby.”
More information about the team can be found at durhamrollerderby.com or on their Facebook page.
Spennymoor's local community newspaper.
