Eastbourne Extreme

In this new UK Roller Derby feature ‘The Kingdom of Kent’, Sam Skelding brings you a regular look at life with the Kent Roller Girls. First up, Eastbourne Extreme.

KRG storm the beaches – Place second at Eastbourne Extreme

For the second year in succession, Eastbourne Extreme; a festival that aims to showcase niche sports from the worlds of air, land and sea, played host to the UK’s only outdoor roller derby tournament. As Kent Roller Girls headed to the south coast and its rocky beaches, they knew they faced a huge challenge, a facet further compounded by the fact that this event represented their first ever foray into outdoor bouting.

Saturday’s action, which featured some of the newer derby leagues in existence, had been won in dramatic fashion by Mean Valley Lightning, who had defeated the host Bourne Bombshells by a solitary point, in a closing jam which will live long in the memory of derby enthusiasts and passers-by alike. Sunday’s line-up was a fierce assortment of leagues, KRG were joined by defending champions Croydon Roller Derby, the ever-dangerous Portsmouth Roller Wenches and in their stunningly vivid green uniforms, High Wycombe’s Big Bucks High Rollers.

Watching roller derby on concrete, with the harsh summer sun beaming down upon the surface, beach-goers looking in from outside the cages with bemused expressions on their faces and most individuals looking vampire-like with the volume of sun-cream caked across their skin, was certainly an experience. With the rapid structure of the tournament, bouts took place on the hour and were only twenty-five minutes long. This shortened style of derby meant each point became even more crucial.

After Croydon dominated the opening contest against a determined Big Bucks, winning by 92-20, Kent took to the track against an opponent in Portsmouth who are becoming familiar rivals and even better friends, following a bout on the south coast between to the two sides only last month in which KRG narrowly triumphed.

Despite a hesitant start from both sides, a few booming hits soon settled the skaters down and the close contest began. KRG, in their changed uniforms of black, found themselves trailing after ten minutes. Portsmouth’s jammers, Mini Malice in particular, were having great success in breaking through the pack to score points whilst Kent were struggling to gain any offensive momentum. However, after the Wenches’ Peggy Peril fouled out with four major penalties (a modification from the usual seven), Kent seemed to gather up all of their talent and mounted a strike-back in the closing stages that would carry them through to glory. Controlled aggression from Boot’em Khamun, clinical jamming from Ann I Hilate and an exhibition in recycling from Demi Lition proved a driving force on the scoreboard. Despite a jammer switcheroo in the final jam leaving the outcome in the balance, KRG had done enough to steal a 55-53 victory.

Following their opening bout, Coach Ben Ten-derizer was focused on improvement and felt that although Kent had displayed superb grit; they still had plenty more to offer.

As KRG rested up ahead of their bout against Big Bucks, the Portsmouth Roller Wenches took on Croydon Roller Derby in a match-up that produced a most curious result, a level score with 62 points apiece at the final whistle. The ensuing tiebreaker, in which there could be no lead jammer and the bout had to go the full two minutes, President Garfield edged out a fatigued RIP McMurphy and pivot Psyclone DestroyHer following a star-pass, to give CRD an 87-76 win.

In their second bout of the tournament, KRG produced a more complete performance which proved too strong for an explosive and durable Big Bucks High Rollers. Whilst Gel Bells and Diagnosis Maul’er employed a contrast in jamming styles to achieve similar scoring results, the stoic work of blockers such as Jennapocalypse and Marty Mcsuperfly held off a rapid response from the High Rollers, including the vibrant and elusive play of Rucking Hostile. Ensuring they measured the gap on the scoreboard jam by jam, the final whistle soon signalled a 54-26 triumph.

With little time to bathe in their success, Kent faced Croydon Roller Derby in the next bout; a clash that pitted unbeaten teams against each-other with the prize of sealing a place in the final. CRD enjoyed a blistering start that opened up a 33-0 lead, the jamming of Gin Atomic creating an advantage that by the end was simply unassailable, regardless of the sheer spirit and power in KRG’s efforts. The bout passed in a blur of titanic hits and power-jams, the noise of spinning wheels seeming to drown out the music. Kent’s response was heroic but in vain, Gel Bells shrugging off several hits to score points and April O’Steel darting to the inside, only to have Do Or Dyduch devastate following penalty troubles in the pack. Croydon had won the bout 74-30 to clinch their final place and KRG’s fate was now out of their wrist-guarded hands.

The Roller Wenches opportunity to replace KRG in the final began on a negative and they never recovered, penalty troubles swiftly punished by exemplary jamming from Big Bucks. Even though Psyclone DestroyHer impressed with some clever play for Portsmouth, Rucking Hostile was once more a potent force on offence and sealed 74-26 win for the High Rollers that guaranteed a rematch between KRG and Croydon for the title.

With the atmosphere electric and the weather tropical, CRD just proved too much for a dynamic Kent team. In a bout almost identical to the first, power-jams were again the deciding factor and Croydon, through Gin Atomic in particular, were more efficient at switching from defence to offence in a split second. The hallucinatory battle was filled to the brim with excellent blocking from both sides and occasional waves of skating magic. At the close, Croydon had retained their crown with a 68-26 victory.

For Kent Roller Girls, the trip south had been a leap into a sea of questions. How would they handle a new surface? How would their stamina hold-up in the scorching heat? How would they deal with the demanding schedule of a competition? The answer, second place at Eastbourne Extreme, following two wins against wonderful opponents and two defeats to the eventual champions, is pretty well.