Bristol - Get Your Skates On

Thursday, July 21st 2011 14:30
(c) Alex Craven www.flickr.com/photos/rabidbee.

Extreme roller skating is proving to be very popular in Bristol.

Roller Derby is a full contact sport for women and it's taking the city by storm.

A group of friends decided to set up the Bristol Roller Derby League a year ago just for fun. Now there are around 100 members, four teams and they're one of the largest leagues in the UK.

One of the players has even been selected to play for Finland in the Roller Derby World Cup.

The game is played on an oval track and is made up of 'Jammers' and the 'Pack'. The Jammers' job is to pass the opposing team's Pack to score points. The Pack also has to protect their Jammers by nudging the other team's out of the way.

Players have alter egos in the rink including 'Tattooed Terror' and 'Ruby Whipper' with competitions held across the country.

Up to 450 people have turned out to some of their matches and they've in the process of securing a larger venue as the sport's popularity increases.

League spokesperson, Brooke Nolan told us why it's attracting so much attention: "It's fast, it's athletic, and it's an edge of your seat sport. It also combines it with this sort of showmanship which you don't get anywhere else. There are alter ego names, flamboyant outfits and outrageous personalities and I think having those things combined is why it's so popular."

The club now want to take it to the next level and are looking for sponsorship so they can continue to grow.

Brooke added: "We do everything ourselves, we do our artwork ourselves and the fundraising to be able to pay for bouts to put them on for the Bristol public. We've got to the stage now where we think we've got a really strong offering for Bristol businesses; we've got something sustainable and exciting to invest in."

They've actually had to close the intake for this year because there has been so much interest and are planning to compete in Europe later this year.

You can find out more about the Bristol Roller Derby League by clicking here.

http://www.jackbristol.com/news/bristols-news/bristol-get-your-skates-on-6459/