"skate highway one", richter city roller derby v pirate city rollers (5 december 2009) »
"Skate Highway One" was New Zealand's first ever inter-league roller derby bout and was held at the TSB Bank Arena, Wellington, on Saturday 5 December.
The local Richter City Roller Derby "All Stars" hosted Auckland's Pirate City Rollers "All Scars" to determine which city out of Wellington and Auckland can boast the best skaters.
Unfortunately for Wellington, the Pirate City Rollers demonstrated too much skill, teamwork and speed and outmatched the Richter City crew 174-88.
Despite the Aucklanders' domination, the Wellington crowd never let up, applauding on their beloved Richter City right down to the final whistle. On the whole, the evening was an exercise in general awesomeness.
And I'm sure the Richter City league will be all the better for this experience, and will be back stronger than ever next year. The re-match will be a cracker.
Roll on (heh heh) 2010!
(Oh, and check out Jed's photos of the night.)
84 photos
"the big one", brutal pageant v smash malice, richter city roller derby (7 november 2009) »
Locked at one match all, the Smash Malice and Brutal Pageant teams lined up against each other for the winner-take-all last bout: the appropriately named "Big One".Smash Malice held a reasonable margin throughout most of the match, until the final few minutes when Brutal Pageant stormed back into contention. With less than five minutes to go, Brutal Pageant snatched the lead, 101 points to 100. It was anyone's match.In a final few minutes that was as intense as it gets, Smash Malice managed to prevail and take the inaugural crown.For another perspective on the night, check out Jed's photos.
84 photos
8 photos
"the big one" practice night, richter city roller derby (3 november 2009) »
The Richter City Roller Derby crew get their skates on to do some practice drills ahead of their deciding bout on Saturday 7 November at the TSB Bank Arena: the Big One! Be there!
24 photos
"civil offence", brutal pageant v smash malice, richter city roller derby (10 october 2009) »
Photos from the Richter City Roller Derby "Civil Offense" bout. Brutal Pageant won the first of this current best-of-three series, so Smash Malice had to win this second bout to keep the series alive.
On the back of a vocal crowd, Smash Malice managed to do so, comfortably winning this bout. So, it will all come down to the "Big One" on November 7. Be there!
(Oh, and in case you want a different perspective on "Civil Offense", check out Jed's photos.)
73 photos
"civil offence" practice night, richter city roller derby (6 october 2009) »
Photos from one of Richter City Roller Derby's practice nights before the "Civil Offence" bout on Saturday 10 October at the TSB Bank Arena in Wellington.
The practice was held at slightly less auspicious surroundings: the Brooklyn Northern United AFC clubrooms in Brooklyn. The light wasn't that great for photography, and some of the photos are a bit grainy because of that. Still, they should convey some sense of what the skaters go through in preparation for their big evening.
38 photos
practice night, richter city roller derby (30 june 2009) »
Hadyn, Jed, Amy and I went out to Porirua's North City Indoor Raceway to catch the Richter City Roller Derby girls going through one of their practices in the lead-up to their "Skate of Emergency" bout. These are the best of my photos from the night.
Although I took them all in colour, I've turned a few into black and white.
Jed's photos are on his flickr site. Hadyn's article is up on Field Theory.
25 photos
"the grudgemaker", brutal pageant v smash malice, richter city roller derby (28 march 2009) »
Hadyn has written a piece on Wellington's first Roller Derby for his blog, Field Theory, on Public Address. He asked me to come along as his photographer. Here are my photos from the evening.
43 photos