Highway 14 Roller Derby Invitational Rolls into Holden

Roller Derby Action in Holden

Emily Mailhot Reporter – Vegreville News Advertiser

On Saturday, May 25, many bumps and bruises were collected by roller derby teams from all along Highway 14 as they fought hard for the championship at this year’s Roller Derby Invitational for the Highway 14 league.

The Highway 14 derby originated in the Beaver County area, stretching along Highway 14 from Wainwright to Edmonton, and they put on the event every year in Holden as a halfway point for the players. Outside of their regular season players, they open up the tournament so that any skater from anywhere can enter, then make teams out of the players who register and play derby.

In roller derby, four blockers from each team attempt to stop the Jammers from collecting points for the other team. The jammer will collect a point each time they pass the hips of a player from the other team, and keep collecting as many of these points as they can until the time is up. Each game lasts about 1 hour, split into two 30-minute halves.

“There is a lot of strategy involved,” explained Vixen, derby player and the chair of Highway 14 Roller Derby, “and a lot of rough-housing. There are a few rules to keep players from getting really hurt, such as no shoving, tripping, or head contact, but other than that the blockers just try to do whatever they can to keep the other team’s jammer from passing through.”

After the kid’s derby and other games in the afternoon, a headliner game between the Oil City Rollers and the Mavericks brought some added tension to the ring on Saturday evening.