Roller derby, a contact sport that’s “mostly” for fun. 250News photo

Prince George, B.C. – The competition is very tight and the fan support excellent at the 3^rd annual Northern Exposure Roller Derby Tournament this weekend at the Roll-A-Dome.  And today is crunch time.

Organizer Carli Staub says there are three games remaining to be played today and all five teams competing are still alive.  “Everybody’s left, it’s a round robin tournament and not a bracketed tournament so whichever team wins the most games and scores the most points will be the tournament winner.  It competitive but fun at the same time and because the teams travel so far we try to give them as many games as possible.”

Staub says the winning team gets bragging rights and “cute little trophies” but honestly they don’t come thinking that winning is the most important thing.  They come to play roller derby, to get a lot of games in and to see roller derby players from other parts of BC.”

“Everybody wants to win of course.  It’s not all Pollyanna, but they’re here to have fun and participate.”  She says some of these teams come from fairly isolated communities and “they don’t usually get to play this many games all at once.”  They get at least four games here.

The teams include the host Rated PG Rollergirls, Gold Pain City (Quesnel), Northcoast Nightmares (Terrace), Energetic City’s Killbillies (Fort St John) and a pick-up team from all over BC called the Donald Drumpfs.  Staub says the teams are “pretty even.”    Each team can bring a maximum 20 players but can only use 14 per game.

Staub says reaction to the tournament has been great.  “We’ve had fantastic audiences, good numbers for our audiences and we always get a really positive reaction from everyone who comes to visit.  The officials as well as the skaters really love coming here, it’s a northern hospitality kind of thing.  This has been our fourth tournament in the last three years and it’s been getting better every time as we refine things.”

Staub says the sport is growing, not only in BC but elsewhere around the world.  “Roller derby, for a couple of years now, has been the fastest-growing sport in the world.  It’s huge in Australia, England, all over northern Europe, and it’s really growing in BC, too.

Today’s games go at 8:30, 10:00 and 11:30 am.