The Rocky Mountain Rollergirls‘ 5280 Fight Club took roller derby on the road this weekend to host the Ft. Wayne Derby Girls‘ Bomb Squad in Cheyenne, Wyoming on the 25th. RMRG’s regular home is the Bladium in Denver, but the Taco John’s Events Center asked the league to hold a bout there since there isn’t currently a league in the area. Ft. Wayne is another division three league in the WFTDA, so as of now they are unranked while RMRG sits at #17. Neither team held the home court advantage, though RMRG did hold a bout between their league’s teams at Taco John’s once before, and while Denver was technically the “home team,” there was no built up fan base or even many derby fans who were well aware of the rules. The first period put Fight Club well in the lead, with a score of FC 57, BS 14.

After Fight Club’s major domination of the first period, the Bomb Squad began to pick up the pace. Pushycat proved to be their top jammer while blocker Bang Bang Ladesh and pivot Rosemary’s Baby upped the defense. The Ft. Wayne Girls were able to gain 44 points in the second period to Fight Club’s 45, pushing the scores up to FC 102, BS 58.

The beginning of the third period took a turn for the worse on the Bomb Squad’s side, as Develyn Cyde suffered a severe break of one of her legs less than a minute into the period. While the skaters and audience were shook up, she remained incredibly calm as she waited to be taken off the track. I heard a rumor that she suffered two compound fractures and that it was pretty gnarly - hopefully a better update will come after she is treated and makes it back home safely.

After witnessing the accident and waiting for Develyn Cyde to be taken care of, the bout had to go on and each team was ready to finish what they had started. With Fight Club in the lead but a tougher fight from the Bomb Squad during the second period, it was clear that the Denver team needed to step up their game to maintain a solid win. Frida Beater, She Who Cannot Be Named and Olivia Kryin’ passed the jammer cap back and forth between the three of them and racked up the points while Pinky 500 got vicious and began knocking girls to the floor. Penny Payne, who is usually a jammer, traded in the star most of this game for a position as a blocker, and was able to stop many skaters in their tracks with her body blocking and keep them pinned behind her. The bout began to get ugly near the end when there were two ejections of Bomb Squad players - Pink Painther and Miss Jane Redrum - both for apparently for some sort of intentional tripping/skate kicking. The penalty box was full of skaters from both sides for most of the last 20 minutes, however. The final score - FC 164, BS 69.

The Ft. Wayne skaters put up a good fight, and they clearly have a number of talented players. I know myself and the rest of the league are wishing the best for Develyn Cide - hopefully she has a speedy recovery and is able to make it back home quickly.