The weather on Saturday was glorious. The kind of day would you usually find me skating in People’s Park. But I was resting and so decided to go and watch Leeds Roller Dolls play Hot Wheel Roller Derby at North Bridge Leisure Centre.
I’ve seen both teams play before, but never against each other. Both are from Leeds and so I suppose there must be a little rivalry between them. I took along my camera and tried to capture some of the action. Photography in most sports halls is a little difficult. They are generally quite dark, the lighting is often not true white. In addition, most sports separate the players from the spectators. The result is that you need a long lens. A long lens and the desire to keep motion blur to a minimum calls for a high shutter speed. I’ve found that I use my 85mm f/1.8 almost wide open, with ISO pushed to 1250, giving a shutter speed of about 1/200th of a second. But anyway, enough of my other hobby!
The game was fast moving and fun to watch. There was some good jammer on jammer action, something that doesn’t seem to happen so often. I sat in the front row (though not in the suicide seats) with Andy ‘Slam C-Nesbit’. He was commentating on many details that I would have missed. I don’t really have much more to say. Leeds took an early lead and by half time they led 76 to 23. During the second half Hot Wheel seemed to struggle and the bout ended Leeds Roller Dolls 254 to Hot Wheel Roller Dolls 103.
For Hot Wheel, Best Blocker went to Clar Mar Superstar, Best Jammer was Peggy Leethal and MVP was Zinetang. For the Roller Dolls, Best Blocker was Livid Doll, Best Jammer was R.I.Punzel and MVP was Skatewell Tart.
After the awards Hot Wheels gave each of the LRD team a party bag. Another example of the friendly spirit that exists in the roller derby community. I love it! The bonus end to the day for me was a few drinks and a bite to eat with Lydia, Adam and Andy. We talking derby a bit too :-)