Kent Roller Girls beat the Lincolnshire Bombers, 306-65 on Saturday in their final game of the 2015 British Championships of Roller Derby held in Cambridge.

The first 2 points on the board were for the Herne Bay based team, thanks to Tenacious, but it was the outstanding display of agility and speed skating from Eve, also known as MASSACRE-bleu, that made the biggest contribution to helping Kent gain a quick lead with her earning over 50 points in her six appearances on track in the first half, and an overall personal haul of 108 points.

It was a critical game for Kent’s first competitive derby team, who actually went into the day facing potential relegation. In the sixth and final game of the series they knew they had to beat the Bombers to stay up in Tier 3.

Ten minutes into the second half, Foxygen, a recent addition to the jammer line up, didn’t help Lincoln’s mood with an emphatic 25 point jam (the two minute periods of play in derby).

Part of the challenge for the Bombers was getting round the epic defensive line up from Kent. A trio of power blockers Demi, Helen and team Captain Jenna prevented any scoring from Lincoln in the first 10 jams.

They were ably supported by power hitters Jiggly and Indy, who cleared blockers off the track and stopped several star passes, a strategic move where the pointscoring jammer transfers their starred helmet cover and power to their pivot, another skater on their team.

By delivering such a high scoring game the point differential meant that after Oxford were defeated by Cambridge, Kent Roller Girls leapt over both them and Milton Keynes in the rankings to take the third place trophy for the Eastern Division 3.

The team’s Bench Coach Rose Smith said, “It was a truly outstanding effort from those on track and we are proud of the commitment shown by the team, and the overall result. We would also like to acknowledge the skaters are part of a wider team and our thanks also go out to our dedicated crew of Non-skating officials and referees who volunteer each week.”

Roller Derby is played on old style quad skates. Each team of 14 players and sends five players on at a time for periods of two minutes; one jammer to score points by passing opposing players and four blockers who play both offense and defence by hitting others with their shoulders or hips in a high powered display of strength and strategy.

If you want to try derby or to learn more about the sport find Kent Roller Girls on Facebook.

Photos by Attempted Photography and Peter Worth (Lincoln Bombers).