Rocky Mountain Rollergirls to defend Hydra Trophy at 2011 WFTDA Championships

Break out your best black and red gear: The Rocky Mountain Rollergirls' 5280 Fight Club finished in second place at this weekend's Bridgetown Brawl West Region Playoffs, advancing to the 2011 Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) Championships in November, where they'll defend their 2010 title. RMRG destroyed the #7-seed...

By Colin Bane

September 26, 2011

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Break out your best black and red gear: The Rocky Mountain Rollergirls' 5280 Fight Club finished in second place at this weekend's Bridgetown Brawl West Region Playoffs, advancing to the 2011 Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) Championships in November, where they'll defend their 2010 title. RMRG destroyed the #7-seed Sacred City Derby Girls (Sacramento, CA) 278-45 in quarterfinals on Friday and beat the #6-seed Rat City Rollergirls (Seattle, WA) 117-107 in semifinals on Saturday before losing 106-143 to longtime rivals -- and current #1-ranked -- Oly Rollers (Olympia, WA) in finals last night. That could set up an epic rematch at the championships: Last year, after losing to Oly at the West Region Playoffs, RMRG went on to win the Hydra Trophy at the 2010 WFTDA Championships in a buzzer-beating victory over Oly in the final seconds of their finals bout in Chicago.

This time around they'll be battling it out on Colorado soil, in front of a hometown crowd: The Denver Roller Dolls are hosting this year's championships, the Continental Divide & Conquer, November 11-13, at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield. New to roller derby but still want to root for the home team? Never fear: 5280 Fight Club's "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" cheer is an easy one to learn.

Alas, the Denver Roller Dolls' Mile High Club will be sitting out their own tournament after losing to the Rat City Rollergirls in quarterfinals in a heartbreaking 139-128 upset on Friday. The Mile High Club went on to plow their way through the weekend's consolation rounds, destroying Tucson Roller Derby 387-18 on Saturday and crushing Sacred City 220-59 on Sunday to claim 5th place, but it wasn't consolation enough: Only the top three teams from each region advance to the WFTDA Championships. The Rose City Rollers (Portland, OR), hosts of the Bridgetown Brawl, will round at the West Region contingent in their first trip to the WFTDA Championships after beating Rat City 186-134 for third place on Sunday.

Tickets for the Continental Divide & Conquer 2011 WFTDA Championships at the 1st Bank Center are on sale now, with single-day tickets starting at $30 and three-day passes starting at $75.

To see the 5280 Fight Club in action before then, check out their hometown bout against the San Diego Derby Dolls at The Fillmore Auditorium this Saturday, October 1 at 6 p.m.

For more on the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls, don't miss our recent Show + Tell interview with jammer Frida Beater, recently selected as a Team USA co-captain for the first-ever Roller Derby World Cup (and Westword's Best of Denver 2011 winner for Best Nom de Derby, to boot).

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