Holy guacamole! Of course, we all expected the sold out Grand Final to be epic, but… wow! Around 3,000 people crammed in around the track at the Adelaide Showground and Lucky Seven warmed the place up with some jumping tunes. The skate-out involved the commentators and all four teams in an all-singing, all-dancing West Side Story fight spectacular. And then it was time for some crazy derby.
The Mile Die Club and the Salty Dolls hit the track first, battling it out for third place. With the Salty Dolls rolling out some strong strategy to get them ahead by around twenty points at half time, and giving no indication of dropping the pressure, it looked like the Dies might be trapped behind those Salty walls all bout, leaving the season without a win. But somewhere around the mid point of the second half they rallied and worked hard to scatter the Salties, bringing it all together just when it mattered most. The never-say-Dies took home third and left the Salties with the wooden spoon, at a final score of MDC 103 to SD 86.
Between games those lovely, jumpin’ Swing Sesh dancers and Lucky Seven entertained a fidgety crowd, as anticipation built to screaming point for the final bout.
And that bout was on hard and fast from the first whistles, as both the Wild Hearses and the Road Train Rollers brought to the track weeks of solid Finals preparation in a sold display of endurance training and advanced strategy. The Hearses demonstrated how to the front of the pack in the first half, hassling the Roadie jammers and gaining a solid lead. But the second half saw a Hearse pile-up in the penalty box at just the wrong time and the Roadies capitalised, steadily pegging back the score. With seven minutes left on the clock the scores were so close they’d have given hardened gamblers an anxiety attack. Both teams gave everything they had, but in the final few minutes the Roadies shut down the Hearses and increased their lead, to win with a final score of WH 73 to RTR 91.
ADRD has unlaced its skates and officially heads into off-season now for a well-earned break from training over summer, although we will be prepping our Fresh Meat during this time and you’re sure to run into sunshine rollergirls and quadboys on Adelaide’s beachside footpaths and river front bike paths. Adelaide Roller Derby will return around March 2011, rearing to go for its fourth season with a million more spills and thrills. See you then!