(EUGENE, OREGON) Travel squads from St. Louis-based GateKeepers Roller Derby (GKRD) and Arch Rival Roller Derby (ARCH) competed at the Big O invitational held this weekend at the Lane County Events Center.
GKRD, the two-time defending global champions of the Men’s Roller Derby Association (MRDA), netted a three-game sweep with victories over #3 Bridgetown (134-132), #5 Puget Sound (283-104) and the unranked Wheels of Mayhem (437-11) to improve to 4-0 on the season.
Meanwhile on the women’s side, the Arch Rival Roller Derby All-Stars, currently ranked eighth internationally by the Women’s Flat-Track Derby Association (WFTDA), finished the weekend 1-2 with its win over #16 Crime City (223-128) and competitive setbacks to top-ranked Victorian (201-71) and #5 Angel City (212-112).
ARCH’s b-team, the Saint Lunachix, finished 0-2 at Big O with their outcomes against the Victorian Queen Bees (307-111) Rose City’s Axles of Annihilation (345-91).
Arch Rival and the GateKeepers host the Sibling Rivalry invitational at Midwest Sport Hockey June 23-25.
Bob Dunnell’s photojournalism of the event below recaps the St. Louis action at the Big O. See more of his work at THIS LINK.
By trade, he is a six-time, regional Emmy Award-winning news videographer/editor for KTVI/KPLR-TV. By hobby, he is a writer for Arch City Media, dating back to February 2014. Emphasis is on featuring and promoting local women's sports, but will cover anything that is not reported by traditional media outlets. Also a contributor to local concert reviews.
