Gold Pain City is back for another fast-paced season of roller derby action. Our local derby girls brought the action to the Twin Arenas last Saturday for their home opener against Terrace’s Northcoast Nightmares.
The teams were well matched, each struggling to steal and maintain the lead. In the end Gold Pain City was out-skated by the visiting derby girls, with a final score of 158-110 in favour of the Northcoast Nightmares.
“The Nightmares have been the underdogs for some time so their being able to beat us is exciting,” Coach Reani Rink Rash explained.
“We celebrate healthy competition and encourage one another team to team in the North so we are proud of them. They played a strong defensive and offensive bout.”
Gold Pain City followed their home opener with a Bangover Scrimmage, with the Rated PG team skating in to skate alongside our local derby girls. These scrimmages provide the perfect environment for skaters to try new strategies, relaxed and pressure free.
“We saw a lot of great blocking and team cohesiveness on Sunday,” Reani Rink Rash remarked.
Back on the track for her first scrimmage after several months away was Rated PG All Star team member Sistah Viberosis. The team is always excited to get the chance to skate with her, always coming away with new skills and insights.
Though audience attendance was the lowest the Gold Pain City Girls had ever seen their enthusiasm never wavered throughout the game.
The team hopes to see more Quesnel fans, new or old, coming out to support their local derby girls at further bouts.
This season Gold Pain City is working hard to train new jammers after losing all four regular jammers. Risa Lightning, Killswitch and Triple threat all left the team last season, with CraZtrain leaving early this season.
The new jammer line up includes Lady MacDeath and Secret Whippin’ with Sugar Rai returning as a part-time jammer.
“Lady MacDeath played her best bout yet on Saturday,” Reani Rink Rash said.
“We were able to pick up Betty Shocker, a skater and the coach for the Williams Lake Puddle Pounders, as jammer and she wowed the crowd with her agility and stamina scoring 27 points in the last jam. And Patty Aches, back playing after two years, donned the stars for a couple of jams as well.”
It will be another year with a small roster for Gold Pain City. Returning for another season is Sugar Rai, Secret Whippin’, Pixie Chick, Pocket Rocket, Cee Cee Slaughter, Willowmeana, Trauma Queen and Patty Aches.
New to the line up after completing the fresh meat program is Lady MacDeath and Woo Girl.
Each new season bringing new challenges for the team to overcome. This year they are continuing to work on having a strong defensive, while adding in offensive strategies to assist the new jammers.
Coach Reani Rink Rash is introducing a new format in practices for the team to improve endurance and agility, this new format will really test the team and make them work harder than ever before.
Next up for the Gold Pain City will be an away game against the Killbillies in Fort St. John, April 25.