Brunswick Cycling Club

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The Halloween themed Roller Derby #9 got off to a flying start with A-grade rider Darren Rogers the first to qualify. Darren’s time of 8.53s was the best of the night although Philthy, resplendent in a ghoulish green mask and Monkey t-shirt gave it a good crack and came within 0.1s with an 8.63s qualifying 200m time.

The best-costumed rider of the night had to be Claire with a frighteningly devilish, yet unquestionably alluring outfit that accessorised beautifully with the purple highlights on her bike.

Commissaire and MC for the night was the Grim Time-Keeper who had the organization of the event down to a fine art and kept proceedings moving throughout the evening.

The biggest crowd seen at a Roller Derby so far was kept entertained between rounds with some fabulous live music from the Rocket Surgeons with Brunswick’s own Josh ‘Baby’ Vicino on bass guitar pulling shapes and laying down some tasty beats. Nathan Bof wowed the crowd with some spectacular breakdancing while Peter O’Callaghan nominated himself as Captain of the BBQ and kept the crowd well fed with sausages and bread. Sheryl and Dave, as usual toiled away tirelessly at various tasks in the kitchen and kiosk all helping to make the night a great success.

In the first round of racing, some excellent handicapping provided a number of exciting one lap rounds with the crowd on their feet for some nailbiting finishes.

A good number of juniors had entered the event, no doubt spurred on by the past successes of Madeline ‘Lil-M’ Cardillo, Vanessa Bof and Tom ‘Slats’ Slattery. Another of the youngsters riding well this month was Vanessa Beattie at her second Roller Derby and who rode very consistently throughout the night.

The “Trick or Treat” round had riders selecting and performing a secret Trick or taking a secret Treat. Tricks included riding with one foot only, no hands while reading aloud, and stopping on the rollers without falling off. Slats performed a successful stop while Damoh found his low geared fixie difficult to negotiate with no hands and came to grief a number of times before finally nailing the challenge. Those lucky (silly?) enough to choose from the Treat cards ALL found themselves doing the Chooka Challenge – four gruelling laps around the dial as fast as possible. Vanessa Bof, Ian B, Philthy, Old man Tyson and Claire all had a go and their times can be seen in the results.

The Relay event provided more hilarity and a final chance for the riders to get into the finals. Omar treated the crowd to an impromptu riding striptease as his gorilla suit slipped off while he was racing. Philthy and Omar against Vanessa Beattie and Darren provided the closest finish of the night with Darren coming from behind to catch and pass Philthy within the final 10m. “Everyone loves Aaron” Box and Madeline paired well together with Boxie doing exceptionally well on a borrowed bike and shoes.

The two-lap finals finished off the night with Madeline grabbing her second Roller Derby win with the narrowest of margins against Tyson in 2nd place at his first roller derby. Claire came from behind to defeat a very consistent Vanessa Beattie, who picked up 4th place in only her second ever ride on the rollers. Well done to all riders.

Special thanks to all the helpers on the night, Josh and the Rocket Surgeons for some fantastic entertainment, Giramondo for the care pack raffle prize and to our new event sponsor Cycle Underground.

• Photos
• Results

Next month the Roller Derby moves to the Brunswick East Club, keep your eye on the web site for full details. See you there on Friday 28th November.

This entry was posted by P. Bushell on Sunday, November 2nd, 2008 at 11:11 pm and is filed under Reports, Social.