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Durango Roller Girls are bonified

Governing body finally accepts league on the eve of fundraiser scrimmage
Bad Czech Bohotty, Kim Jen Illin and the rest of the Durango Roller Girls will put their posteriors to use for a good cause Saturday at Chapman Hill. The DRG is hosting a fundraising scrimmage to help benefit Abby Smith, aka Machete Abby, who collapsed at a practice in late May with a then-unidentified heart condition.

After five years of existence, the Durango Roller Girls are moving up to the big leagues.

The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association announced July 3 that the DRG successfully completed its apprenticeship program and granted it Class C membership status.

That allows the DRG to compete in sanctioned games and make them eligible for the rankings.

The DRG’s inclusion, along with 15 other new leagues, brings the WFTDA’s total to 259 member leagues and 98 apprentice leagues.

“It was definitely like a huge relief for me personally, because it was my last big project before I step down as president,” said DRG President Kate Jones, aka Crossbones Jones. “It finally happened; we’re finally legit.”

Jones compared joining the WFTDA to a team being accepted into the MLB, NBA or NHL.

The DRG now can access larger-scale tournaments and resources unavailable to it as just an apprentice league.

Additional status brings additional pressure, however.

“Now if we don’t turn paperwork in on time, we could get fined. If we don’t do something right, we could lose our status,” Jones said. “Now we have to dot every I and cross every T. On top of running practices and fundrasing, it’s just that added pressure to maintain that status and to move up.”

The DRG isn’t currently ranked because they haven’t played three competitive bouts yet, but the rankings already are on the mind.

“We have to be more careful of who we play to move up in the rankings, and we’ll be playing a lot more difficult teams,” Jones said.

The DRG won’t compete in an official bout until July 19 when it faces the Junction City Roller Dolls in Ogden, Utah, but they will be back on the track at 2 p.m. Saturday at Chapman Hill for a scrimmage and a cause.

The league is hosting an open scrimmage and invited players from the surrounding leagues where all proceeds will help Abby Smith, aka Machete Abby, with medical bills related to a heart condition discovered after she collapsed at a late May practice.

Each skater will pay a $5 registration fee, and tickets are $5 for spectators, but they can donate more.

“It’s basically like a low-frills, no-frills bout,” Jones said. “We may or may not have an announcer. It’s bring your own chairs or sit on the ground, because you’d be amazed at the cost of renting 500 chairs.”

There also will be a silent auction with items provided by local businesses and a bake sale with all proceeds going to benefit Machete Abby.

The auction and bake sale will continue at the after party downtown at Moe’s after the scrimmages.

“It shows just how amazing the community really is,” Jones said. “We want to help her out. That’s really, in the end, what we do. It’s a great camaraderie.”

kgrabowski@durangoherald.com



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