What an awesome trip up north to Finland. This September, eleven VRD skaters went to Finland for an epic week of bouts, practicing and team building. Our journey started in Helsinki. The Kallio Rolling Rainbows “Kinapori Fistfunkers” were up for some KRReba on and off the track! On those first days we already had some great ups trying to fight against one really big down – an injury of our Crazy Crystalline #12 during the Warm up. We managed to keep our heads up and our butts low but had to accept a result of 100 something to 200 something.
Helsinki Roller Derbys Queen B’s were waiting for us on the next day. Injuries were getting a little less horrifying but improved a lot in style when our very own jammer KNOCKOUT Nora #026 went into actual (Dr. Callie) COLLISION #33 with her teammate. Result: 4 stitches on Knockout, sore face on Collision, no win for VRD. But a fun experience and a well-deserved win for the Queen B´s!
On Day 3 we went up to Turku. After a great sunny time at the beach with a swim and a heartwarming team talk, we had a very promising game behind closed doors against Dirty River Roller Grrrls – Turku Roller Derby. It had to get better and it did. Well yes, we lost big time! But we achieved most of our goals and had so much fun! In the end we lost our heart to the amazing Dirty River team, which was cheering for us “Vienna, Vienna – Gemma, Gemma, Gemma”. A very promising and definitely lifelong connection was built between Turku and Vienna that day!
Inbetween our great bout adventures we spent some time enjoying ourselves with Finlands sights, like hills with trees or hills with holes, relaxing sauna-visits and learning new tricks during the practice with Tampere Roller Derby. Next time we need to play a full-blown bout with them!
On our way to Kouvola we visited the famous ski jump in Lahti and enjoyed a picnic on one of the countless beautiful finish lakes. We filled our energy tanks with VRD Power for our last Bout against Kouvola Rock n Rollers! Increased with our lovely fans from St. Petersburg, the White Night Furies – Roller Derby in Russia our adventurous ride found a very happy ending in a tight and fun game that WE WON!
A BIG THANK YOU to all the amazing Referees, awesome NSOs and the lovely teams Kallio Rolling Rainbows Kinapori Fistfunkers, Helsinki Roller Derbys Queen B’s, Dirty River Roller Grrrls – Turku Roller Derby, Tampere Roller Derby and Kouvola Rock n Rollers for making our Trip to Finland unforgettable. For some pics – go to our gallery.
