The Fort McMurray Roller Derby League is heading out east for a couple of friendly games.
The team will be in St. John’s, Newfoundland, this weekend to take on the Vixens and the Neversweets.
These games have been in the works ever since a local player traveled east last summer and observed the teams and thought it would be an exciting opportunity to play against them.
FMRDL Treasurer Kim Wheeler tells Mix News this will be the farthest the team has ever traveled.
“Every other year we’ll end up going to Saskatchewan because Saskatoon is just as far as Calgary from Fort McMurray – we’ve been to B.C. a couple of times but this is a lot harder to get to.”
Despite the long journey, Wheeler says it’s worth it to experience new talent.
“We know all of the teams in Alberta so we kind of know-how everybody plays, so it’s an exciting opportunity to go play brand new teams that we’ve never played before and really have no idea how they play.”
The team has been fundraising to help cover some of the traveling costs.
They were able to raise over $4,500, however, around $1,800 was raised by the junior team which won’t be traveling due to the St. John’s teams being unable to create competition for them.
Wheeler adds they’re going to soak in as much as they can as they don’t know how often an opportunity like this will happen again.
“It would be fun to do it annually to see different places and play different teams, but I don’t know that’s a commitment we as volunteer athletes can make every year.”
The FMRDL take on the Vixens at 2:30 p.m. MT and the Neversweets at 4:30 p.m. MT on Saturday, August 3.