Girls get ready to roll in Philadelphia

A ROLLER derby team from the Capital have been invited to take part in a major competition in America.

The Auld Reekie Roller Girls are hoping to raise the £10,000 required to get them to the East Coast Derby Extravaganza tournament in Philadelphia in June.

The team started out in 2008 and has now grown to an 80-member-strong force to be reckoned with.

All-star team The Twisted Thistles, which represents the cream of the Edinburgh crop, will go up against some of the best teams from around the globe during the three-day event.

Roller Derby is an all-female sport played on quad roller skates. It involves teams competing on an oval track in a series of “jams” – two-minute periods run over an hour-long bout.

During each jam, one player on each team is designated as the “jammer”. This player can score a point for every member of the opposing team she passes.

Captain Lianne Parry, aka Crazylegs, 39, of Cramond, said: “We feel really confident that we’re ready to take our game to the next level.”