The 2009 WFTDA Championship Tournament wrapped up on
Sunday evening and a new champion of the flat track was crowned, the Oly Rollers of Olympia, Washington. The championship bout was Oly vs. Texas and Oly came out victorious, 178-101.

Haven't heard of Oly? That's probably because they only played their first WFTDA sanctioned bout in January 2009, and their first bout against a "national contender" in March 2009. However, a number of the Oly Rollers are experienced derby players (4 transfers from nearby Rat City) and many of their players are world class skaters (speed and hockey), including 14-time world champion speed skater Atomatrix (whose WCR-fan club is pretty significant already...) The speed, athleticism, and smarts that Oly brought to the track were inspiring to watch, and we are excited to see how their play will influence the development of our sport, just as previous champions Texas, Kansas City, and Gotham have influenced the direction thus far

The WCR All-Stars and their legions of fans who travelled out to Philadelphia were disappointed to see their team be one-and-done with a 2nd round upset to the Denver Roller Dolls' Mile High Club on Saturday. The Denver-Windy bout was one of the most contentious of the tournament, as Denver's creative strategy with slow starts and incredibly effective positional blocking frustrated the team and the many fans in attendance.

Beth Amphetamine developed a new strategy during the course of the game against Denver called "jammer cage." Unfortunately, she only broke it out during her last jam on the track on Saturday.

The tournament was surprising all-around, as a number of the favorites--including long-time WCR rivals Philly and Gotham--were also ousted in the early Saturday games by Western region teams. Because the tournament is single-elimination, only the top 4 teams get national rankings out of the tournament. The remaining 8 participants will receive rankings after a WFTDA member poll.

Full tournament results:
Round 1
Boston 104 - Madison 96
Rocky Mountain 239 - Houston 46
Gotham 187 - Detroit 38
Denver 175 - Kansas City 89

Round 2
Texas 111 - Boston 72
Rocky Mountain 128 - Philly 121
Denver 157 - Windy City 125
Oly 136 - Gotham 105

Round 3 (Semifinals)
Texas 139 - Rocky Mountain 82
Oly 178 - Denver 81

3/4 Bout
Denver 151 - Rocky Mountain 103

Championship Bout
Oly 178 - Texas 101